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Temu - App Store Spotlight

April 6th, 2023

Temu - App Store Spotlight
David Bell

by David Bell

CEO at Gummicube, Inc.

Some shopping apps can be a dime a dozen. What helps certain apps stand out from others is a clear differentiator when it comes to their offering and message. Temu is an example of an app whose popularity has skyrocketed in the past six months, earning a position as the #1 free app in the Shopping category.

But is this meteoric rise only due to a clever marketing message and paid digital campaigns, or is there something we can learn from their organic ASO strategy as well? This week’s App Store Spotlight focuses on Temu’s recent app store success, highlighting ASO best practices you can apply alongside recommendations.

Shopping App Subtitle Optimization

An ASO best practice to follow when optimizing your app subtitle is to include app keywords. Keywords are the backbone of your ASO rankings and using the right ones is critical to placing your app in front of your intended audience. Currently, we can see that Temu’s developers include three keywords related to the types of products offered in the app, but are they using them effectively?

temu apple app store spring 2023 listing with subtitle highlighted

Temu’s rankings for each of these terms are as follows:

  • Fashion - Ranked #197
  • Décor - Ranked #58
  • Handmade - Ranked #4

While including categories of products within a subtitle can help users understand what’s offered, you should also make sure they are relevant enough so that your app appears under the right search results. For example, neither search results for “fashion” nor “décor” are populated with relevant competitor apps or even ones of the same category as Temu:

fashion app store search resultsdecor app store search results

For “fashion” and “décor” search results mostly contain games.

Individual keywords are often not the primary target when constructing metadata; creating relevant phrases is often the end-goal. That being said, Temu is not ranking in high position for high volume fashion terms, including “fashion nova” at #40; followed by additional lower ranking, less relevant terms like “fashion icon” at #70 and “fashion show” at #81; the app is also unranked for “home decor”.

With the help of the right ASO tools, Temu’s developers could understand which keywords are both relevant to their audience, support their indexation for additional long-tail terms, and help them rank under intended search results.

Shopping App Description Optimization

The mobile app description is another element of your app listing you can use to increase your visibility and/or conversions depending on the platform you are optimizing for. Currently, Temu isn’t taking full advantage of this 4000-character field in either the App Store or Play Store with not even a quarter of the available space being used.

temu apple app store shopping app descriptiontemu shopping app google play store description

In terms of the Apple App Store, this leaves valuable space for feature information, promotions, and collection highlights that may entice users to download. The same applies to the Play Store description with both being identical.

However, for Google’s platform, the full description serves as an additional indexing opportunity. This warrants further keyword inclusion throughout the Play Store description that isn’t as critical in the App Store unless running Apple Search Ads.

Mobile App Screenshots - The Right Way

An important contributor to app conversions is the screenshot set. These images have the power to seal the deal with users as they provide a visually engaging way to consume important app information. The App Store screenshots are even shown within search results themselves, meaning they are important not only within the product page but from the very start to attract attention.

Temu currently adopts app screenshot best practices found among other high-ranking competitors as well. This includes relating app promotions to a specific season, utilizing phone models to represent in-app content, emphasized copy, and a uniform background style for all images.

temu apple app store easter screenshotstemu google play store spring screenshots 2023

The same can be said for SHEIN and AliExpress, who also implement a similar strategy in their app screenshots. Following in the steps of apps that are performing well for the same keywords in your niche can give hints as to what works and allow you to adapt proven approaches to fit your needs.

aliexpress app store screenshots april 2023shein app store screenshots spring 2023

Optimizing a Shopping App - Explained

Temu has impressively established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the hyper-affordable shopping space. The app has catapulted itself as an industry leader in less than a year thanks to its prices and paid marketing efforts. But maintaining a global presence this large shouldn’t rely solely on paid initiatives.

An effective ASO plan that covers the organic side of your mobile app marketing can act as the foundation needed to improve paid efforts in the long run. Including the right keywords in your subtitle and description can help improve your visibility and downloads, while your app screenshots can act as attention and conversion drivers when applying best practices used by top competitors. Back your efforts with the right data and leverage ASO optimization tools so you can be on the right track to boosting your organic app growth alongside paid efforts.

Is your shopping app due for some Spring cleaning? Contact Gummicube today for all of your App Store Optimization needs!

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