Are Your Apps Global Enough?

When your company creates a new mobile app, it’s important to make sure that it won’t just work in one country, but rather that it will deploy on a global scale. Having a global app means that you’ll have a broader reach in terms of customers and downloads, which boils down to more revenue.

We know that of course not everyone speaks English, and to reach millions or even billions of users for your app, you need to make it readable in many different languages. Developing countries pose a huge opportunity for creating mobile apps. The app markets in places like South America, India and other Asian countries, and Africa are growing at an astonishing rate. Developing apps in English is no longer going to cut it.

Let’s look at an example of a very well known global app. Uber is a taxi, private car, and ridesharing app that was created in the United States — but in order for the company to grow, it needed to expand on a global scale. Uber is now available in 60 countries — including countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. As word of mouth spread, Uber had no choice but to make its app available all around the world. As the popularity of your app takes off, people will start to demand it in other countries besides just the one you live in. It’s important to understand the ins and outs of creating and publishing apps in foreign countries in order to grow your app and your business.

There are many different app stores in territories across the globe. According to Multichannel Merchant, “App stores operate as global distribution channels opening access to 155 territories on the iTunes App Store and almost all countries on the planet via Google Play. Hundreds of local app stores in countries like China and India offer additional opportunities.” So how do you reach all of these people in all these different markets? When it comes to naming your app, you don’t necessarily need to translate the name for different countries. In fact, doing so may blur or confuse your app’s brand identity. What you can do to help buyers discover your app is to add a descriptive phrase with translated keywords — called a tagline. Keep your tagline fairly short and to the point, and translate it for each country so people are clear on what they are downloading and what your app is all about.

Another great way to grab global attention is to create and upload screenshots of your app to the app stores. It doesn’t matter what country you’re in, people everywhere tend to respond favorably to visual content. However, you should avoid images that are highly specific to one culture or country — so review the backgrounds and locations in your screenshots before uploading them. Try to make the visuals as appealing to a global audience as possible.

Put in simple terms, if the goal of your app is to make money, the app should not be targeted towards only one country. It would be very difficult or even impossible to make money on a hyper-local app such as one that identifies the top bakeries in San Francisco, or the best places to go hiking in Switzerland. The app needs to have a much broader appeal to be used on a global scale.

We live in a hyper-connected world where a person on one side of the world can instantly connect with someone on the other side. Keep this in mind when creating your mobile app — make it reach the global audience that we are all a part of.

Apexon works with customers and partners all over the world on their mobile app strategies, mobile app development, and mobile app testing. To learn more, contact us here.