With the first official ASO Conference in Berlin concluded, it’s time for the content recap. The following is a high-level overview of the content covered throughout the conference, with the names of presenters, and if applicable, links to each presentation.
As a summary, some of the concepts covered throughout the presentation included:
- Data-driven insights is a must for ASO in 2019 and beyond (e.g. organic uplift)
- While there are plenty of ASO tools now available, some companies have seen success in building their own tools using scrapers and APIs
- The ASO game has changed (algorithms are more complicated and difficult to influence)
- Google is really stepping up the algorithm updates, bringing in other factors such as retention rate or vitals, and personalizing the Play Store discovery experience for each user
Session #1: Keynote
Presented by Moritz Daan, Co-Founder of Phiture & Gabe Kwakyi, Co-Founder of Incipia.
Opening Remarks & 2019 ASO Stack Update
Main takeaway: ASO has become much more complex, and now requires advanced insights to stay ahead of the competition.
Main content covered:
- Early days of ASO
- The new ASO Stack 2019
- The future of ASO
Session #2: ASO: The Game Has Changed
Presented by Thomas Petit, Mobile Growth / Apple Search Ads Expert
Main takeaway: with so much competition and so many changes to the game of ASO, ASO has evolved from a mostly keyword-driven practice, to a more complicated combination of focuses, including learning to leverage store ads, earn browse traffic through features, app collections and top charts, and conversion rate optimization has become extremely important to success.
Main content covered:
- The early days of ASO
- What’s changed
- Where is ASO in 2019
Session #3: How to Deal with Ongoing Store Personalization in ASO
Presented by Aude Boscher, ASO lead, Phiture
How to Deal with The Ongoing Stores Personalization in ASO
Main takeaway: personalization has arrived at both stores, but the effect of personalization is much stronger and challenging for ASO success in Android than in iOS.
Main content covered:
- How App Store discovery affects ASO
- How Play Store discovery affects ASO
- Specific examples of how personalization affects ASO outcomes
Session #4: Decrypting Google Play Discovery Algorithms
Presented by Gabe Kwakyi, Co-Founder, Incipia
Growing Keyword and App Related Visibility
Main takeaway: Google’s algorithms are complex and becoming more-so; ASO must now focus on more than just metadata and CRO to achieve success in 2019.
Main content covered:
- Clues from Google on how its algorithms work
- Warning signs from Google on how its algorithms are changing
- How to apply the learnings
Session #5: ASO: Amplifying the Research and Hypothesize Part of the Conversion Optimization Loop
Presented by Wolfgang Peters, Head of Performance Marketing, Flaregames
The Conversion Optimization Loop
Main takeaway: doing your due diligence and research in order to form better hypotheses (rather than testing random ideas) and implementing a clear testing plan can deliver better, more continuous results.
Main content covered:
- Establishing relevance for users
- Building trust with users
- Orienting users
- Stimulating users with creative
Session #6: ASO: Ratings & Reviews: Unlocking the iOS Native Prompt
Presented by Tim Jones, Founder, LaunchMatic
Unlock the Full Potential of iOS Rating Prompt
Main takeaway: leveraging Apple’s native prompt can deliver huge results, if complimented with a testing strategy.
Main content covered:
- The market trends of ratings & reviews
- How ratings/reviews affect social proof
- Experimentation with the iOS native prompt
Session #7: Ask Us Anything
Moderated by Cécile Guibé, Junior ASO Consultant, Phiture and Natalie Rozenblat, Senior Marketing Associate, Incipia.
- Thomas Petit, Mobile Growth / Apple Search Ads Expert
- Romain Golfier, Mobile Marketing Manager, Spil Games
- Tim Jones, Founder, LaunchMatic
- Nika Gregoreva, Mobile Marketing Manager, MoCoMedia
- Olivier Lemarie, CMO, Molotov Games
Main takeaway: when expanding into new networks, it’s crucial to understand regional behavior and language.
Apple Search Ads can aid in developing market expansion ASO strategies with its insights into visibility and volume. While there is no silver bullet method to store testing, ASA creative set tests (along with other platform tests) can also help apps to hone in on specific audiences and uncover extremely valuable learnings.
Our panel of experts also touched on and shared examples of Cannibalization.
Main content covered:
- Cannibalization
- ASO & ASA and how they can work together
- ASA creative set testing/Creative testing in general — reliability & insights
- Localization tips & strategy
Session #8: Organic Uplift
Presented by Gabe Kwakyi, Co-Founder of Incipia & Oliver Jiang, Director of Strategy, Incipia
How to Measure, Manage and Maintain Organic Uplift
Main takeaway: organic uplift is an important influence on ASO visibility, but is not always straightforward to apply and can have widely different results depending on the context of your app.
Main content covered:
- What is organic uplift?
- Examples of organic uplift
- Sample coefficients
Session #9: How Phiture Built its Keyword Tracking Tool
Presented by Abdul Majeed Kattan, Software and Data Engineer, Phiture and Moritz Daan, Co-Founder of Phiture.
Building A Keyword Tracking Tool
Main takeaway: building your own keyword tracking system is a massive undertaking to start and maintain that is not recommended, but for companies with the resources to do it, it is possible and can yield more insights customized to specific needs and data ownership that 3rd parties can’t or don’t provide.
Main content covered:
- Technologies used
- Challenges in implementation
- Lessons learned
Session #10: Leverage Scrapers & APIs in ASO
Presented by Romain Golfier, Mobile Marketing Manager, Spil Games
Leverage API’s and Scrapers for ASO Automation & to Improve Decision Making
Main takeaway: there are a small set open source tools that can help you to build your own ASO scraping infrastructure.
Main content covered:
- What are APIs and Scrapers?
- 4 ways to leverage them in ASO
- Combine APIs with Tagging Automation
Session #11: Competing with Yourself in ASO: How to Drive Growth Without Cannibalization
Presented by Anja Obermüller, UA & ASO Manager, Runtastic GmbH
Competing with Yourself in ASO
Main takeaway: managing a multi-app portfolio can be challenging and time-consuming, but also highly beneficial for generating insights from testing that can be applied across the portfolio.
Main content covered:
- What managing a multi-app portfolio looks like
- Leveraging multiple apps or CRO testing
- Managing keyword sets across multiple apps
Session #12: ASO Panel
Moderated by Adeline Lee, Director of Growth, Framer with panelists including:
- Agata Jajszczyk, ASO Manager, Babbel
- Sara Cole, Marketing Director, EyeCon Global
- Alexandra Lamachenka, Growth Manager, Skyscanner
- Julia Shiryaeva, ASO Lead, Mail.Ru Group
Main content covered:
- Tool & KPI Q&A
Sessions #13–18: ASO Tools Overview
- Ilia Kukharev, Head of ASO, AppFollow
- Olivier Verdin, CEO, AppTweak
- Yekta Ozcomert, COO Mobile Action
- Daniel Peris, CEO & Co-Founder, PickASO and TheTool
- Noga Szpiro, Senior ASO Consultant, Store Maven
- Fede Behens, Head of Product Growth, Navco/Founder, ASO Giraffe
Session #19: ASO Awards Winners Announcement
Presented by Gabe Kwakyi, Co-Founder of Incipia. Judges included:
- Agata Jajszczyk, ASO Manager, Babbel
- Noga Szpiro, Senior ASO Consultant, Store Maven
- Stuart Miller, Design Lead, Phiture
- Viktorija Chikhalenko, Art Director, Incipia
Main takeaway: the winners of the first ASO Awards demonstrated exemplary ASO in the eyes of the judges and the ASO community.
Main content covered:
- What are the ASO Awards?
- Nominees
- Winners
