As the ASO Conference approaches we spoke with its organizers Moritz Daan and Gabe Kwakyi, and some of the speakers who are going to present their researches, cases, and tools at the event.

We asked them about expectations for the upcoming conference, the latest trends in the app business and tips for ASO beginners.

Moritz Daan, Co-founder & Partner at Phiture

This week many ASO practitioners, app owners, and marketing managers are heading to the first edition of the ASO Conference to learn from the industry rockstars. What are the hottest topics in ASO and app business world at the moment?

"It is exciting to see that we are past the days where ASO was about quick hacks, and have arrived in a much more mature state in which it is all about building systematic processes around ASO.

The focus thereby lays for many brands currently on building automated processes around updating keyword sets, driving ratings and reviews, systematically testing screenshots and developing processes around localizing metadata. We notice this trend also in the offering from a lot of ASO tools out there, which are increasingly focused on developing great APIs to bring data into the publishers BI.

Another trend we have observed in ASO is that Apple Search Ads has become more and more the basis for any ASO decisions, from results from creative sets testing to highest LTV keywords to target."

Gabe Kwakyi, Co-founder & CEO at Incipia

With the ever-growing number of apps on the app stores competition in some categories is becoming just fierce. At the event you will speak about how to measure and maintain organic uplift. Could you please share some insights on the perfect correlation between paid and organic to win on the app stores?

"Organic uplift describes the positive relationship between inorganic downloads (e.g. paid user acquisition) and organic downloads. The relationship is that the more inorganic downloads an app acquires, the more organic downloads that app earns. The uplift occurs from multiple sources, the most commonly discussed of which are higher visibility in top chart and keyword ranks.

While organic uplift is not a new topic, it has become a more important one as the amount of competition for organic visibility in the App Store rapidly rises, and also because the iOS and Android store UX have increasingly squeezed the spaces available for organic visibility via increased ads and featured content placements.

Calculating organic uplift varies from app to app, but recent analyses we have run indicate that apps seldom earn more than 0.5 new organic downloads in uplift for every 1 new inorganic download, which is a far cry from the not-so-distant days of 1.5x uplift. We will dive into the causes, mechanics, and caveats of calculating organic uplift at the ASO Conference."

Thomas Petit, Mobile Growth & Apple Search Ads Expert

At the ASO Conference you are going to speak about constantly accelerating changes in App Store Optimization. Give us a sneak peek of your sessions and what are the trends to watch in 2019.

"While other experts will offer deep dive on the latest trends, from conversion to algorithms changes to personalization, I wanted to take a step back, look where ASO is coming from and how it quickly matured into a complete industry. This will bring me to open up on what's next, and how app marketers & developers should approach ASO onwards."

Ilia Kukharev, Head of ASO at AppFollow

You’ll present AppFollow in the Advanced Tools session. Why app owners should invest in ASO tools at the early stages of app development and what features/data they should look into in particular?

"It is crucial to track app positions by keyword, rankings and user feedback on the early stage of an app lifecycle, immediately after launching.

Users will give you the most relevant and important feedback, you will be able to see whether people do need your app in the real world. Check the rankings, conversion rates and of course, app stability, with ANR reports in consoles or with Firebase.

With AppFollow, you will be able to see the whole picture in one place. Keyword positions, Charts positions, User feedback, Featured reports — add your app to the account immediately after release and never miss a thing."

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Daniel Peris, CEO & Co-founder at TheTool

ASO specialist is a relatively young job (comparing to the big brother SEO). However, with app industry growth more and more young people take initiative in ASO. According to your experience of running an ASO Agency, what are the main skills one should have and what he or she should learn in the first few months to become successful in App Store Optimization?

"To be successful in App Store Optimization the main skills someone new should have are the following:

• Fast learner + curiosity
• Creativity
• Basics of Digital Marketing
• Basics of Digital Analytics
• Basics of Search Engines
• Basics of SEO (Google)

And the main skills someone new should learn in the first months are:

• Basics of Mobile Marketing
• Basics of Mobile Analytics, Attribution & KPIs
• Basics of ASO on App Store — App Store Connect
• Basics of ASO on Google Play Store — Google Play Console
• Basics of UA (User Acquisition)

Anyway, we always look for people with ATTITUDE. Attitude makes a BIG difference, as everything in this life can be learned."

Aude Boscher, ASO Lead at Phiture

Speaking about the audience of the event — app owners, how have the ASO agency customers changed? What are their most frequently asked questions and concerns?

"We used to educate our clients on why they should carry out ASO. They are now aware of the concept, or perhaps already have a dedicated team member in-house. They reach out to us to level up: we help them set up systematic processes for growth as well as presenting a holistic view of their current and future state on the store. Our main goal is to drive impact and educate them so they can achieve long-term success with ASO."

Crack the code on app ratings - the secrets are revealed here: app rating guide.

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Are you attending the ASO Conference in Berlin? See you there!