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KEY HIGHLIGHTS

🆚The difference between Apple and Google in how they evaluate apps for featuring.

📱How getting a game featured is a different process than getting a non-game app featured

⬇️How one of Steve’s clients drove 8,000 downloads before they even launched.

✍🏽How an app can prepare before pitching to Apple for featuring.

🔎Finding the right app store manager — US vs International

📝How to cold email app store managers at Apple – and the key components of a cold email pitch.

👑Why Steve recommends that the founder send out the email to Apple

💪🏽How to write effective subject lines for cold emails.

🗣Why Steve recommends putting together a presentation to pitch your app 

🗝How to capitalize on an Apple feature to magnify the impact from featuring.

😖The challenges of getting featured on Google 

🤵🏽Why Steve recommends going to WWDC to pitch app store managers

KEY QUOTES

How to be featured by Apple

The difference between Google and Apple is Google is more algorithm based and Apple is very editorial, so they want to see a beautiful app. So, I think if you’re a game, what I say is, it’s easier to get a new game featured than it is an updated game unless you’re one of the big game publishers out there.

Time your request right

There’s a form called appstore.com/promote. You should fill out that form. On that form, Apple usually recommends 6 to 8 weeks before you launch. If you’re a non-game, then it’s 6 to 8 weeks before a big significant launch.

Cold emails still work

When you cold-email somebody, it is very important to know a little bit about that person. What we do is we do a lot of deep research to try to figure out what commonalities the client, the app developer, has with this app store manager. So a specific example is in October, a client of ours, we found a person, we did everything, we came up with 5 different subject lines, but he changed the subject line from one Midwesterner to another, and he talked about where he grew up and how he found out that’s where she grew up, and they made that relation.

US and international app store managers

Now, if you are in the US, you have to know that the international people, they usually have one app store manager or a few app store managers for the entire categories; but for the US, there’s different categories, there’s actually app store managers for games, there’s app store managers for different categories.

App store managers share

They always say, I want to be featured in the US – I am like, don’t worry, if you reach out to somebody in India or anywhere else, Canada, they’re going to forward it on to the rest of the countries.

Google uses an algorithm

What Google would generally do is based on some of the metrics, like your retention, your growth, your crashes, they’re going to probably just feature you.

How to showcase your featured status

I think the best way to capitalize on it is obviously add it to your screenshots — having social proof in your screenshots. I have stats that say, “Look, they do improve it,” we’ve doubled downloads for some of my clients just by adding that screenshot.

Tip for developers

What I try to do, now speak to more on the WWDC side, which is the Apple conference, is I try to meet with all the app store managers. There are workshops that you can sign up for through the app on a day out, and you try to meet with every single app store manager that you can.

FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

Shamanth: I’m very excited to welcome Steve Young to the Mobile User Acquisition Show. Steve, welcome to the show. 

Steve: Thanks Shamanth, thanks for having me here. 

Shamanth: I have seen and admired so many of your videos, your podcasts, for such a long time, so it’s indeed an honor to have you here today. We are going to talk about how to pitch an app for featuring to Apple, which is something you are very much a pro at, you’ve helped many apps get featured by Apple. Let’s start with some of the basics. Before an app developer actually wants to pitch to Apple, how should they prepare? 

Steve: Yeah, I think the best thing – so the difference is Shamanth, and we’ve gotten about 32 as of this recording clients featured by Apple, and that’s across the board in terms of games, non-games, and so forth – but I think the biggest thing is Apple is very editorial.

The difference between Google and Apple is Google is more algorithm based and Apple is very editorial, so they want to see a beautiful app. So, I think if you’re a game, what I say is, it’s easier to get a new game featured than it is an updated game unless you’re one of the big game publishers out there.

So if you’re a game, do that soft-launch, make sure you’re all ready, but pitch Apple before you’re about to launch. Now, if you’re a non-game, then you want to make sure you pitch them whenever you have a really big update because you have many opportunities for that. That’s what we’ve seen. With the game, there is a pre-order launch feature too, so new and upcoming games that you can potentially get featured. I always say put in pre-order mode, try to get featured during the pre-order mode, and we got one of our clients featured in that pre-order section and that drove about 8,000 downloads before they even launched. 

I think the one thing you should know besides just when to actually pitch is also making sure that you have the proper designs. I am brutally honest with a lot of my clients, to say, “Look, I know you want this because everybody wants this, but at the same time, your designs just aren’t up to par to what Apple is going to feature.” So, get the app icons right, get the in-app graphics right, and then make sure you have stunning screenshots because that’s what’s really going to be important. Obviously, incorporating a lot of the new Apple features is going to be very important, and I’ll give you a very micro tip a friend of mine told me is if you have incorporated any of the newest IOS features, so for this instance iOS 13 with dark mode or anything related to that and have it in your screenshots — like a beautiful screenshot and talk about the newest IOS features that you’ve incorporated in your app — and that can lead. Because Apple is always reviewing apps, that can lead to a sudden feature without you having to actually pitch Apple.

Shamanth: So sounds like because Apple is a very editorial driven process, the aesthetics matter so much in your pitch, in your screenshots, and everything you do basically. When you say pitch Apple, what does that pitch process typically look like? 

Steve: So what we do are a couple of things, and I’ll give you the most effective ones first. Obviously,

there’s a form called appstore.com/promote. You should fill out that form. On that form, Apple usually recommends 6 to 8 weeks before you launch. If you’re a non-game, then it’s 6 to 8 weeks before a big significant launch.

I don’t think Apple is too strict on that, but if you’re a game, definitely pitch them 6 to 8 weeks before you’re about to launch as well. So that’s one thing. 

The other thing that we do is we also cold email an app store manager. This is still effective, we actually had 3 Apple features in October 2019, and one of our clients did a very great email where he was trying to build rapport.

When you cold-email somebody, it is very important to know a little bit about that person. What we do is we do a lot of deep research to try to figure out what commonalities the client, the app developer, has with this app store manager. So a specific example is in October, a client of ours, we found a person, we did everything, we came up with 5 different subject lines, but he changed the subject line from one Midwesterner to another, and he talked about where he grew up and how he found out that’s where she grew up, and they made that relation.

That instant bond, she immediately replied. He said, “Hey, you know, I’m going to forward this on to my team and let them know,” and he ended up getting that feature. The cold email strategy still works, it’s just people suck at it, and so the key to this is trying to build some rapport with that before you do that cold pitch. 

The last thing I’ll mention is we do put a presentation together, so just like you would do for a VC or raising some funds, we put a presentation together that talks about the app, some key features, we make it look really beautiful, and I think that distinguishes a lot of the different pitches. It means that you’re taking this really seriously, and that’s what we obviously do for each and every single one of our clients. Within that appstore.com/promote, there’s a spot where you can add three links, one is obviously to a video, one is to your website, and the last is a bitly link to that Apple presentation that we create for our clients as well. 

Shamanth: This is a fairly elaborate but also very intentional process that you have to undertake. I’m curious though, when you say cold email Apple business development managers, there are a lot of them out there, and you said you try to identify commonalities, build rapport – how do you find who the right person is at Apple, just because there’s just so many of them out there? 

Steve: Yeah, great question. What we do is essentially there’s an easy process — you go on LinkedIn, you go on the App Store, and then you filter those searches for people, and then people that work at Apple, and then the key thing is your home developer country. Most of our app developers, I’ll say 50/50 — 50% are in the US, and 50% are international. If you’re international, find somebody in your home country through your developer country. What I found is that it’s actually easier to get in front of those international app store managers because I’m sure the US app store managers are being bombarded. 

Now, if you are in the US, you have to know that the international people, they usually have one app store manager or a few app store managers for the entire categories; but for the US, there’s different categories, there’s actually app store managers for games, there’s app store managers for different categories.

Essentially, if you’re finding people in the US, there’s going to be a lot of them, and so you want to find somebody for your specific category, and then hopefully you find somebody that you have some common interest in as well. 

Shamanth: So you look on LinkedIn and see hopefully, “Hey, I’m promoting a fitness app, is there anyone at Apple with fitness-related interest,” or maybe they even mention on their profile that I manage the fitness category – is that what you look for?

Steve: Yeah. 

Shamanth: What’s the designation at Apple that you typically look for? 

Steve: So it’s categories and then, hopefully, you have some commonalities with that person. That’s the main thing you try to look for is to find the right person. Then, sometimes, we try to vary it up because obviously we’re not trying to pitch to the same person over and over, so maybe you look for an app store editor, maybe you look for an app store writer. Because with Apple, usually it’s that they’ll forward it on to the rest of it. For the international people, my clients,

they always say, I want to be featured in the US – I am like, don’t worry, if you reach out to somebody in India or anywhere else, Canada, they’re going to forward it on to the rest of the countries.

We’ve gotten people featured in Australia first, the UK, and then the cool thing that I try to do is, we try to leverage that feature to hopefully a US feature because that’s going to be the biggest one. Start out with your home country first, and then try to level up to the US maybe. 

Shamanth: Right, and you spoke of a cold outreach email. You said, look, building the rapport is super important. What are some of the other components of that cold outreach email? 

Steve: So keep it super, super short. I try to come up with different subject lines. I have 5 subject lines in different templates. One of my favorites is, and the easiest one is – I’ll give you my favorites – one is product A meets product B equals your product. So Uber meets Weed, something like that. Then the other one is social proof, and we use this for one of our bigger clients, but essentially, we say, CBS plus Star Trek launches an app, and the game publisher had worked with both these companies to put together an amazing app, and that got a lot of press. When you lead with social proof people are more willing to open it. Then the obvious other one that I use an example for is something about that person. I actually pitched and called an app store manager in Canada. I said, “You met Tony Hawk?” When I looked him up, I looked on his Instagram, and I just scrolled all the way back because I tried to find not just so recent, so I kept scrolling and I was like, wow, this guy met Tony Hawk. So that was my subject line, and he opened the email and was like, Steve, yeah, we did, blah, blah, blah. Sso it shows, it just means more to that person when you know that person a little bit more, and he is more receptive. He wasn’t like, thanks for the cold emails — yeah, I met him. It’s a more welcoming reply than just, “Okay, I’ll forward it onto the team.”

Shamanth: To get super tactical about this, the folks that you work with, do you send the email out, do you recommend the founder sends out, somebody on the team sends out – what do you typically recommend? 

Steve: Totally the founders. So all 32 apps are features — one is my app — but always the founder does everything. So we prepare everything for the founder, and I say, “I want you, Shamanth, to have that relationship with the app store manager because one of our other clients, past clients, they’ve gotten many features even after we’ve been done working together.” It’s a game publisher, he’s gotten tons of apps featured after we’ve been done working together. I think it’s always key, even when you’re pitching the press, so it just means one, when you’re hearing it from the founder than just hearing it from some PR marketing guy. Keep that email short, have a video, include that presentation in there, those are the key components, and have a nice little opening sentence about the person. 

Shamanth: Indeed, and you did mention, Steve, that, with Google, the process is more algorithmic – what can a developer do to influence that process favorably, if anything at all? 

Steve: Yeah, I don’t speak about Google too much, Shamanth, because I try to speak about things that I’ve actually had success on, not just things I’ve read unlike other people. With Google, what I’ve heard from others is that you can still pitch a Google manager, just like the LinkedIn strategy. So the same sequence applies — look for somebody to do a cold email,

what Google would generally do is based on some of the metrics, like your retention, your growth, your crashes, they’re going to probably just feature you.

They do have a form, I don’t have that form handy, but they do have a form, and it’s very secretive. I don’t actually just show everybody the form, but essentially, they do have a form where you can fill it out and try to get that featured. We just haven’t been very successful trying to get a Google Play feature because most of our clients want the Apple feature. It’s not that we haven’t tried, we have tried for our clients, we just haven’t been successful on the Google side of things. That’s just what I’ve heard from a lot of people who have been featured when we exchange different tips and stuff, they said, look, it’s very algorithm based, and then you can’t cold email. One of the clients I’ve talked to, he cold-emailed the Google manager, and it worked for him. So those same strategies still work. 

Shamanth: So it sounds like it’s still a harder challenge to get in front of Google than it is for Apple. 

Steve: For me it is, I don’t know for others, but definitely for me. 

Shamanth: Yeah, I’ve worked with a very big publisher in the past, and we had a direct line of contact into both Google and Apple, and certainly that comes just because you’re spending that kind of money on your apps, you just get direct line, a direct contact, understandably that’s not possible for everyone. 

Steve: Were you able to get that feature too?

Shamanth: Yeah, we did get a feature. 

Steve: Yeah, nice. 

Shamanth: There’s somebody at Google whose job is to talk to us, so yeah, in some ways, it’s not that difficult if you’re a very big publisher. Also, I’m curious though, let’s assume a developer pitches Apple, gets featured, how can they capitalize on it and make the most of this featuring? 

Steve: I just posted a video today about this kind of comparison to my favorite campaign growth hack versus the Apple feature. It hasn’t been as huge from an Apple feature perspective.

I think the best way to capitalize on it is obviously add it to your screenshots — having social proof in your screenshots. I have stats that say, “Look, they do improve it,” we’ve doubled downloads for some of my clients just by adding that screenshot

so the fact that you’ve been featured means something to people who are just browsing the App Store, and they’re going to lead to an increase in conversion. So definitely add it to your screenshots. 

If you’re thinking about press, I do think that it becomes a valuable piece of social proof that you can utilize. When you’re reaching out to those reporters, say, “Hey, I’ve been featured by Apple, we’re featured by Apple,” and things like that to capitalize on that. Then, any type of big marketing pushes that you have, because your visibility is going to be huge, and so, if you’ve got a marketing spend, if you’re working with RocketSHip, and you’ve got a paid marketing budget that you’re going to go crazy on, that’s when you start really fueling the fire with that because you’re leveraging everything, you’re trying to make a bigger domino effect and bigger wave because you’ve got this free press and free downloads through Apple. 

Shamanth: So it’s not that the featuring is an end in itself, there’s so much more you can get out of it just by leveraging it for your paid marketing, for your PR, and I think that’s not something that’s not very obvious to a lot of people, but you’re right, it can go a longer way than just Apple feature, in and of itself. 

Are there any other things that you would recommend, that developers looking to pitch Apple, be thinking about or have on their minds? 

Steve: There’s one last tip that I’ll give, and that is to attend WWDC or the Google Developer Conference.

What I try to do, now speak to more on the WWDC side, which is the Apple conference, is I try to meet with all the app store managers. There are workshops that you can sign up for through the app on a day out, and you try to meet with every single app store manager that you can.

And guess what I’m doing, I’m actually showing off the apps. So I did this, personally myself, in 2016, and a client of mine did it in 2017, and then another one in 2018; and guess what, Shamanth, they all got a feature. 

The two clients of mine, they actually had game of the day and app of the day; and one of my clients, she got a photoshoot and everything, it was freaking amazing. But that’s what she tried to do because what you’re trying to do is then meet with them, they’re not going to give you their email, but I always tell every client, I say, “Look, find their names, just make sure you remember their names.” What we’re going to do is say, “Hey, Shamanth, it’s great meeting you at WWDC, thanks for all your feedback, here’s what we’ve done, we’ve incorporated your feedback, and now we’re ready to launch.”

And guess what, because you came to the event because now there’s a face to the app, there’s a name to the app, you’re more likely to get that app store feature as well. So definitely attend those even if they’re pretty expensive, they are worth it. If you feel like you’ve developed a really good app, it looks great and then, 2, it’s worth that investment to really show it off and put it in front of somebody because once they give you feedback, they feel like they own a piece of the app too, like, “Oh my goodness, this person really listened to me.” Now they’re more likely to give you that feature because you incorporate some of their feedback.

Shamanth: Absolutely Steve, and that’s again one of those things that isn’t very obvious to very many people, but makes absolute sense, especially since getting a feature has a huge, huge upside for any developer that can make it — tons of installs and, like you said, there’s tons of press and credibility that comes with it. You, of course, are the man who helped so many people get featured. I will of course link to your website in the show notes and our transcript. But Steve, it’s been an honor having you. Thank you so much for being on the Mobile User Acquisition Show. 

Steve: Thanks Shamanth, it’s been amazing, thank you for always keeping in touch, and I wish you continued success my friend. 

Shamanth: Absolutely sir take it easy.

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