Why Dating Apps Need ASO

August 30th, 2017

Why Dating Apps Need ASO
David Quinn

by David Quinn

VP of Strategy & Partnerships at Gummicube, Inc.

The introduction of mobile apps has changed the way people interact with one another by altering the path of meeting potential mates and impacting the way photos and dating profiles are viewed. Mobile has reshaped the way the dating world behaves.

There is a societal stigma associated with using dating apps, making some users hesitant to download them. Regardless, the dating app market is growing rapidly and attracting younger and older daters alike. With such a large market of dating apps, how do developers get their apps noticed by new users interested in finding love? With over 1,500 dating apps available, and only four of those monopolizing the market, how do the remaining 1,496 stand a chance?

In order to compete on the App Store and Google Play Store, dating apps need to utilize ASO best practices to transition from an obscure dating app to a top chart dating app.

The Current Mobile Dating App Landscape

In the last several years, the mobile landscape has changed from two or three major dating apps to over 1,500. More users have begun turning to dating apps, increasing the number of users from 11 percent to 15 percent in the past four years alone according to the Pew Research Center.

More impressively, dating apps in the 18-24 year-old demographic tripled in the same amount of time. A key reason dating apps have become popular with this demographic is largely due to incorporating game-like features such as swiping left or right. Dating apps have recently started adding in app rewards, which will grant users access to more key features.

Overall, dating apps are also generating big numbers across the world. In the US, the dating app industry generated over $2 billion last year alone.

The Global Dating App Market

Matchmaking is one of the world’s most practiced professions, meaning there are major opportunities for developers to not only tap into local users’ quest for love, but global users too. Approximately 52 countries participate in the usage of dating apps, giving developers plenty of space to evenly distribute their apps.

Developers need to consider the needs and wants of users in foreign markets. This calls for developers creating a more personalized dating app experience by localizing their app store metadata.

With that in mind, why are there only a handful of apps that seem to dominate the market across these 52 countries? According to BBC’s research, Badoo and Tinder are the biggest dating apps and dominate the charts in 21 and 18 countries respectively. Other dating apps like Lovoo and Firm follow close behind by dominating in 11 other countries.

As competition among dating apps continues to stiffen, developers need to create an ASO strategy to successfully optimize their metadata in the app’s original country and foreign territories.

App Store Optimization for Dating Apps

The congestion in the mobile space begs the question, "how do new mobile dating apps get noticed?"

Developers can utilize ASO best practices to optimize their metadata, otherwise known as the app name, keywords, description and creatives. By making key changes app’s metadata, and incorporating title tags into the app name, users will instantly be drawn to dating apps that contain relevant keywords such as “dating,” “chat,” “meeting new people.”

Developers can go one step further and design creatives that show not only their app’s UI/UX but real people interacting. When it comes to optimizing dating apps, developers need to sell their app and prove why it is better than all other competitors. The only way to successfully do this is by utilizing ASO best practices.

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