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22 Comments

Why should i have a landing page for a mobile app?

Hey hackers!

I'm running an Android app and wondering if and why I should create a landing page for my app?

I see that almost every mobile app has a landing page. But I always think about the ROI (Return of investment) because it will cost me time and money to create a landing page.

Especially with mobile apps most downloads are caused by someone going to the App Store and searching for an app and will never see the landing page.

How could a landing page help me to grow my app? What is your experience?

  1. 3

    Hi Oliver! I think it would be very helpful to your app's publicity. Just like the many other Indiehackers said on this post.

    Right now I'm actually selling a couple of quick-to-setup app landing pages. You can view them here: https://buildfaster.co/tag/app/index.html

    I just released a new one called Twenty. It's great for adding great content while keeping it simple.

    The Twenty theme

    BuildFaster has a discount for all of our themes right now. Just use the promo code aktdbmz to get 25% off on any theme you like.

    Using one of BuildFaster's themes will only take minutes compared to the hours of creating one from scratch. 🎉

    1. 2

      This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

  2. 2

    I think it's worth it. Adds a lot to credibility. Lots of people check these things nowadays. Personally, I get around ~80 users for Snap Search in a week through the website.

    1. 1

      80 additional users sounds worthwhile. I will create a landing page for my app. Can I ask you with what you created your landing page? With something like Wordpress or pure HTML + CSS?

  3. 2

    I'd default to yes because it will only lead to more surface area for awareness.

    It also doesn't have to be anything complex or anything - something like Carrd could do the trick.

    Think of it as a calling card for your app, that people might stumble upon while online if you have the proper SEO in place. And if you turn it into a full on website with more information, you could benefit from starting by letting it marinate on search results.

  4. 1

    In my experience, there are two ways to be successful in the app store.

    1. You "win" the ASO game, your app is in the top 5 or so apps for an important keyword and the app store drives a ton of traffic and sales to you.
    2. You don't win the ASO game, and the app store drives very little traffic/sales to you. Now it's up to you to drive traffic and sales from outside the app store to you app.

    If you are one of the handful of lucky apps in category #1, then you don't really need a landing page. But if you are like 95%+ of apps out there, you're in category #2, and you need to need a web page, social media presence, free content, videos, and whatever else you can possibly do to drive traffic to your app from outside the app store.

    1. 1

      That is a good point yes. I think I am somewhere in between :D. My app is in the top 10 in some countries but far away from the top 5. I think an additional possibility for more traffic can't hurt.

  5. 1

    Especially with mobile apps most downloads are caused by someone going to the App Store and searching for an app and will never see the landing page.

    For all apps? Any chance you could share the source for this?

    1. 1

      I currently have no source. But I have read this often when I read about ASO . But I agree with you, it may not apply to every kind of apps.

  6. 1

    I think what a lot of people miss here is the MVP aspect of a landing page.
    Can you get people to click on a link/button? Only then should you build the app.
    You're scared of a small time investment to distract you from the large one. But maybe you're doing the large one for nothing because nobody wants what youre building? So do the small investment to determine is you can de to big one.
    Yes for a successful project you will have spent more time, but across you're whole career you'll be saving butloads of time by not building useless projects :)

    1. 1

      Yes that is a good point. A landing page can also be used to validate an MVP.

  7. 1

    I don't remember where I heard it but someone found out that when he sent people on a landing instead of directly on the stores, even tho the downloads went down a bit, the users were much more engaged and brought way more value. You might want to cross check but a landing would be a great investment, no matter how you end up using it.

    1. 1

      Thanks for this interesting insight

  8. 1

    Mobile app landing pages really shine when you are on multiple platforms. Then you can send/promote a single link instead of platform-specific ones.

    Even though you’re only on Android now, you could use a landing page to gather interest or presales for an iOS version. I’m collecting emails for an Android version on my app’s landing page.

    1. 1

      This is a good idea to collect email addresses with a landing page. I am also thinking about doing an iOs version for my app at some point.

      1. 1

        Nice! If you decide to go SwiftUI let me know, I could help get you going.

  9. 1

    Depends what kind of scale you're at imo. It's not worth it for 90% of mobile apps imo.

    1. 1

      For which apps do you think it is of value?

  10. 1

    I'm one of the users who check the developer website in their Play Store app listing. I look for documentation, changelogs, blogs, and other interesting tidbits.

    For something really simple and cheap you can quickly put together a page or site with Google Sites.

    1. 1

      Interesting to know that there are people looking at these things. Thank you for this insight.

  11. 1

    You should have a page as part of your overall marketing strategy. There is a world out there beyond App Store / Play Store where people are searching for apps.

    Every 1% you get over your competitor is 1% added over and over for a long time.

    You get to show and tell more about your app than what is possible with app listing in the store.

    You have a touchpoint for your users as well as future users via a contact form, email or instant chat.

    You can get a template for a few bucks and customise it over the weekend :) I'm not a coder per se but good bootstrap based template with documentation is quite easy to work with.. it should be no brainer to have a page.

    1. 1

      I think you made an important point that convinced me. As an indie hacker, every 1% growth counts, especially at the beginning. So it wouldn't be wise to forego it :)

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