ANDREAS PREUER: Good
morning, everybody.
Thank you so much for coming
to Secrets to Apps and Game
Success on Google Play.
My name is on Andreas Preuer.
This is Brian Quimby.
We both work on Google Play in
business development and help
game and app developers to be
successful on the platform.
So I guess I use this.
BRIAN QUIMBY:
Strong start, guys.
Here we go.
ANDREAS PREUER: And
you already know that.
There we go.
BRIAN QUIMBY: So previously,
through Google Play,
I worked on a team that
helped game and app developers
to get additional users.
And so many app developers
told me, hey, Andreas,
I have a problem.
Conversion tracking is
difficult and really
getting a good understanding
of where my users come from
was a big deal and a
big challenge, actually,
for many app and
game developers.
So that could be any of
the traffic sources--
it could be YouTube.
It could be Surge.
It could be AdMob.
Any of the organic
traffic sources.
And it was really a challenge.
So, to overcome
this challenge, we
announced at I/O, and
new tool, a new report,
that helps you getting a better
understanding about your user
acquisition channels.
And so this is actually the
report that you can see here.
So you can follow, now, your
users from the Play Store
listing, to the install,
and to the purchase.
And so this report
is really beautiful
to get the full
understanding of your funnel.
The great thing is
you can even follow
you can even follow your users
to the next stage, which is
actually the repeat purchasers.
But that's not everything.
Beyond the funnel,
you can actually
also see the traffic sources.
The traffic sources can
be organic on Google Play.
But it can be also, beyond
that, any third party traffic
source that you have.
And so you can drill
down on the traffic
sources that can be Google
search keywords that
can be u.t.m.
tagged traffic or any
third party traffic source
that you have.
And so now, with this full
understanding of your traffic
funnel, so from the user who
comes to the Play Store listing
to the installer, the
purchaser, the repeat purchaser,
you have a full
understanding of that funnel.
But on top of that, you also
know where the users come from.
This allows you to take action.
And you can optimize
your store listing.
So I want to dig into
this a little more.
How to optimize
your store listing.
When you get started,
initially, it's
very important to really think
about your icon, your app
icon and your game icon.
This every user
to find your app,
your game, not only in the Play
Store, but also on the phone.
And so you can do
a couple of things.
One recommendation that we
have is keep your icon fresh.
You can even seasonally
adjust it for holidays.
The second very important
piece is your title.
Think about it.
Keep it short.
Keep it unique.
You can see here,
actually, a word play.
And really keep it
unique and special.
At the same time, be
thoughtful about your brand.
You may actually
have a version two.
You may have a second
app at a later stage.
Make sure that you are
thoughtful about your brand.
And then, thirdly, it's
really important, also,
to think about your description.
There are a couple of
things to keep in mind.
Keep it short.
Keep it simple.
But also have
bullet points there.
And there is one
important thing.
Whenever you write
your app description,
also make sure to check
it out on your phone,
to see the app description, if
everything is above the fold,
that you really
want to communicate.
And so that brings me to
store listing experiments.
Store listing
experiments is a product
that we launched to
really help you getting
a better understanding of
the performance of your store
listing.
So that allows you to
understand how many conversions
do you actually get from the
users who visit your store
listing.
And so you can test for various
different parts of the store
listing.
It can be a title.
It can be the description.
That can be all
the graphic assets
that you have on
your store listing.
And so how does that work?
So we recommend that
you start with the icon.
Our tests showed
that you actually
will see the most
impact on the icon.
So test early and
make your first thing
that you really, really
want to test out.
And so there are a couple
of our best practices
here that we really
want to share with you.
Start with an idea in
mind, some hypothesis
that you want to test for.
Only test one thing at
one time to make sure
that you can trust
your results, and you
know what drove the impact.
And then, also, iterate
and learn from that.
And then also make sure
that the test that you run
is actually statistically
significant.
Whenever you do so,
there is also actually
a banner within the
developer console
that shows you as soon as
the test is significant.
And you can move on and be sure
that you can trust the results.
And then, the great thing
about this whole feature
and this whole product
is that this is all free.
There is not even
code needed for it.
We have a couple
of examples here.
The first I want to
show you is congregate.
They saw a 91%
increase in installs
just by testing the icon.
That's pretty amazing.
91% from the first control to
the last that you can see here.
That's the variant C. A
91% increase in installs.
Here is another example.
Rovio tested three rounds.
So they started the first part.
And then they figured out, oh,
this is actually a good result.
They continued a second
round, a third round.
And then they really understood
which icon is actually
the best for their game.
Here we have another example.
One of our partners that
we work with closely
tested a very small thing
that's really just a screenshot
on a store listing of the game.
The one thing they modified
it is actually showing,
now, game play within
that screenshot
instead of just showing
the screen shot.
And that little tweak actually
increased the conversion rate
by 6%.
I will now hand it
over to Brian who
will talk to you about
alpha beta testing.
BRIAN QUIMBY: It's too bad
I will not have a clicker.
But alas.
Thanks a lot, Andreas.
How cool is that, right?
Store listing experiments?
Free user testing.
Put some different icons.
Put some different descriptions.
Figure out what's converting
best for your users.
So now that you have that
solid Play Store listing,
I kind of want to back up a
little and talk about some
of the best practices related
to actually releasing your app.
So what Google Developer
Console provides
is an easy way for you to
prototype, iterate, test,
and then eventually launch your
app, with alpha beta testing,
and staged rollout outs.
So this is one at
the top reasons
that developers tell us Play
is such a fantastic platform
to develop for.
This is a unique tool.
It's going to let you
get high quality results
and really take control
of your app rollouts.
And we see most of our
successful developers
using these features.
So you're going to start
with an alpha test,
upload that APK, set
it to the channel,
move on to beta
testing, and then,
once you're convinced that
that package, that new release
that you have is good, we
can do staged rollouts,
releasing that APK to only a
percentage of your developers
before moving on to
your full rollout.
And we've got that
stat up there, right?
80% of the most
successful apps at Play
are using these staged rollouts
in alpha and beta testing.
So beta testing.
Very awesome feature
on Google Play.
You can distribute your app
to only a subset of users
and get their feedback, rather
than releasing it to everyone
at once and then, you
know, crossing your fingers
and hoping you're not crashing
on some random device.
So beta testing, users are
going to opt in to be testing.
They can't leave reviews.
And they're not going
to be able to leak
confidential features, or
something, by posting something
on your page.
You're going to be able to have
two different versions that you
can beta test with.
And if you haven't ever
launched on Play yet,
we definitely recommend
you're starting out
with using beta testing, so
you can get the app out there,
make sure that things are
working out right-- again,
before you move on to
that full roll out.
And then, if your
app's already live,
you can test new features
in the beta channel.
Put the new APK up there,
upload it, release it out
to a subset of those users.
Good to go.
This is what the
beta testing tab
looks like within the
developer console.
You see you've
got the production
one on the left, beta testing,
and then alpha testing.
And just upload something to
alpha testing or beta testing
channel.
You're just going to click
on that Upload New APK button
right there.
So two ways that we can
go about testing our new
build, open or closed.
Closed alpha or beta testing
is invite only and managed
through Google Groups.
No more of the G+ communities,
if that was something that was
irking you.
So this means all
you have to do is
add an email
address to the group
and then send your
users that link.
They can download the
alpha and beta builds.
Now, the other way you
can do it is actually
have an open alpha
or open beta test.
This is going to
give you a custom
URL that you can then send out
to as many users as you want.
If you want to tweet
it to some people,
if you want to send it
out, maybe, an email
list that you have for your
power users or subscribers.
So a number of top
developers have
seen a lot of great success,
starting with maybe the closed
testing, moving over to
the open testing now.
Throwing up an example.
Quick case study for you guys
to help convince you that this
is an awesome way to go.
This is the "Guardian," a
great newspaper out of the UK.
Over the past six
month period, and they
trialed every one of
their new features,
first in the beta channel.
They uploaded a new nightly
build to the alpha channel
and then eventually
pushed out to the public.
And so beyond just
getting the feedback,
it's a safe place for them to
test, innovate, and experiment
without any danger to the brand.
No one who's seeing
the live version
is not expecting any--
oh, it's crashing.
There's too many bugs.
Everything is only
in that beta channel.
And again, everything's
opt in as well.
So these users are
seeing the link.
They're clicking
become a tester.
And that's how they're getting
access to those new builds.
For the "Guardian," it
used to take about a month
or so to launch new features.
Now it's going down to
just even a week or two,
and they're able to push
some of these things out.
So now that you
have a beta build
that you're confident with,
maybe you started with alpha,
you moved to the beta channel,
tried some in the open beta
testing, maybe had the
closed beta testing at first
to work out any
new bugs or kinks,
now it's actually time
to push to production.
Even then, though,
we can still only
distribute that to a subset
of users to keep on testing,
keep on iterating, and
make sure that everything
is going to be good to go.
This is staged rollouts.
You can roll out that new APK
to a controlled percentage
of users.
These users are
selected randomly.
They won't know what
build they're getting
when they go to the Play Store.
But you're going to have
access to detailed logs, crash
reports, analytics.
You're going to see
which is happening
depending on which version
of the APK that people got.
All you've got to do, click
Upload New APK to production.
Then you're going to see
that staged rollout screen
with these percentages, right?
5%, 10%, 20%, and then up
to 100% for full roll out.
After you upload it, you're
looking at the crash reports,
looking at bugs,
features, user feedback.
You're going to
iterate even then.
If you want to take a new APK,
bump that up, and then publish
that out to other people,
you're going to have the ability
to do that, too.
And then, eventually, once
you're confident in that build,
you've gone through
the testing process,
you've done a staged
rollout, you can hit 100%
and fully push that build out to
production for everyone to get.
So cool, come on?
Alpha beta testing.
[APPLAUSE]
Yeah, there we go.
Waking up in here.
I know, I barely got to finish
my coffee this morning, too,
it's all right.
So we've got a great build live.
But now I want to
talk real quick
about some of the
intricacies of developing
for those users in
international markets.
Localization of your APK, and,
also, your Play Store listing,
is going to be really
key to you guys
to make sure app is
successful no matter
where your users are located.
Google Play, as you
know, massive reach.
Truly a global platform.
You're going to getting
users from all over.
And once you have a good sense
that your app is working,
your app is seeing
downloads, you
want to make sure that we can
achieve your goals by really
reaching users in all
these different countries.
So the first thing
to think about
once you want to
go international
is making sure that people can
actually understand your app,
understand your listing.
And so we want to talk
about localization.
You can localize the
strings within your APK.
You can localize your
screenshots, your Play Store
listings.
As a quick incentive,
quick plug,
if you come to the Google
Play office hours later,
and you are interested
in localization,
I have some coupons
that I can give you.
And I'll walk through
how you can actually
use the localization services
provided within the Play
Developer consoles.
Localization, making sure
that your app is translated.
Two, pricing for local markets.
Cool thing that we just
rolled out with Google Play,
sub dollar pricing.
So this is going to let you
have very, very low prices
depending on what
currency you want,
depending on what region you
want to have your published in.
And then three, right,
app performance.
If your app is being launched
in different markets,
we might have to optimize
for smaller download
sizes, your ability to
work on Data Connections
that aren't as strong,
low memory use, right,
the devices that people
have access to in some
of these different areas.
We want to make sure
that we're really
thinking about these things
as we're developing our app.
I just told you some
high level general tips.
How can you guys find
specific tips out, though,
for your apps?
Good news.
Within the optimization tips
section of the developer
console, you'll see we now have
a lot of awesome localization
tips.
So here's an example
on my to do list.
Translate my product
descriptions,
add localized graphics,
translate strings in my APK.
You're going to find
all of these tips right
within your developer
console now.
So you can take action
on them and make sure
that your app is
good to go regardless
of where the user are
who are downloading it.
What I just talked
about, that first option,
translating your play store
listing, transiting your APK,
super easy from within
the developer console now.
After you just hit that store
listing, manage translations,
you can add your own
translation text.
Or you can purchase translations
for your Google Play Store
listing.
If you don't provide
translation text,
Google Play is
going to either show
an automated translation
or the default
language for your application.
And if you think
about that, neither
are really ideal if
you have a user who
speaks in their language
who's visiting your app,
visiting your Play Store listing
and wants to download your app.
So highly recommend either
adding your own translation
text for your Play
Store listing,
or you can purchase
that directly
from the developer console.
In addition to your
store listing, as I said,
you want to make sure that
your APK itself, the strings
within it, are good to
go as well, regardless
of where your users are.
Google makes the super easy
using the APK translation
service.
You can either purchase
those strings again
and purchase those translations
from the developer console.
Or you can add those yourself.
So to get there, within the dev
console, right at the bottom,
you're going to start
or check progress
under the APK translation
service, upload your XML file,
select your target language.
And I'll go into, real quick,
what that next screen looks
like in terms of
actually purchasing
translated text and
translation options, if you
want to do that.
So you're going to be presented
with a list of third party
vendors who are pre-qualified
by Google to offer high quality
translations at
competitive prices.
You can upload the
strings that you want,
select the language
to translate into
and then choose your
translation vendor
based off price and time.
Once you've purchased
translations,
you get an email
from that vendor.
And then the
lawyers make me say,
the translations are an
independent business agreement
between you and your vendor.
You'll need to work
with your vendor
to manage any translation
process and deliverables.
Thanks guys.
However, all built right
within the developer console.
You're going to be able
to see the progress.
[INAUDIBLE] It's great.
Really good feature.
Come on slides.
Awesome.
So last thing I wanted to
go over today, something
called developer pages.
This is a relatively new
feature that we just launched.
This is going to let you have a
branded presence on the Google
Play Store.
If you think about
it, when you actually
click on the developer name,
or the title of an app,
you're going to see that page
that just has a bunch of apps
that that developer makes.
This is going to transform
that sort of generic page
into something that's
awesome and is really
representative of your brand.
Developer pages lets
you upload a graphic,
explain what your
company is all about,
and even pick a special
app to feature at the top.
The developer page is going to
give you a single destination
to promote all of your
apps on Google Play.
And many of our top partners,
one in four, in fact,
have already created their page.
You can check out
any do right here.
So they have that
nice banner at the top
with some promotional text,
graphics on top of that.
You can see an icon for
the developer, explanation,
and then they have
that featured app.
Easy to show off
your brand and cross
promote your apps with
Google Play Developer pages.
That was it on mobile.
And I know you guys,
mobile first, tablet first,
but developer pages also look
great on desktop browsers.
This is Yidio, really cool
app if you're a cord cutter
and want to see where
the different shows are
on right now.
This is what the developer page
looks like on desktop, though.
Again, featured app there,
awesome graphic banner
at the top, some descriptions,
things like that.
So, super tactfully,
how do we actually
build a developer page?
And if we want to
get interactive,
I see a lot of you
with your laptops out.
Feel free to fire your
developer consoles right now.
So literally take five minutes.
We can walk through it together.
On the left side, click
Settings, developer page.
Add your information at the top.
So we'll start out in English.
Put your promotional
text on there.
It can be up to 140 characters.
Nothing else is 140 characters
that I'm thinking about.
So this is perfect
for right up here.
You can add a
translation if you want
and then, again, stick your
company website up there too.
You'll need a developer icon
and a large header image
at the top.
And then, again, as
an optional feature,
you can also add a featured app.
So if someone is visiting
your developer page,
they're going to see that
app there at the top.
You can also have your other
apps listed at the bottom.
If you have a promotion,
or seasonal special,
you can rotate them featured app
at the top of your screen now.
I see everyone really
clicking and intensely typing,
so I'm going to assume
you're all building developer
pages with me right now.
It's good.
So that's actually
all I had to go over.
A couple things, little
housekeeping items.
So first off, as
Andreas and I mentioned,
we work on the business
development team at Play.
If you guys are interested
in working with us,
two links up there at the top,
g.co/Play/Apps if you're an app
developer; g.co/Play/GamesBD
if you're a games developer.
That will take to a form.
You can fill that out,
let us know your thoughts,
let us know your priorities,
tell us about your app a bit.
And you can get back to us.
Give us feedback.
If you liked hearing me up here
ramble on about some things.
If you didn't like
it, if you thought
Andreas was way better
than me-- which I tend to.
Give us feedback.
That's the forms
link right there.
And then, as I
mentioned before, we're
going to be having office hours.
So if you have
questions about Play,
if you have questions about
the developer console,
feel free to stop by.
As I mentioned, we have coupons.
For translation services you
can use some of those cool tools
we're talking about.
And Google also just
released a new Secrets
to App Success book.
So if you want to swing
by our office hours,
we'll hopefully hook you
up with one of these.
Lots of great content.
And each of the topics
that we cover today
is also in this book
in a lot more detail.
So with that, I'm
going to wrap up.
I think we probably have
maybe 15 minutes or so
for some questions.
Or we can walk around and
talk to you guys, too.
AUDIENCE: So I have
a few questions.
So you said icon of the app
is the most significant impact
you can do very quickly.
And I'm assuming you
don't change the app,
you don't change the icon in the
app itself, only on the store.
Is that something that you do?
ANDREAS PREUER: So you
would modify the app icon.
Obviously, that
makes the most sense
if you test it, actually,
at a very early stage
of development.
And so that's when you actually
want to test for the icon.
And so you test it
both on a store,
but also for the app itself.
AUDIENCE: I guess
what I'm getting at,
if I have a different
app icon in my app,
I don't want to redeploy my
app just to change the icon.
So I would change it
on the Play Store.
But then the app itself
has a different icon.
Is that something
that's OK, you think?
ANDREAS PREUER: I
believe it's better
if you keep it
consistent because it's
kind of like your brand, also.
But it's also where
any user would
find your app again,
either on the phone,
but also on the Play Store.
So you want to make sure
that it's kind of consistent.
But clearly, when it's
actually at an early stage,
you can easily test for it.
And then you can actually test
various different iterations
without having to
update the app.
So if that is at an early stage,
I think that's totally fine.
But generally, make sure to
keep it consistent as well.
AUDIENCE: OK, that
means if I want
to change the icon
for the holidays,
I would need to deploy a new
APK just to change the icon
and have a whatever.
ANDREAS PREUER: So within
the developer console,
you don't have to actually
modify or adjust the APK.
So that's just a change
within developer console.
AUDIENCE: OK.
So if I may, a couple
more questions.
Do you expand the
number of [INAUDIBLE]
for your translation services?
Because I used to use them.
And then we would decide to
support some Nordic languages,
like Norwegian,
Swedish, Finnish, so on.
And there were not available.
So I had to switch to
a different service.
So is it something that
you guys keep changing.
I haven't checked
for a few months.
But is it something that
you're expanding constantly?
BRIAN QUIMBY: Yeah
I would check again.
I'm pretty sure that there
are a lot of languages
that are covered right now.
Off the top of my head, I
don't know the specific ones.
But again, because
at least if you're
purchasing the translations
through Google,
it's those third
party vendors, you
should be able to find
someone out there who's
been vetted by
Google who's going
to be able to translate into
that language that you want.
AUDIENCE: OK.
Also, you mentioned that if
you don't translate the store
description, it's shown
either in default language
or auto-translated.
Do we have any
control over that,
or it's like automatic
user setting?
BRIAN QUIMBY: Yeah,
I'm not sure if there's
any specific control that you
have over saying which it is.
The user will have
their default language.
And then, if you go on
the Play Store desktop,
right, there's that little
thing that pops up that says,
do you want Google
to translate this?
And then they can click it.
So I mean, I guess, there's some
control if the user clicks that
or not.
But I mean, I'd say, best
practice is probably just
to have a translation in
there for whatever language
the user is in.
AUDIENCE: OK, and the last
question is, developer page.
Do you have any data on the
impact that it makes, is it
a worthy investment?
Should I just go
do it right now?
Do you have any-- anything?
BRIAN QUIMBY: Yeah,
so nothing specific
that we were going to share yet.
But right now, it's
just a really cool way
to promote your brand.
You saw it on desktop.
You saw it on mobile.
People are cross clicking
between your apps.
It's a good way
that you can show
the different-- your featured
app, or some of the other apps
that you have.
But yeah, I'm sure,
at some point,
that we'll release some
information on that.
AUDIENCE: OK, so I'm
guessing for a single app,
if the developer
has just one app,
maybe it's not as available.
But I can clearly see,
if you have multiples,
that's the way to promote.
BRIAN QUIMBY: I mean, even if
you only have one app, though,
you can still pin it to the
top and have that as sort
of your mini featured app.
So I think it can
still be a strong way
to promote your brand.
ANDREAS PREUER: Also, the
cost is actually very low.
Like, it's something
that takes you a minute,
and, at the same
time, there is no cost
associated with it itself.
So it's pretty straightforward
and pretty easy to set up.
AUDIENCE: Great talk,
thank you for sharing.
I have a question related
to staged rollout.
Can you elaborate
a little bit more
about the selection of
new and upgraded users
about upgrading for the
same percentage of users?
BRIAN QUIMBY: So once
you have pushed--
AUDIENCE: For example,
we released it for 10%.
And we found some
critical issues in it.
And we roll out the new APK
for the same percentage.
What will happen?
BRIAN QUIMBY: Yeah, so it
gets a little tricky there.
So we can sync real
quick afterwards.
And I can show you there's
a nice support page,
actually, in the
developer page that says,
yeah, so you roll out
the 10% or something.
If you find an issue, and
you want to update it,
how do you get that
update to go to the 10%
if you want to keep
iterating or something.
So let me come over
there afterwards.
And I'll show you the page.
I believe so because,
again, we do want to push 10
and you have issues with it.
Then you're going to push it
to another 10% or something.
So that's the point of the
staged rollout concept.
But again, I'll show
you guys the actual page
where it outlines very,
very specifically how
you can do that.
AUDIENCE: Actually, we're
quite familiar with this page.
And the question is
exactly what was mentioned.
Will the same 10%
of users receive.
The update.
BRIAN QUIMBY: I believe, so yes.
But if it doesn't say so
specifically on that one stage
rollout bit, then I'm not
sure off the top of my head.
But let's follow up.
I want to get you that answer.
AUDIENCE: Another part,
what is the percentage
between new and
upgraded users when
we roll out to the same 10%?
Will it be like 5% of new users
and 5% of operating upgraded
users, or something different?
BRIAN QUIMBY: In terms
of who gets pushed that?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
BRIAN QUIMBY: I don't think
there's any specifics.
I think it's pretty
arbitrary, intentionally,
that it just pushes it to
a subset of your user base
out there.
AUDIENCE: There is no
guarantee that there
will be any new users
or any updated users.
BRIAN QUIMBY: I
don't believe so.
But, again, we can
follow up on that.
Sorry, this is kind of
specific questions about it.
But yeah, let's find out.
AUDIENCE: Sure, thank you.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
Thanks.
I have a few questions.
I'll just do them
all at the same time,
so you can respond in
whatever order you see fit.
BRIAN QUIMBY: Sure.
AUDIENCE: One is, do
you have any recommended
strategies for dealing with
sort of irrelevant user reviews?
For example, I work on an
app that, basically, you
can buy digital content on.
And people are
sometimes disappointed
to realize that they actually
have to pay for the content.
And they leave negative reviews
because of that disappointment.
They give one star reviews.
And it's not a fair
review of our app.
Because we don't
advertise that we're
giving away anything for free.
So that's one issue.
BRIAN QUIMBY: So I can
take that real quick.
So one of the cool things
within the developer console
is you can actually
respond to user reviews.
So that's something
that we definitely would
recommend that developers do.
So if you get a one star
review, particularly
if it's something where
the user should have known
they had to pay for something,
or there's an issue like that,
you can respond to
that user review.
And it's going to show
up right below that.
AUDIENCE: Right, I mean, we're
definitely aware of that.
And we've tried that with a
very, very limited request.
I mean, just most
users at that point,
don't care enough to
update the review.
Or they're still not happy with
like what-- it still doesn't
meet their expectations.
So that's one thing
that I don't really
have a suggestion for
like how to improve,
but having some
sort of criteria,
like, for example, the helpful
reviews sort of sorting,
theoretically, could help.
But we've noticed on
our app that doesn't.
Some of those views are
actually ranked up high when
it's sorted by helpfulness.
So that's one thing, if like the
hopefulness could be improved,
that could actually
help, at least, no maybe
with the average score, but
with the order of reviews.
BRIAN QUIMBY: So one of the
things that some developers do,
if, when you're responding to
a review that's particularly
negative, say, hey, go
ahead and contact us
at support@briansapp.com
something.
And then you have a
sort of different form
that you can try to
resolve the issue.
And then maybe that
could incentivize
them to go back later and
actually update their review,
update the star
that they put there.
AUDIENCE: OK.
ANDREAS PREUER:
You can also really
try and test various different
descriptions around it
to be very explicit about
like what your app is
all about so that users,
before they download it,
really get a good understanding
about what the app is all
about.
And you can test various
different descriptions as well.
AUDIENCE: So that goes,
actually, to my next question.
There might be a way,
I'm not aware of it.
It would be cool if you could
see the stats for many times,
and if users actually
expand the description.
Because the description
as you see it,
normally, is just
like two lines.
And you can't really
fit much in there.
So it'd be interesting to see
a look how many of those users
are actually reading
the description.
Because I would suspect
that most don't.
I mean, I typically
never do, myself.
So that's one thing--
BRIAN QUIMBY: The show more, or
whatever, with the tab there?
ANDREAS PREUER: So we don't
have any stats around it.
But it's definitely
something-- anything
that you think is really,
really important to communicate
to your users, make sure
to have it above the fold
so that most of the
users actually see it,
or all of the users see it.
There's definitely a break
off as soon as you actually
have the expand.
AUDIENCE: OK, and
with beta testing,
again, I have very
limited experience.
But as far as I understand,
there-- well, basically, I
sort of felt like
it would be nice
if there were more
avenues to get input
from the beta testers.
For example, if I don't have
access to a lot of devices,
and I'm using my
beta testers to say,
OK, you have a Samsung device.
You have a LG device.
And one of these
devices has a problem,
an easier way for
that user to be
able to submit either
screenshots or screen
recording, or
something like that
to me, so I can see what the
issue is-- like it might not
be a crash.
It might just be a layout
issue or something like that.
So that would be really helpful.
So more avenues of communication
and data collection, of course,
with the user's approval
in each individual case
for beta testers?
ANDREAS PREUER: So there is
one way that you can do that.
So for beta testing,
you can actually
now not only use the
group, but you can also
actually create a link.
And that link can be
distributed through whatever
channel you want to.
And so, if you start
a campaign, and it
could be, for example,
an AdWords campaign
where you can target
a specific device,
then you can push out your
beta APK to a couple of users.
They're all on that
specific device, which
allows you to learn
much more about users
for the specific device.
That's one way to do it.
And you can choose whichever
channel you use to push it out.
But one way that
I'm familiar with
is, actually, if
you use AdWords,
and you just target,
specifically,
users that have that
specific device.
And you'll get
feedback from them.
AUDIENCE: Right.
I'm talking about the next
step, where it's like,
if one of those devices
have a specific issue,
for example, a
layout issue, it be
nice if the user could submit
a screenshot, or a screen
recording, of that
issue more easily.
Right now, I would have to
communicate with the user,
ask them, hey, here are the
steps, record your screen,
please.
And then, you know, if they're
nice enough and savvy enough
to do it, they might.
But more streamlined experience
for the beta testers themselves
would really be helpful.
BRIAN QUIMBY: I
mean, you can always
have feedback mechanism
built within your app.
So a lot of Google apps
shake to give feedback.
Or you can click a
menu option and send
feedback, something like that.
If you're doing closed
beta, right, you
have access to
that Google group.
So you can always work out some
type of communication methods
around there.
But yeah, definitely hear
your feedback, though.
AUDIENCE: And is
there any mechanism
to provide rewards
for beta testers.
Like if someone
was a beta tester,
and they submitted an issue,
like you want to give them
a paid version or--
BRIAN QUIMBY: Gamify
it or something?
AUDIENCE: Is there a
mechanism for that right now?
BRIAN QUIMBY: I don't think
built in within the developer
console.
Alpha and beta
channels, there is.
AUDIENCE: OK, thank you.
AUDIENCE: What is
your appreciation
for prompting in app feedbacks,
like prompting the user
to give us some feedback
in the Play Store?
Does that work?
Is it recommended?
Is it-- what are your thoughts?
BRIAN QUIMBY: What do you mean?
AUDIENCE: A lot of apps pop
up with a dialogue asking you
if you want to rate
them now, later--
BRIAN QUIMBY: Oh, now or later.
Yeah, I'm not sure off
the top of my head.
There we go, screen saver.
If I have any particular
our best practices
or anything around that.
I can say--
AUDIENCE: If it works.
BRIAN QUIMBY: If it works--
AUDIENCE: Or it's
annoying or something.
BRIAN QUIMBY: I
mean, I certainly
find it annoying at some
spots, me personally.
I'm not sure if we have any
best practices around when
you should ask for a rating,
or when you ask for feedback.
But you know, I
would say just figure
out when a user is
going to be most
likely to click on
that call to action
and not find it annoying.
So, you know,
probably someone who's
already engaged with
your app, probably
someone who has spent a
certain amount of time
there, and maybe given you a
rating in a previous version
or something.
I think there's definitely
some different signals that you
could use to figure out who
you should prompt with that
rather than just sort of
spam everybody with it.
AUDIENCE: Hey guys.
Have you had any
experience with people
having negative feedback
from a developer
standpoint in alpha
beta and wanting
to roll back to a production
and not be able to do so?
Like, say, for instance,
adding a certain feature
in a manifest, or raising target
SDK, and having that be bumped,
and then not being able
to take a step backwards?
BRIAN QUIMBY: That's tough.
Again, I'd say let's
meet afterwards,
and we can look at the specifics
of when you roll a feature out,
when you roll it
back, when you're
pushing a certain
percentage, pushing back.
Because I don't want to
give any misinformation.
But, you know, the
whole point, though,
is, right, you're going
to be able to push it out
to a certain set of users.
You're going to be able
to iterate and launch.
And, I suppose, you
could always just,
if you have a
previous version want
to roll back to, right, maybe
push that one out instead.
But again, let's let's
sync afterwards instead
of me trying to tell you
off the top of my head.
AUDIENCE: Have you guys seen
any successful strategies
for managing paid
upgrades in apps?
And are you guys
working on anything
to make that easier
for developers?
ANDREAS PREUER:
What's the question?
If we have seen any
successful premium apps?
AUDIENCE: No, good strategies
for handling upgrades,
paid upgrades-- updates.
AUDIENCE: Updates 2.0.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, do 2.0,
be able to charge for it.
Have you seen anyone
have any patterns that
are successful for that?
And are you guys
thinking about it
or have any idea towards that?
ANDREAS PREUER:
Yeah, definitely.
There are a couple of
examples out there.
I'd really just look
at apps or games that
are doing this successfully.
I don't want to actually
point one or the other that
is actually, of the
partners that we work with,
point out here.
But we can sync,
definitely, later on.
It's also good practice
to kind of like,
if you have the same app,
or like, oh, think about,
is it hard to get
your users from app A
to app B. In many
cases, it's probably
better to actually
keep the users in there
and offer additional content
and potentially upsell
your content in there.
There can be a break
off if you actually
want to push your
users to another app.
But we can talk
about this in detail
later on in the office
hour if you want to.
AUDIENCE: Hi guys.
I really love the new user
acquisition capability
within the developer console.
But I feel there's a
bit of a feature gap
right now where you can't
really see a lot of visibility
into what's
happening organically
within the store itself.
So you can certainly
track things
that happen outside the
store, like an ad campaign.
But you don't understand
what the organic traffic is
comprised of, so what keywords
are people searching for,
which promotional positions
are driving traffic,
and so on, and so forth.
So that'd be a great
feature request.
ANDREAS PREUER: Yeah, totally.
So at this point, you can
see your keyword searches.
You can see you UTM Tac traffic.
So that allows you to
get an understanding
of your third party traffic.
But you can not dig
into all of the details.
And so definite
take that feedback.
And that's something that
we're actively working on.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
I know that you guys have a
lot of statistics on crashes
and that's sort of
thing, and particularly
looking at the user reviews
from the developer console.
But as far as I
noticed, there's no way
to like export them to like
a CSV or something like that.
Is that something that's coming?
Is that there, and
I just am blind?
ANDREAS PREUER: There's nothing
that I can share specifically
about an export functionality.
But definitely, the reporting
that you can see for reviews,
you see actually quite a
lot of iterations there
and, actually, updates.
So stay tuned on this.
AUDIENCE: Thanks.
AUDIENCE: Quick question.
You talked about
optimizing prices
for different local markets.
Do you have any guidance on
specifics for doing that?
You know, if I've got a
$0.99 app here in the states,
what do I do with that
in 100 other countries?
BRIAN QUIMBY: Yeah.
I mean, some devs, with the
new sub-dollar pricing options,
are testing out a lot of
different pricing options.
You have the ability within
the developer console
to use the currency converter.
So you can click
real quick and then,
depending on whatever the
day's exchange rates are,
it's going to try to
figure out the pricing
for the different markets.
Yeah, it's still kind of
early days for some of this.
So I think there are a couple
high level tips and strategies.
And again, not to
plug Office Hours,
but I think we have
about two seconds left.
So yeah, if you want
to swing by, you know,
lots of good stuff also
in the app success book
that we can give
you that covers some
of the international markets,
different monetization
strategies, and
some of the stuff
you can do with the
sub dollar pricing.
AUDIENCE: When are
your office hours?
BRIAN QUIMBY: I believe
they start at 1:15 today.
The location, that's a
good question though.
I think, not here?
ANDREAS PREUER: In here.
In here.
I'll be wearing the
same shirt, I promise.
AUDIENCE: Actually, office hours
are out in front of grand hall.
BRIAN QUIMBY: OK, there we go.
Cool.
I think other people are
coming in here kicking us out.
So thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
ANDREAS PREUER:
Thank you, everybody.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
