Mobile App Launch Playbook

Who this is for

Founders and small product teams releasing a new iOS or Android app who have, or can add, a website for it.

Before you start

• A one-sentence description of the job the app does, written the way a user would describe it.
• The store listing text and screenshots, so the website and the listing say the same thing.
• A landing page with links to both app stores.
• A list of the questions support or beta testers ask most often.

Step 1

Plan around pre-install questions

Find out what people search for before they look at a store listing.

1. 01List the tasks the app helps with and the questions people search while trying to do each task without it.
2. 02Note the apps and manual methods people use today, so comparisons are honest and specific.
3. 03Decide which questions deserve a full article and which belong on the landing page.
4. 04Choose one cluster to cover first, built around the main thing the app does.

Step 2

Create web companions to the listing

Write pages that explain the app in more depth than the store allows.

1. 01Write a feature overview page with real screenshots and a plain explanation of each screen.
2. 02Write how-to articles for the main tasks, showing both the manual method and the app.
3. 03Write a privacy and permissions page that explains why the app asks for each permission.
4. 04Keep feature names and screenshots identical to the version in the store.

Step 3

Publish with the release

Make the web pages and the store listing go live together.

1. 01Publish the landing page and overview before the store listing is approved, ready to go public with it.
2. 02Link every article to the store badges and to the overview page.
3. 03Add a changelog page and post an entry for every release, linked from the store listing.
4. 04Plan the next articles from the questions that arrive in the first weeks.

Step 4

Measure installs from the web

Separate visitors who arrive from search from those who arrive from the store.

1. 01Use the store consoles’ campaign links on your website, so web-referred installs are counted separately.
2. 02Check which articles appear in search in your search console and for which questions.
3. 03Update screenshots and how-to steps whenever the interface changes.
4. 04Retire articles about features that no longer exist rather than leaving them live.

Common pitfalls

• A website that repeats the store description and adds nothing a visitor could not read there.
• Screenshots from a beta that no longer match the released app.
• How-to articles that only work if the reader already has the app installed.

Where Opus Rank helps

Tutorials for the parts of this plan you can do in Opus Rank.

• Build a topical map

  Plan the clusters of task and comparison articles around the app.

• Generate an article: every option on the form

  Choose the article type and audience for each how-to.

• Featured and in-article images

  Add images to articles alongside your own screenshots.

Related playbooks

• SaaS Product Launch Playbook
• Browser Extension Launch Playbook
• AI Product Launch Playbook