Nice to meet you! This is Hashimoto, who is in charge of design work at Liberteenz.
As a designer related to app advertising and ASO, I make full use of the functions of the App Store and train daily to create designs that convey the appeal of apps. I would like to introduce the business content and achievements that we have worked on. It's been more than half a year since In-App Events was released, but are you getting the most out of it? Our clients have already implemented it in many apps. However, I think that there are many people who have questions such as "What are In-App Events?" This time, our company was in charge of In-App Events for the domestic matching app "Tapple" with a cumulative total of 15 million members, so we will introduce practical content and answer your questions and problems. I would appreciate it if you could solve it 😊
Introduction of Partner Companies
I'm sure many of you are familiar with the dating app "Tapple" by Tapple, Inc., a member of the CyberAgent Group, which cooperates in introducing examples of In-App Events.
Tapple - Matching app for dating and marriage [official] | CyberAgent group company management
For those of you who don't know the app, let me provide you with an introduction:
Launched in May 2014, “Tapple” is the largest matching app in Japan. As an app that allows you to have "a very fun date that you can meet immediately", it provides an "outing function" that allows you to recruit and match partners from more than 1,000 types of date plans, and not only conditions such as annual income and occupation, but also what you like. The feature lets you meet a partner who can spend time in your own way, and it is supported mainly by men and women in their 20s. We have established the highest safety and security standards in the industry, and provide 24/7 manned surveillance, identity verification with public ID cards, and customer support via phone in case of trouble. In 2022, the cumulative number of members will exceed 15 million, and the cumulative number of matches will exceed 500 million.
(https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000052.000044116.html)
I would like to introduce how our company supports and distributes one of the iOS functions "In-App Events" of such a popular app, "Tapple"!
What kind of events can be applied?
In short, if you pass the review, you can stream any event. So what exactly is an event that fails the examination?
Here's Apple's policy: 👇
In-app events are suitable for challenges, competitions, special content reveals, etc.
The following content is not suitable for in-app events:
- Recurring activities, such as daily tasks and rewards.
- Pricing promotions that do not involve offering new content, features, or products.
- General promotions to raise awareness of your app or game.
In-app events can showcase long-term or ongoing content additions or new features, but the event itself should focus on relevant, limited-time content.
Going off of the list above, regular in-app functions and price promotions violate Apple's policy, so it seems difficult to implement an event, but what is the actual situation?
Since the release of In-App Events, we have been continuously implementing In-App Events with Tapple, and we will introduce them based on actual examples.
Price Promotion
Is it possible to set price promotions as In-App Events?
Let's take a look at an example from "Tapple"!
In "Tapple", there are in-app purchases ranging from subscriptions to paid plans and purchase of convenient in-app items to make it easier to meet. In early November 2021, we were planning to implement a cashback campaign for paid plan subscriptions within the app. As a trial, I actually created creatives and texts for the promotion event and applied for the event.
I waited for the review result with a sliver of hope, but unfortunately, as the feedback from Apple below, the review did not pass because it fell under the price promotion genre.
“Your event is not a good candidate for in-app events as it is a price promotion without any new content, features, or experiences.”
Due to the fact that the event was actually submitted for review and was rejected, we were unable to price promote it as an In-App Event.
In early January 2022, we were planning to implement an in-app campaign where the subscription to the paid plan would be "free forever". The "permanent free" campaign is a very popular event every time, and although it was rejected for the price promotion, I tried applying again as an In-App Event, but unfortunately the result was the same. As always, the submitted event could not pass the review due to the same reason.
Officially, it is announced that “price promotions without providing new content, functions, or products'' are not possible, but there are cases where price promotions are possible with other apps, so this seems to be a high hurdle.
Stationary Functions In The App
Implementing price promotions as In-App Events is a very difficult hurdle, but what about regular in-app functions? Here, regular functions are functions that have been implemented for a long time, and they are functions that have no specific period of time!
Therefore, it is not suitable as an event according to Apple's policy, and it is likely that even if you submit a regular function as an event, it will be rejected.
However, the review of regular in-app functions tends to be different between the past and the present.
At the beginning of the In-App Events release, it was easy to pass the review. On the other hand, now (after March 2022), Apple's review has become stricter, and the possibility of passing the review is considerably low.
Let's take a look at the actual case of "Tapple" here.
"Tapple" has wonderful functions for meeting your ideal partner, such as "Date Plan" where you can search for a person you like from what you want to do or where you want to go, and "Outing Function" where you may find a date partner within 24 hours. The unique function of “Tapple”, which allows you to find a love partner based on what you like, is a regular function, but we want as many users as possible to know about it. Around November 2021, when In-App Events was first released, I applied for a “date plan” (then called Wish Card) and “outing function” as an event. As a result, we passed the screening. We were able to actually display the event card on the store page, and we were able to appeal to many users using the wonderful constant function of "Tapple"
However… in January 2022, when I applied for an in-app regular function as an event in the same way as above, it was rejected for the following reasons.
“The event is not appropriate for in-app events because it does not introduce new features or content, or recurs too frequently (such as a daily task or reward)”
Is it Apple's review policy change? Or was it a looser review criteria at the beginning of the release to increase the number of developers who implement In-App Events? I don't know why, but now it seems difficult to pass the review even if you submit an in-app regular function as an event.
Even if you have created creatives and texts, if they do not pass the event screening and are not seen by users, the resources you have allocated will be wasted.
About Event Creative Production
When setting up In-App Events, there are many items that need to be set, such as "event name", "brief description", "detailed description", and "deep link". Please check this article for more details.
The creatives used in the event cards and detail pages play an important role in getting people interested in the event and tapping on it.
Similarly, the “event details page” is also creative and important. I will explain each in detail.
Event card: A creative event page that appeals to the event displayed on the product page and search results
Since the creative is displayed in a wider range than the "Event Card" and more event details can be entered, it tends to be displayed by users who want to check the details of the event.
The App Store provides the following guidelines for creating "Event Cards" and "Event Details Pages"
- Use proper case sensitivity and punctuation. Avoid all caps and excessive punctuation (such as multiple exclamation points).
- Don't include unsubstantiated phrases like "best" or superfluous phrases like "game event".
- Do not include specific prices in your metadata, as prices and currencies vary by region and can change independently of the event. Including a specific price is subject to App Store Review rejection.
- Avoid using text or logos in media whenever possible. In particular, do not use such text or logos if they contain event names or app names.
- Consider using video to showcase a more dynamic preview of your event.
- Don't add borders or gradients to your media. Crops and gradients are automatically applied to your media for consistency across the App Store.
- Keep your event cards and event detail pages visually consistent by using consistent colors and illustration styles.
- Only use content that you have created or have permission to use in your metadata.
(Source：https://developer.apple.com/jp/app-store/in-app-events/)
After reading this far, some people may find creative production difficult, but it is only a guideline. Some parts are within the range. However, it is expected that the examination may become stricter in the future.
What Was Discovered By Supporting "Tapple"
While promoting Tapple's In-App Events measures, I found out the points of the review that were not publicly announced by Apple. Based on the In-App Events of "Dating Special for Enjoying Sweets" actually implemented at Tapple Let me introduce you!
Points for Creating Event Cards
If you look at the above image as a production point of the "event card", the right side is the original data of the event card produced by our company! Created with published specifications (1920px × 1080px). However, looking at the right card that was actually reflected in the App Store, it turned out that the width on both sides was cut. In the case of 1920px × 1080px, about 100px on each side was cut. It was set! Also, the preset event badge, event name, and brief description will be placed on top of the design created at the bottom, and the design below will be blurred and invisible. This
is the maximum vertical width for 1920px x 1080px. About 400px is invisible.
Therefore, we recommend that you create creatives with an awareness of the "appeal range" that will not be deleted or blurred as shown in the image below. The same is true for videos.
Production Points For The Event Details Page
Next, I will tell you about the production points of the “event details page”.
As you can see from the image above, the event details page is different from the event card in that the created data will not be deleted when reflected.
In addition to event badges, event names, and descriptions set in advance like event cards, notification icons, app icons, app names, and descriptions are superimposed on the bottom creative. The area where the creative is hidden is a maximum vertical width of about 750px (1080px × 1920px).
The vertical width may be less than 750px depending on the number of characters in the event name and description. After creating a creative, you can see a preview on the settings screen, so it would be nice to make corrections while checking there.
It will be an eye-catching In-App Event by designing an appropriate appeal for the "appeal range"!
Finally…
Thank you for reading this far! If you would like to know more about In-App Events, or if you have any problems with app advertising or ASO measures, please contact us as we can handle iOS. Also, our blog is always sending out information for app marketers, so I would be happy if you could stop by from time to time!