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Tips
for Marketing
Your App
An Amazon Appstore eBook
 Table of Contents
1 Write compelling product
features and descriptions 3-5
6 Respond to customer reviews 16

2 Select good keywords 6-7

7 Get featured on the
Amazon Appstore 17-18

3 Link to your product page 8-9

8 Get featured by media pros 19

Choose the right

4 screenshots 10-12
9 Additional resources 20

5 Invest in video 13-15

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 1 Write compelling product
features and descriptions
Coding your app is the hard part, but not the last part. Pro Tip: Read your product description
You still need to sell your app, and a great product out loud to check for continuity and
description will help you do that. Here’s how to make flow. If it sounds good, you’re on the
sure your description puts your app in the best light.
right track!
The Basics Make sure your description is clear, honest, and
straightforward. Don’t make grandiose promises about
your app; customers see through inflated claims, and
your description will lose credibility.

Appy McAppface
Product Description

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Use the following checklist to get the basics right:
Do:
• Use proper punctuation and grammar, and
double check that it’s accurate.
• Introduce your app clearly and succinctly.
• Describe your app’s most notable features.
• Write in a conversational tone.
• Explain why and how your app will benefit users.
• Show off the main features, but don’t inflate
claims. Include the attributes that make your
app stand out.
• Finish with a call to action.
Don’t:
• Write your product description in the web form on
the Mobile App Distribution Portal. Instead, write your
product description in a word processor and paste the
finished result back to the Distribution Portal.
• Refer to your app only as “this app” or “an app”—use your
app’s full name at least once in your product description.
• Make false, hyperbolic claims—this type of marketing
rarely works and may hurt your app in the long run.
• Simply list your app’s features with no elaboration.
Explain why these features are awesome and make your
app worthy of being added to a customer’s collection.
• Use atypical or inappropriate language that could
mislead or confuse customers.
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Developer Highlight Plauge Inc. (Ndemic Creations)
Ndemic Creations uses evocative language in the
product description for their game Plague Inc. to
convey the pathos associated with its premise:

“Your pathogen has just infected ‘Patient Zero’. Now

you must bring about the end of human history by
evolving a deadly, global Plague whilst adapting
against everything humanity can do to defend itself.”

Developer Highlight Monument Valley (ustwo games)

ustwo games’ Monument Valley includes notable
quotes from prominent reviewers in their product
description, highlighting its critical acclaim:

“One of the very finest hours, and the value of such a

thing is incalculable” (Kotaku); “Brilliant design... stayed
with me like a dream I didn’t want to forget... 9/10”
(Polygon); “Monument Valley stuns with its serenity...
each screen is a work of art” (Huffington Post).

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2 Select good keywords
When you’re crafting your app marketing strategy,
one of the most crucial steps is identifying the right
app keywords. This is how people will find your app
in search results, even if they weren’t looking for it in
the first place, and the best part is you can do this
for free! Until you’re in the top rankings on search
engines, good keywords and a good app name
should be a top priority.
Keep tweaking and experimenting!
Keyword efficacy is always
changing, so make keyword
research a regular exercise.
Keywords that work well are ones that are uniquely
descriptive of your app or game. For example, ‘Fun’,
‘Free’, and ‘Game’ are not unique because they are
commonly used words, so your app will be buried
under more popular search results. Nor is it a good
idea to list the names of similar games that may be
more popular, such as ‘Flappy Bird’, ‘Minecraft’, or
‘Clash of Clans’. Your game may be similar, but it is not
that game! Be accurate about what your game is and
don’t fudge the truth in your keywords.
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How To Generate • Jot down things that are meaningful tie-ins to your • Synonyms and related terms offer less competition,
Good Keywords app from your target audience’s perspective and turn which may result in a net gain in conversion (such
them into phrases. as using the phrases toddler, juvenile, youth, or tot
instead of “kid”).
• Read blogs and newsgroups where your target
audience participates and look for frequent terms
or descriptors. Pro Tip: Use pay-per-click ad services to
search for relevant keywords that have
• If a keyword is overused (‘Fun’, ‘Free’), try and come
the least amount of competition, and use
up with other ways that people might say the word
those in your app descriptions. Searching
you want to use. It is better to be in the top 5 results
through their keyword ranking is usually
for an average-searched keyword than in the top 100
for a highly-searched keyword – people are more
free. Higher priced keywords are the most
likely to find you in a list of 5 than in a list of 100.
competitive, so try to avoid using them
and look for synonyms to use.
• Look for words related to seasonal landmarks (such
as relevant holidays or events) and trending topics
(recognizable memes, cultural phenomena, etc.) that
are relevant to your game.

• Include terms unique to your app, if applicable (such

APPY
as character names).
MCAPPFACE

• If your app is connected to a topic or industry that

Appy
APPY MCAPPFACE

has its own jargon, include terms that users will

McAppface
LEISURE
recognize.
Unique
INTERESTING

Keywords
HILARIOUS

JOVIAL

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3 Link to your product page
Whether you use free social media campaigns or
paid advertising campaigns, you’ve got to make the
Pro Tip: Developers who promote their
app with the Amazon Appstore logo
action you want the customer to take ridiculously typically receive more downloads than
simple by removing all possible barriers between
those who don’t.
getting them from seeing your app or game to
pressing the ‘download’ button. Once users click on
the ad, it should take them directly to the app store
product page, where they can read the description
and download the app. For example, if you want the
customer to download your game from the Amazon
Download Appy
Appstore, put a link to your Appstore product page in
McAppface today!
the campaign and use the Amazon Appstore icon.

Available at

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Developer Highlight Quiplash (Jackbox Games)
Jackbox Games provides a direct link to each app store where
their games are available. For Quiplash, they also include the
price of their game on each platform and promote any sales
that are taking place.

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4 Choose the right screenshots
Screenshots should be used to demonstrate the main
features or the exciting part of your app or game. For
Many developers over-index on
an app, they should show users what your app does
highly designed splash screens and
and how it does it, especially if it does something better
not enough in-game action. Balance
than the competition. For games, the screenshots
is important, but if you have to pick,
should capture the audience’s attention with vivid action
in-game screen shots should always
scenes and fun features of your game. Screenshots
win out.
should show what makes your app or game different
than every other in its category. You want to have the
right balance between splash screens and in-game
action. Nicely designed splash screens with stylized art
create a mood and capture users’ attention.

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Developer Highlight Toca Kitchen 2 (Toca Boca)
Toca Kitchen 2 features screenshots that highlight
the variety of characters available, showing them
during actual gameplay. The developer offers a good
mix of action images, as well as well-designed
splash screens.

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Developer Highlight Bloons TD 5 (Ninja Kiwi)
Ninja Kiwi’s Bloons TD 5 uses well-chosen
screenshots that illustrate the several level
environments available, selection screens,
in-app purchasing, and gameplay mechanics.

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 5 Invest in video
For many people, seeing is believing. Give your
customers a way to see what it would be like to play
Now is not the time to be modest!
the game by posting a game play video to the app
Show off your best!
detail page.

You can capture video directly from your device and

create one to include on your app store product page.

What do you want • Basic gameplay – what the players expect

to show in a video? to experience.

• What makes your game unique.

• The most stunningly beautiful, captivating, or

dramatic part of your game. During the video
editing process, add a voice-over or text overlays
to explain what is happening.

• Place your new video first in the order of

screenshots on the page.

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Developer Highlight Hungry Shark Evolution (Future
Games of London)
Future Games of London demonstrates main
gameplay, configuration, upgrades, and several key
features in a brief, action-packed 21-second video
for Hungry Shark Evolution.

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Developer Highlight Geometry Dash
(RobTop Games)
RobTop Games features a 1-minute video for their
game Geometry Dash that includes explanatory
captions to help illustrate the pace and objective of
the game, as well as an energizing soundtrack.

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 6 Respond to
customer reviews
Customers notice when developers are actively Responding to all reviews
engaged with responding to customer questions and
comments. Showing that you care about the customer
Don’t forget to respond to the positive reviews, even if
experience influences a customer’s decision to
just to says “thanks”. This gesture goes a long way to
download your app and recommend it to others.
demonstrate that you care about your customers.

Responding to The best approach for negative reviews is to respond

negative reviews with what you’ve done to fix legitimate complaints,
or provide a short explanation for the problem. For
example, if a customer writes to complain that they
have to pay, say:

“Thanks for your note. We looked Customer Reviews

at several different ways to make I FOUND
this game a financially sustainable A BUG.”

project, and we decided to go with REVIEWER

in-app purchasing. We continue

MCREVIEWFACE

to explore new models as they are THANKS,

I’LL FIX IT!”
developed, and hope to thrill you with
wonderful gameplay in the future.” APPY
MCAPPFACE

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 7 Get featured on
the Amazon Appstore
We love developers at Amazon and try to feature as • If you don’t have any evidence that your app is
many apps and games as we can! Do you want us fantastic (maybe because it hasn’t been released
to highlight your work? Keep reading for step-by-step yet), try to generate some influencers who will
instructions on how to feature your app. review and rank your game as soon as it is available
for download.
Follow these • Log into the Amazon Developer Portal.
easy steps • If your game has won any indie game competitions,
• Click on the Contact Us link at the bottom of mention those awards. If you haven’t won any
the page. awards because you haven’t entered any indie
competitions, enter a competition now! If you don’t
• Select General Feedback from the dropdown list.
win, you will probably learn a lot about how to
improve your app.
• In the message, describe why you think Amazon
customers will be thrilled with your app or game. If
they love you on another store, reference your store
ranking and reviews. If journalists have written
about your app, provide links to the story. Your
goal is to convince the merchandising team that
your app will delight our customers more than any
of the other apps we might be considering for a
promotion slot.

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Indie Prize There’s really no limit to the game competitions you
Competitions can enter. There are literally hundreds hosted around
the world every week – just about every major game
event includes some kind of indie competition. Here
are just a few, for flavor:

Indie Prizes

IndieCade Ludum Dare Kongregate monthly contests

IGF Power of Play SIGC White Nights Indie Cup
The BIG Festival Indie Prize

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8 Get featured by media pros
Even better than getting your game featured by an app
store is getting featured by a games journalist, YouTuber,
Pro Tip: Create a special build with cheat
codes and send it to the pro so they can
or Twitch Broadcaster (AKA media pros). The rules here jump straight to the parts of the game
are to help make the media pro a superstar with their
that are super-interesting. Media pros may
audience and make it insanely easy for them to do so
not have the time to play their character
with your app or game. If they write back to you for info,
to level 10 to get to that super-cool boss
respond immediately! Even if it’s only to tell them when
level, so give them a shortcut so they rave
you can get back to them with the answers they’ve asked
for. It’s important to maintain good relationships with
about it in their review. Creating a special
media pros, and prompt communication is a key factor to
build may be time-consuming, but it will be
keeping them in your good graces. worth it to attract the attention of one of
these pros to boost your game.

Here are five recommendations from media pros on how to convince them to review your game:

Tip 1 Lead with an image that shows amazing action
in your game.
Tip 2 Share how much players love your game, and
give examples, such as “Won Audience Choice
at Indie Prize award” or “Came in second at Very
Big Indie Pitch.”
Tip 3 Explain how your game is different than every
other game in its genre, then prove it with a link to
a video showing off your games’ unique qualities.
Tip 4 Give them a link to download your game,
and make it easy for them to experience it
for themselves.
Tip 5 Send them to one URL where they can
download the game from multiple platforms.
You want the media pro to be able to download
and play from whatever device they have in
front of them at the moment.
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9 Additional resources
It’s easy to get started with
Amazon Appstore:
You can always learn more about other
topics by visiting our developer portal.
Watch the video
Register for a free account
Test your APK for compatibility
Get plugins for cross-platform engines,
such as Unity
Submit your Android apps and games

More about In-App Purchasing:

Learn about the Amazon IAP API
In-App Purchasing eBook
Here is a good IAP video from Easel COO
Bill Scott
In-App Purchasing Documentation

How Amazon helps you find new ways to

monetize:
Merch by Amazon
Mobile Ads
Amazon Coins Ready to submit your app?
Subscribe with Amazon Registration is free and the
Developer Promotions Console process is easy!
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