Why Should I Download Your App? (and Other Questions to Guide Your App Promotion Strategy)

One of the questions that our partners often ask us is, "How do I get more people to download our app and use it?" Of course, the specific answer to this question varies from partner to partner based on how they promote and utilize their apps.

With a hat tip to the Socratic method, here are three questions you need to answer in order to advance your app promotion strategy.

1. Why should I download your app? 

Every patron expects an answer to this question before they download your app.  It is not enough to simply tell them that you have an app and instruct them to download it.

You need to give them a compelling reason.

• What can I do with your app that I can't do with your website?
• Can I access event-specific content in your app on the day of a performance?
• Can I interact with artists and/or other patrons in the app?
• Can I access special promotions and offers?
• Can I receive alerts and notifications based on my personal information and preferences?
• Can I listen to streaming music or watch behind-the-scenes videos?

What constitutes a compelling reason varies, but it should always be approached from the patron's point-of-view.  Remember, the question is "why should I download your app?" - not "why do you want me to download your app?"

2. How are you sharing that compelling reason with your patrons?

This banner appears in the lobby when the
Curtis Institute of Music has event-specific
content in their app for a performance.

List all of the opportunities you have to communicate with your patrons.

• How do you communicate with patrons who are in your venue?  
• How do you communicate with patrons who are off-site? 
• How might you leverage each of these opportunities to share a compelling reason for downloading and using your app?
• Here are some tips as well as examples from our partners.

Don't forget your patron's context.  That can have a dramatic impact on which compelling reason you choose to share with them.  For example, let's consider email messages.

• If you are sending an email message to encourage patrons to purchase tickets for an event, then you might prompt them to download the app to view a teaser video or interviews with artists.
• For patrons who have purchased tickets, you could send them a reminder email on the day of the performance to prompt them to download the app for access to special content about tonight's show.
• After they attend the performance, you might send an email thanking them for their patronage and encouraging them to download the app for access to behind-the-scenes videos or recordings from the performance.

No doubt, you have several compelling reasons for a patron to download your app.  Presenting them with the most appropriate reason for their current context increases the likelihood that they will download the app at that point in time.

3. Now that I've downloaded and used your app once, how will you prompt me to continue using it?

The answer here is communication.  But you're not starting from scratch.  Every time you encourage patrons to download your app for a compelling reason, it reminds your current app users of the great content available to them.  The compelling reason to download is also a compelling reason to open the app and use it again.

You do have an additional channel for communicating your app's value to its users.  Push notifications serve as a powerful tool for prompting your current app subscribers to use the app repeatedly over time.

Simply put:  if you have a mobile app, you should be using push notifications to communicate with your app users.

Remind Me Again: Why Should I Use Your App? from InstantEncore

To learn more about push notifications and how you can make the most of them, check out the Enhanced Push Notifications Resource Round-up.

Not sure what to do next?

Contact us at support@instantencore.com. We're happy to talk with you about your app promotion strategy, push notifications, and more.