If you’re thinking, “My event has been published but I don't really understand it” or “I want to submit it for the first review, what should I do?”
Then, this article is for you!
After trying it out in our app and combing through the event cards already on the store, we learned a few facts. This is preliminary information because we haven't fully clarified everything yet. If you have a lot of curiosity, such as “I want to try the In-App Events function as soon as possible'' or “I want to see what happens when I publish one event for the time being”, then you’ll find this article useful. For all of you out there, here's what we know so far and what you need to know about In-App Events!
*Information as of November 4, 2021
If you want to know the overview of the function, check out our other posts!
Where are In-App Events displayed?
In a previous article, we talked about where event cards are displayed.
In-App Events - App Store - Apple Developer
Product Page and Search Results
In the first place, when setting and applying for In-App Events, you can select the user you want to display in "Event purpose"
・New users
・Active users
・Expired users (uninstalled, now "☁" button)
・All users (new users + active users + expired users)
The appearance changes depending on the type of user.
Active users (downloaded) and expired users (uninstalled)
・Event cards are displayed in search results
・Event cards are displayed at the top of product pages, above screenshots and videos
So, you can see that In-App Events can promote app usage not only for new users, but also for users who are currently using the app or have used it in the past. If we can promote new features and events that are appealing to experienced users, we may be able to encourage them to return.
*The PUBG that we verified this time has distribution settings for all users, so all patterns can be seen, but if distribution is limited to new users or active users, it will only be displayed to users who correspond to that setting, it seems.
Direct Search for In-App Events
What is Direct Search? This means that you can now find events from the search tab.
For example, if you search for "Halloween", it will be displayed like the image.
A card with the event name "Halloween" was displayed! Event cards are showing up in search results even if you don't have the app.
If it's this time of year, there may be cases where keywords such as "Christmas" and "New Year's" are included in the event name towards the end of the year. It can also be displayed when searching by part of the event name.
"Today" tab
When I tap this, it looks like there is only an explanation like the features so far, but I found an event card inside.
Game tab
Displayed at the top and middle of the tab screen.
Top → Display both with and without In-App Events setting Middle → Display only with In-App Events setting
*This "Yes" and "No" means that there are event cards published using the In-App Events function and event cards published in the store that are treated the same as features. They are called separately with or without setting.
"Apps" tab
Same view as the Games tab, the top shows cards with and without In-App Events, while the middle shows only cards with In-App Events!
So far, I have briefly told you about the specifications, but based on this:
・You may be able to post in places such as the Today tab that you couldn't post unless you were featured by Apple, just by setting In-App Events! (Moreover, there is little competition now, so there is a great chance)
・If it is posted on a tab other than the search result, there is a high possibility that the inflow from there will increase = the inflow from “browsing from the App Store” in App Store Connect analytics.
What is the OS version of users who see In-App Events?
Apple's official announcement states that In-App Events will appear in iOS15.
Introducing In-App Events on the App Store - News - Apple Developer
iOS15.1 was released on October 26th, the day before In-App Events was released.
Therefore, maybe In-App Events are only displayed on iOS 15.1 or later...? When I thought about it, I got the following result.
iOS15/iOS15.1 → Displayed!
Less than iOS15 → It was not displayed…
I was able to confirm that it is displayed if it is iOS15 or higher!
So, I checked how the display is different between iOS15 and above vs below.
"Today" tab
When I checked this time, the same event was displayed for both OS.
Both displayed "Pokémon GO" But! If you look carefully, there are two differences!
・Whether or not there is a frame for “currently being held”
・Posting position of event badges such as “special event”
Game tab
On devices with iOS 15 or earlier, only cards with the In-App Events setting "None" were displayed in both the upper and middle parts of the screen. I found the same event without the In-App Events setting at the top. When comparing the display method between iOS15 and above and below, there were the following differences.
・Display of application icon
・Display of application title
・Display of "Get", "☁" and "Open" buttons
Under iOS 15, the download action will only occur when you tap the event card and transition to the product page.
"Apps" tab
For iOS 15 or less, the In-App Events "None" card was displayed at the top of the screen, but the card itself was not displayed in the middle.
There was a similar difference with the top "Games" tab.
Points to keep in mind when submitting your application for the first time!
About the text
There are three types of text that need to be set. Yes, the fact that the text is configurable means that the keywords you put here will affect your search results. How is it judged as an index? Are you making an impact? Of course I checked.
In Conclusion!
Event name: Index target
Short description: Index target
Detailed description: Not index target (for now) specifically.
Event Name & Short Description
Subject to search index. Based on the keywords contained in these two places, totaling up to 80 characters, the degree of relevance to the search keyword is determined, and whether or not it is displayed in the search results is determined.
What I Know Now
- These two are displayed in the first view of the event card. Considering that you can't include text in your creative, anything that can only be expressed in text should be expressed in these 80 characters.
- If you enter a keyword included in the event name in the search window, the full event name will be preferentially displayed in the suggestions.
- If the app itself already has a high degree of relevance to the search keyword, it will be difficult for the event card to rank high in the search results. (As for the order of priority in the search results, is the app itself > event card?)
Since it is not included in the detailed description index, it will not be hit by searching for keywords that are not included in the event name & brief description but included only in the detailed description. This is the part that is displayed after tapping the event card, so instead of aiming for search hits, it is better to use it as a place to post information such as deeper appeal to users who are interested and information like the date and time of the event.
About Creative
Considering that you can't include letters or logos in your creative, if you want to express something with letters/numbers or sentences, you have to do it in the event name and description. If you can't put a logo on it, you need to be careful, especially at collaboration events.
Regarding Video Playback of Event Cards
It is also possible to set a video for the event card.
Along with the preview video set on the product page, the playback method differs depending on the user's "autoplay video" setting, and there are the following three patterns for this setting.
*In "low power mode", automatic playback is not possible regardless of the setting.
You can select ON, Wi-Fi only, or OFF from the iPhone App Store settings "Video autoplay"
*The preview video can be played by pressing the play button even if it does not play automatically, but currently the video of the event card cannot be played even if the play button is pressed. This may just be a bug... In the current situation, it seems better to set the creative to still image instead of video.
About Event Badges
You can choose from 7 types of event badges, but I'm guessing that the "live event" seems to have a high CTR from what I've seen so far.
In the upper left corner of the card, there is a red ● and the word "LIVE" written in blue, which looks like a live event badge. Also, when you think of live events, you might think of live music or sports broadcasts, but there were several cards that were open to the public for events that were currently being held for a limited time. It may not be as tough as it sounds.
It's a good idea to try different things if possible.
Regarding the Display of "Specify Cost"
This part is set when in-app purchases are required to participate in the event, but it was not displayed before tapping the event card, and was only displayed in small size on the details screen after tapping. Therefore, it seems that this setting does not have a big negative effect.
Summary
Thank you for reading this far!
This time, since the release of In-App Events, there have been comments such as "I don't know where it is displayed in the store, so I don't know what kind of effect can be expected" and "I don't know what to be careful about when setting it." I received a lot, so I wrote an article for app developers and app marketers who want to try it first and think about how to use it.
In the future, I would like to publish a case study that summarizes the flow until the actual release to the store and the effect measurement after the release, so please look forward to it!
Last but not least, we are a professional partner for attracting app customers.
Both iOS and Android are available, so please feel free to contact us if you have any problems with app advertising or ASO measures!
See you soon 👋