How can you refine your understanding of your customer base to help with marketing planning? You should examine this question from two angles:
Segmenting the market Dividing the existing market into sections or segments that may become new niches for your iPhone/iPad app sales
Targeted marketing Identifying the heavy users of your app, so you can direct your marketing efforts more precisely to them for repeat business
Another way to help focus your unique value is to take some time to segment your market. This exercise allows you to understand further who you are selling to and what kind of concise message you can deliver to them. If the universe of all potential buyers is your “market,” then the market can be divided into segments based on any number of factors.
For example, you might analyze your customers by age group and find that you sell (or will sell) most of your apps to people aged 18 to 34. You might segment them by family size and find that you sell most of your products to single men. You may divide them up by economic status and find that you sell most products to people with an annual income of about $30,000 to $65,000. Or you might divide them up by interests and find that you sell most of your apps to people who are avid fishermen or sports enthusiasts.
Many independent developers stop after segmenting their market once, thinking they have enough information to be able to identify and communicate with their most likely customers. However, larger, more successful app development companies will attempt to push on further to find out even more information about their customers’ lifestyles, values, life stage, and so on.
Let’s define some terms that you will come across as you segment your iPhone/iPad app market. Obviously we could mention other segments, but these are some of the most common:
The App Store requires you to segment your market to some degree when you specify the category in which to place your app. Think very carefully about the category you select for your app. This can impact your sales dramatically if someone does a Power Search on the App Store by category and does not find your app where it logically should reside. Some apps and their category placement are clear cut, such as games. As a developer, you know when you post your game app to the store that you will select the Games category to post it.
Other apps are not as simple to categorize. Perhaps you have written an app that helps someone locate a friend. The app could be placed in the Navigation category, or it could be placed in the Social Networking category. Still, someone else may have developed an app that is educational as well as entertaining. That app could go in the Entertainment or Education category. The best category for your app is where you believe your buyers would most likely search on it.
If you are struggling to figure out to which category to post your app, ask your friends which location they would naturally search on the App Store for such an app. Ask 15–20 people to get a good sample. A clear trend should emerge of one category over another. If you feel that your app is in the wrong category after posting, you can change it at any time by going to iTunes Connect, logging in, and editing your app’s profile information.
If an app is receiving mixed reviews, meaning the number of positive reviews is roughly equal to the number of negative reviews, you should very carefully read reviews as they usually indicate that the app is hitting a part of their target market but leaving the other part unsatisfied. The reviews always indicate what feature or features are missing from the app.
If you have multiple apps in your brand, you could have a different target audience based on the types of apps you have developed. For example, you may have developed game apps for children and teens, two markets that you would segment differently based on their needs. If you are selling a single app, you should look to target only one segment. Spill over into other segments is always a nice benefit, but you should focus on one market segment for best results.
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Note: This article was sent to us by: Julian G. at 04272010
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