Marketing Kids Apps (Part II) – How Consumers Decide to Download

December 7 2011, 5:34pm

[In this reprinted Digital Storytime piece, Carisa Kluver provides an in-depth look at the marketing strategies for children apps. This is part two of a three part piece examining marketing strategies. Carisa Kluver is the sole reviewer for the iPad picture book app review site, Digital-Storytime.com. She co-founded this site with her husband, Marc, an app developer and programmer. She tries to run her site with the following three “A’s” in mind – to be Approachable, Accountable & Accurate.]

There are a lot of apps for kids in the app store, so many that even an exceptional app can get lost (or buried) not long after launch. So how do parents & educators find good apps for elementary school age kids (and younger) to download onto their iPads, iPods & iPhones? Over the course of several weeks I’ve been asking friends with mobile devices, educators on Twitter and fans of our Facebook page just this question. I think their responses are really interesting and informative for app developers. This list is in addition to the information in Part I - Marketing Kids Apps (Part I) – 3 Things No Amount of Code Can Fix. Below are a selection of quotes from book app shoppers about what criteria they use to select children’s apps: LITE VERSIONS - Many shoppers say they rely on free or trial versions to guide buying decisions. While some consumers find partial book apps unsatisfying at times, most admit that when it comes to paying for an app, a lite version can really help them decide to buy. The key to not annoying customers with only part of the story is to put ‘lite’ in the title – a well-informed customer is a happy customer! “When an app is more than a dollar or two, I always check to see if there is a lite version before purchasing. Apps like the Nosy Crow 3 Pigs & Cinderella are awesome, but I wouldn’t have paid $6 for them before seeing the sample.” “I didn’t like lite versions of book apps when I first encountered them a year ago, but now I’m willing to sample a book … so long as they say in the title or description that the whole book isn’t there.” “Most of (the paid apps I download) for my child … are based on the trial version experience, I prefer to ‘demo’ or try the book first to see if we all like it!” “I try to find out if there is [a free version of an app] that I’m interested in … I download these lite versions if available, and definitely will buy the full version if I like the preview.” “I … download the lite version to try with my boys. If they aren’t interested, I usually don’t get the full version.” “I don’t usually ‘discover’ an app with the lite version, but often I find myself curious about an app enough to check for a free sample. The final deciding factor before I download is based on searching for this trial version or a video review if no lite version is available. After a thorough preview, I feel certain enough to spend those few extra dollars on the paid version.” SCREENSHOTS – The visual impression of an app goes way beyond picking a great icon, as shoppers often look first at the images available before reading anything else in iTunes. Since illustrations are a big part of book apps in particular, these images are essential. When thinking about purchasing a book that is totally original, not based on a fairy tale or book available in print, this becomes especially important. “It really matters what pages you can see on itunes, if an app has great screenshots I’m more likely to consider buying it.” “I probably care more about the screenshots than anything else, if I like what I see, then I read the description next.” “When looking for (kids book apps) I gravitate toward the illustrations … I prefer something that is hand-drawn, not computer generated … (the illustrations should be) colorful and well put together.” “The illustrations & the (overall) look of the app is … important … I want to see how much attention it can get (from my kids) before deciding to download an app.” “I look at the preview pages to see if I like the illustrations and more importantly, if I think my little ones will be engaged by the illustrations … the illustrations need to be strong.” ” … the graphics are what catch the eyes of kids the most, so … beautiful illustrations … and outstanding graphics are the winners!” “(If developers were to ask for my advice in marketing a kids’ digital book) … I’d tell them to … make sure you have good quality illustrations.” PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH A DEVELOPER - As a reviewer and part of the app developer community, I often take what I know about a developer’s other apps into consideration, but I must admit I was surprised to find so many comments from ordinary consumers that echoed this same strategy for searching out new apps. The iTunes “Developer Page” is very important as it turns out! “I look for books that are developed by someone (my kids and I) already like, by looking at ‘other apps by developer’ in (iTunes) I can be sure I will get something of quality.” “When the book is in a series, I pretty much know the quality of books that are written by a company.” “I like to look at what the developers past apps are like … with all the factors (I find) what makes the purchase much easier is knowing the developer by their previous book apps/reviews/awards or having tried one of their previous book apps that was a huge success.” “I work from what I know of previous books from the same author or app producer … this previous knowledge of a developer makes the (decision-making process) much easier.” Continue reading at Digital Storytime and learn about additional marketing factors like iTunes reviews and Review websites here.