How to make your app card work harder for you

Your app card is the shop window for your app, so it needs to quickly communicate why a prospective customer should download it.
At a glance, they should be able to understand not just what it does – but how it will improve their working life.
Here’s a good example

Make your description highly customer-focussed

The first thing potential customers read is the name of your app and the one-line description. Make this benefit-led.
Why should they buy it? What problem will it solve? What new thing will it help them do? Or will it make an everyday task easier?
Think about how it will improve the way they work. Be really specific. People should be able to instantly recognize why they should consider your app. They will be scanning through lots of app banners on the store, what will jump out at them?

A good app description example

A short snappy description of what the user can do if they download LivePlan.

Use video to show them what they’re missing

Video is a great way to show potential customers how the app works and why they should buy it. You can grab video from your screen to provide a demo, or source a simple animated ‘explainer’. Whatever you choose to do, the key is to keep it short (under two minutes) and leave them thinking, ‘I’d like to be able to do that’ so they click to download.

Video works well

Use a screen recording or animation to explain and entice.

Insert screen grabs to highlight key features

People are more likely to download an app when they have visual cues as to how it works. Wherever possible, use captions to describe the end-benefit of the feature, rather than literally describe what’s on-screen. In the example opposite, ‘A breakdown of data is shown using graphs and charts’ would’ve told us nothing we couldn’t already see, whereas ‘Get critical insights into how your business is doing’ moves the thinking along.

Use screen grabs wisely

Show a key feature and use the caption to describe the end benefits.

Make the overview comprehensive yet easy to read

The overview allows you to go into more depth about your app, but bear in mind how people read. Research shows we often scan a page first, only picking out the subheads. So do a scan test to make sure your subheads convey a series of benefits on their own.
Then review the words under each subhead. You should only have a small paragraph (around 40 to 80 words) under each. Bite sized chunks of information are much easier to digest.

Make each paragraph about the reader

When you’re evaluating your overview text, try rewriting the way you explain features to include the word ‘you’ as much as possible. For example: ‘so you can’, ‘this allows you to’, ‘you don’t have to’, ‘the insights you need’.
This helps the reader imagine themselves using your app and enables you to include the positive outcome – in terms of time, cost, ease of use or other benefit.
Finally, always take time to carefully check your text for spelling mistakes or other errors, as these can make people worry about the quality of the app itself.

Put subheads to good use

People often scan pages of text, so use subheads to convey key benefits.

Stand out from the crowd and grow your connections

Open your app card in another window and use this article to update it today.