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Vaia - App Store Spotlight

September 15th, 2023

Vaia - App Store Spotlight
David Quinn

by David Quinn

VP of Strategy & Partnerships at Gummicube, Inc.

Back-to-school season is underway and StudySmarter – or should we say Vaia, knows it. The app’s recent renaming didn’t come alone, with changes to its keyword strategy and creatives accompanying the major update. This highlights the importance of iterations and how they not only serve as a way to refresh your app store experience but also contribute to increased growth for hyper-relevant terms.

This App Store Spotlight dives into the app’s latest change, the importance of iterations, and the implications of the update.

Mobile App Iterations - Why They’re Important

Continuous improvement is a must in any industry – especially in the hyper-competitive markets of the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Mobile app iterations consist of regular updates applied to an app’s metadata and creatives with the intention of refreshing the current app listing. This can be applied during specific seasonal events, for promotional purposes, or to highlight relevant features included in the app.

Iterations can consist of anything from minor keyword updates to significant overhauls. The developers at Vaia apply the principles behind app iterations just in time for back-to-school season, renaming their app completely. Upon analyzing the changes, their keyword optimization strategy has seemingly been adapted to include more terms related to their core features and trending technology.

Below we’ll analyze their previous metadata fields to see how the modifications have contributed to app growth.

App Keyword Optimization - Vaia

Keywords are the backbone of your ASO strategy, actively shining a spotlight on your app’s core features with terms you deem important. Without them, you are practically shrouding your app from increased discoverability. Both the App Store and Play Store employ algorithms that actively scan your metadata fields for terms that accurately describe your app and are the engine behind how mobile app keywords work. As a result, you’ll want to ensure the metadata fields affected by indexation on each platform include relevant terms.

Previously StudySmarter, Vaia not only underwent an app name change but now enjoys keywords in fields important for indexation that weren’t in past iterations. With the help of our comprehensive ASO tool we’ve been able to identify keywords Vaia has recently added to its listing and compared them to previous iterations. Among the fields that now include keywords are:

  • App Title: The new name ‘Vaia’ also includes title tags, with terms such as “study help” and “AI tools” taking center stage.
  • Subtitle: Core keywords now found in the subtitle include “plan” and “guide”.
  • Description: Although keywords are not indexed in App Store descriptions (unless running Apple Search Ads) they still help users relate the description back to their search queries. Vaia’s new App Store description includes significant keywords inclusions throughout the entire field. Their Google Play description also underwent similar, albeit minor changes to its keyword strategy.

App Creative Optimization - Vaia

Creatives play a significant role by acting as an effective way of informing and engaging users viewing your app listing. Iterations affecting creatives can bring positive changes by applying screenshot tips that enhance the user experience. Vaia also made changes to its creatives in what appears to be an effort to shine a light on certain features while also modifying the text to elicit user action.

vaia study app store screenshot old vs new images

Vaia’s recent creative optimization efforts represent the developers' goal of revamping their listing not only textually, but visually as well, aiding their overall conversion.

Vaia App Performance

With the changes applied, Vaia enjoys performance improvements for several terms included in its metadata. Most importantly, the app’s growth can be directly observed among terms that were newly included throughout metadata fields. Examples of keywords that have improved in ranking include:

  • “Helper” - from #218 to #29
  • “Study notes” - from #6 to #5
  • “Study plan” - Not Ranked to #30

Mobile App Listing Updates - Get Started

App Store Optimization is a perpetual cycle of refining your strategy to fit with market trends and user behaviors. Spending patterns, holidays, and even competitors’ changes can all warrant an update on your end that could result in continued growth. Vaia took the opportunity given by its renaming to include more keywords and update its visuals, laying the groundwork for app store growth just in time for back-to-school season. Will they continue on track to helping students study smarter? Only time will tell.

Need help updating your own app listing? Get in touch with app marketing experts at Gummicube today!

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