On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Bret Foreman<[email protected]>wrote:
Their blurb in the Marketplaces is well under the 325 character limit.
Their blurb in the Marketplace also actually describes what the app does,
unlike the quote you posted.
On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 11:31 AM, Phill Wiggin<[email protected]> wrote:
Maybe not "every shopper", but typically the majority of people that are
looking for apps....
That's the point. Majority or not, what's the harm in giving more
information? The majority of people will get bored after two sentences and
move on. Oh well. No one is forcing them to read anything. But for the rest,
the OPTION to read more would be nice.
An application that costs no more than a box of cereal should not have
any more descriptive text than a box of cereal.
An app that costs as much as a DVD should not have more text than you see
on a typical DVD box.
The logic behind those statements is so stupid I'm not going to justify it
with an answer.
No need to be rude.
True. Sorry. But there's also no need to make nonsensical statements that
have no basis or reason.
From a marketing standpoint, those statements aren't far off. Then again,
Marketing rarely has much to do with logic
Stating that the value of something somehow correlates to the amount of text
used to describe it and comparing Android apps to cereal and DVDs sounds
pretty far off to me.
So Locale is what, an app judges use to identify the person who's phone is
ringing in their courtroom?
I expect your question is rhetorical... But considering the results, the
Marketing is sound. In their case, it was better to deliver a shocker that
drew people in rather than explain the technical details of their app.
Of course it is rhetorical.
What results? Their app popularity? I somehow doubt that one quote is the
driving factor for their success.
It's also good to note that that quote is not what they use as their
description.
And do you suppose their description would be that short if it didn't need
to be?
In the end, the important thing is: Know your audience. The majority of
app-store shoppers are a certain demographic.
Right. And there are A LOT of apps that cater to A LOT of different people
and purposes. 325 characters might be fine for something simple like Locale
but is inadequate for many other apps where elaborating on features is what
sets you apart.
I wouldn't be surprised to find that most of that demographic react better
to short bursts of information and taglines (e.g. effective marketing),
rather than 100% accurate app descriptions.
I wouldn't either, but what is the harm in giving people the option?
Besides, full details of your app should be found on your website.
Of course. But AGAIN, I'm not talking about "full details" - I'm talking
about enough space to properly DESCRIBE, PROMOTE, and SELL your product. If
you feel you can do that in 325 characters, congratulations. I really don't
and it would be nice to have the OPTION to be as detailed and verbose or
simple and to-the-point as I felt I needed to be to sell my product.
As a user, it would be nice to have the OPTION to read as much as I wanted
to determine if an app was worth my time without having to navigate to a
website or download the app and try it out to find out if it does what I
want.
So, anyone that _really_ wants to know what you've got to offer will
probably be willing to open the browser and see all you have to say....
Whether that's 325 characters or 325k.
Yes, and the majority of people that you referred to that don't have the
attention span to read more text won't bother, won't see the full potential
of your app, and will just move on. Given the options of:
a) reading more right on your description page
b) having to click through to your website
c) having to install the app to see what it's really about
I have to believe that this majority you speak of that has the attention
span of a 3-year-old would prefer the convenience of option a.
It's seriously boggling my mind that any developers would be opposed to the
idea of the OPTION of adding more text.
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TreKing<http://sites.google.com/site/rezmobileapps/treking> - Chicago
transit tracking app for Android-powered devices
