Have you ever thought that despite the large number of apps in Google Play and App Store, over 5 million apps, only a few are shown in the search results and home pages?
If you want to be sure that your app will show in the search results, you should optimize your app in such a way that they have the ranking criteria of its platform, which is called ASO.
ASO (App Store Optimization) is optimizing mobile applications to improve rankings in search results or categories in the app stores like Google Play and App Store.
The main goal is to achieve a better position in the ranking of apps to increase the visibility of your application and, thus, increase the number of downloads and installs.
A qualified ASO can significantly increase traffic and installs. This traffic is organic, which are the most valuable users of a game.
Icons
Visual aspects (icons, screenshots, and videos) significantly impact the conversion rate for increasing downloads, so it is imperative to have a unique and engaging concept. This case is especially important for icons because they are the first image users see when they scroll through the stores. Most users decide to install or not an application at first glance within 2 to 3 seconds. So the game icon is one of the most visual aspects of your game. Icon optimization can significantly increase the game conversion rate and affect your game's success.
A/B testing is a great way to test different options and find the most effective ones.
Designing game icons can be challenging and requires a combination of current design trends and a creative approach.
The following items are the parameters that we will talk about later:
-Icon Color
-Minimal Icon
-Picture on the icon
-text on the icon
Icon color:
With many available design options, assigning a background color to the icon's original image is impossible. However, the dominant colors that are more common have been identified.
According to an ASOdesk report, in Google Play, light blue is used mainly in the design icons (about 34% of the apps). Red is not very common. Publishers prefer to use darker colors such as Purple(14%), black (10%), and dark blue (8%). 10 percent of the game icons are also designed in yellow.
Green, brown and white colors are rare, which can help you be more noticeable in search results. Look at the use of this color in your games.
Considering the tests we ran for different icon games, the above information can be confirmed.
These three icons with background colors of green, blue, and purple have been tested for the game Untangle.
According to the test result on Canadian users in Untangle, blue leads to more installs than Purple.
In another example, the test carried out on the icon of the game, Raze Master shows that the yellow color is less attractive to the audience compared to other colors.
As a result, the purple icon has better effects.
Minimal Icon:
The minimality of the elements inside the icon is one of the critical factors of a good icon. Fewer details show the game concept better. The tests done by Funtory to simplify the icons provide the reliability of this fact.
Contrary to our expectation in Gunshot Mayhem that the left icon is a better representative of the game concept, the icon on the right has increased the conversion rate by 300%.
Or, in another instance of the game Jump Up, you can also see the same result.
The test on American users shows the superiority of simple icons and characters.
The stickman's icon has attracted more users than the character with a detailed face.
Picture on the icon:
Top publishers in Google Play do not use logos on icons at all. There are a lot of Google Play icons designed with game characters: 76 percent of publishers use characters in their design icons.
Most of the icons are game characters or figures. Compared to previous research, the use of the character grew by 28.5 percent in Google Play.
If the game has an original character, you should increase that character's identity and use their image on the icon. With the help of the original character, you can move the current game concept, increase the installed game, and better respond to possible users. Users scroll quickly through the search results, and the developer only has a few seconds to engage the user.
In the tests conducted by Funtory on game icons, it can be concluded that the fewer details the main character has on the icon, the more it attracts the audience.
For example, in the game Fashion Store, the icons are tested with the game's main character and different characters. One of the icons has more details, and the colors used are closer to real colors. But in the icon on the right, the details are fewer and the colors are more hyper.
Also, the character used in the icon on the right is the character that is used in the game, but the character on the left icon is designed by our graphic designer.
The resulting test in US users shows that the icon on the right side with the main character is better.
Text on the icon:
The text often acts as a title game or as part of a logo title. The numbers on the icon are part of the game or represent the year. Sometimes additional text is also used, which is supposed to attract the user's attention. For example, the word "Help" prompts the user to play.
During the tests that Funtory has done for this game, the presence of icons on the text has given good results. For example, in the icon of the game Color Maze, in the year of production of this game, we put the icon on the side and created a unique effect.
The test results in US users indicate that the icon on the right can increase the game's conversion rate by up to 53 percent and lead to more visitors installing the game.
Using the trend of the day is the best opportunity to increase the conversion rate of users in a short time, like a Christmas theme or other events.
For a superior conversion rate, you'll need to master a variety of other factors. Remember that you should test all this research constantly.
You can gain more popularity for your game if you use a cool app icon! Our ASO experts perform several critical steps during the optimization of app icons.
To find out the best and most common trends in icon design in a given category, we first research the leading competitors' games and compile a relevant Reference List.
By working with a specialized publisher, you can ease your mind, and the team's experience will significantly impact your results, and you will have to sacrifice money to learn what you need to know.