[caption id="attachment_142149" align="aligncenter" width="2970"]The App Store in iOS 11[/caption]

The new App Store in iOS 11 will dramatically change how users interact with app landing pages. A new study shows how developers can take advantage of these changes to get more users – and it’s really easy. After running 57 different A/B tests for App Store landing pages, SplitMetrics was able to analyze the behavior of over 250,000 unique users. The headline takeaway: if you don’t optimize your App Store landing page appropriately, expect your tap-through rate (TTR) to drop at least seven percent. Digging a bit deeper into the study, we see some tropes hold true. Reviews are still the largest deciding factor for users. SplitMetrics says 58 percent (145,000 users, if you’re curious) of users read reviews before downloading an app. Short, punchy promotional text also helps users decide whether to download apps. SplitMetrics found that short words and simple phrases wrapped in pithy sentences were generally more engaging; the best use for promotional text was to advertise sales, discounts and important updates.

Subtitles are also new to the iOS 11 App Store. SplitMetrics says taking advantage of these increases TTR by 15-20 percent. As with promotional text, keeping it short and sweet is the best method. If you’re wondering why the study advises you to keep things abbreviated, it’s because users typically scroll through about 30 percent of an app’s page before deciding to buy. In that time, they digest an app’s title, subtitle, iconography, video preview, screenshots, rating, reviews, promotional text, price and whether or not it’s an “editor’s choice.” To that, SplitMetrics tells us we can avoid some other points of the App Store landing page. A long description isn't necessary, and the “What’s New” section isn’t widely visited. The in-app purchase area is hit-and-miss, as is the general information section. It may seem like a lot of work, at least at first, but it’s not. iOS 11 is also a good excuse for developers to look at their app’s landing page from a fresh perspective. In the long run, this study shows, more thoughtful work outpaces filler content for an app’s landing page, and there’s a lot to like about that.