Digital Marketing Best Practices: App Install Landing Pages

What are App Install Landing Pages?

App install landing pages are web-pages designed to capture incoming web traffic, and reroute it to download a mobile app. App install landing pages are frequently used by companies whose core product is delivered via a mobile app. For these tech companies (often startups), website traffic is generally not particularly valuable.

However, if the company can create an engaging landing page that effectively drives mobile users to download an app, a website can serve an essential purpose to a mobile-first company’s user acquisition strategy. Moreover, if they can utilize tools or nurture engagement points that can help convert desktop users to mobile app installs, the website can become even more central to the company’s marketing efforts.

Below I’ve reviewed factors that contribute to creating a funnel of inbound user acquisition from an app install landing page. I’ve also reviewed the landing pages of a few notable companies in the mobile space.

Attributes of a Good Landing Page

Great Mobile User Experience

Having a clean user interface with an obvious value proposition and quick-loading page are essential for driving mobile app installs. Mobile visitors won’t wait for more than a second or two for a webpage to load before switching to another app on their phone.

Streamlined Desktop UX Oriented at Driving User to Mobile

Desktop users are far less likely to download a mobile app from a site than a mobile user, simply because they aren’t on their phone. Making sure the visitor understands the benefits of using the app on the go are essential. And simply ensuring the page looks good and performs well are important too - users don’t want to download an app from a company whose website functions poorly

Enter phone number and Receive Download Link for Desktop Users

Providing a mechanism for desktop visitors to trigger a download link on their phone can be very effective in cases where users don’t have their phones handy. Anything you can do to accommodate the use case of a cohort of visitors to your site (for example: ones who visit on a desktop while their phone is dead) can increase your conversion rate on a sustained basis. Some great tools to do this are Branch, AppDrop, Twilio, LinkTexting, and TextPuff.

No Scroll Landing Page

Especially for mobile users, having no scroll on the landing page can be very effective in streamlining traffic to download the app. However, it’s important to note that if you have a complex value proposition, this may not be the tactic for you as visitors may need more convincing to download an app to their phone.

YouTube Video Embedded on Homepage

Having a YouTube video on your homepage serves two purposes. The first is that it visually and (hopefully) concisely communicates what your app does to visitors. A picture tells a thousand words, and a video contains 30 pictures or more per second! The second purpose is that it helps to drive growth on the play count of your YouTube explainer video. This in turn drives up the visibility of that video in YouTube search. And if you have links to your website in that video’s description or cards, this in turn improves the quality of the backlinks from those YouTube videos. A bit complex, but some interesting dynamics at play.

CTAs are Visible Above Homepage Fold

This is essential for all sites, but especially for ones where the main goal of the site is to drive traffic to another destination. Users who will click on a CTA before reading the page they’re visiting are coming to the site with the intention of converting - there’s no reason to get in the way of them driving our goals.

CTAs are Consistently Visible Throughout Page

Another essential for all sites looking to drive a conversion (... which, what site isn’t?). Having a clear Call to Action visible throughout the page while a user scrolls simply makes it easier for them to convert at any time, as they can click on the CTA at any point on the page. These little points seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at how few sites follow these best practices. There are a number of website plugins that can allow you to do this, or having a slim banner across the top of your page with text and a button that appears on scroll (or is always visible) can also do the trick.

App Download CTA Dutton is Largest Clickable Element on Mobile Homepage

If app downloads are the core conversion you’re trying to drive (which if your platform is only delivered through mobile platforms, presumably it is), then the CTA button to go download the app should definitely be the largest thing on the page. iTunes Developer Marketing Guidelines are painfully clear on how you can use their download buttons, but at least it takes any guesswork out of implementing them. Or you can have a single download button that intelligently routes users to either the iOS or Android store depending on their device type.

Ranking Various Companies

• Shyp - Shyp provides shipping services that range from picking-up the package to delivering it to the destination.
• Instagram - Instagram is a free photo sharing application that enables its users to take photos, apply filters, and share them on social networks.
• Lyft - Lyft is an on-demand transportation service in the US.
• Venmo - Venmo offers an app that allows users to share and make payments with friends for a variety of services from.
• Twitter - Twitter is a global social networking platform that allows its users to send and read 140-character messages known as “tweets.”
• Periscope - Periscope offers real-time video feeds, enabling individuals to see the world through another person's eyes.
• Path - Path is a mobile photo-sharing and messaging service for building personal social networks with up to 150 contacts.
• Tinder - Tinder anonymously finds people nearby that like each other and connects them if they are both interested.
• Whatsapp - WhatsApp is a proprietary, cross-platform, free instant messaging subscription service for smartphones.
• Curbside - Curbside is a United States-based company developing a mobile application to find, buy, and pick up products from stores.

Screenshots of Landing Pages

Marketing Best Practices: App Installation Landing Pages from Matthew Eisner

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