App Store A/B testing

What is App stores A/B testing

App stores A/B testing is the science of running an experiment on elements inside a product page on the App Store or Google Play Store in order to compare two or more variants’ conversion rates with different creatives/messaging and to see which one performs better. These elements could be visuals like icons and screenshots or text-based such as description. 

It’s vital to distribute equal numbers of traffic to get accurate results on performance and conversions, and experts would recommend the traffic is a statistically representative sample of the eventual target audience in order to get the most out of the experiment. By sending traffic to the variants in a random way and comparing behavior & conversion rates (CVR) on each, it’s possible to evaluate different audience segments, traffic channels, and product positioning too. The end goal is to uncover the best messaging / creatives that, when applied in the stores live, would increase CVR and thus increase growth.

Why A/B testing is important

App stores A/B testing is important because CVR (especially for first time installs) is one of the factors that influences mobile growth and specifically organic growth the most, as it signals to the platform to surface the app through charts and search results. 

A/B testing increases growth by getting App Store pages to be more efficient in capturing installs from every X number of impressions an app developer/marketer is able to drive through different channels and sources.

A/B testing and ASO

There are significant advantages to A/B testing. Optimizing CVR is the most important pillar of ASO and App stores A/B testing is the main tool available in order to methodically and continuously improve CVR.   

The process is certainly methodical. It involves creating hypotheses (such as what should be changed, the expected results of the change(s) and why those results are anticipated), creating designs with different messages and different creatives to produce different variants, running a test, analyzing the results, understanding which creatives/messaging to use in the live store and seeing what should be tested next. 

App devs/marketers can decide which sample to drive to the test, making sure the group is composed of high-quality users whose feedback is more valuable than that of a broader audience. By choosing the target audience carefully, it’s possible to gain more valuable results; once the creatives/messages are implemented in the live app page, they will convert that high-quality audience better. It’s imperative to use a replicated platform so as not to harm real-world traffic and performance.