What Really Impacts App Installs?

Distimo published a new report today, titled The Impact of App Discounts and the Impact of Being a Featured App.   Distimo looked at the app stores for iPhone, Android and the iPad during Q4, 2011.   Some key takeaways from the report:

App Discounts

• The optimum sales occurred when the price was cut in half or the application was offered in tier 1 ($0.99) or tier 2 ($1.99).
•  30% to 50% of the applications on sale experienced a decrease in revenue even though, on average, the revenue increased in all three stores for the total group of applications on sale.
• One could conclude that marketers need to be very strategic in determining the sweet spot for discounting.   As in any industry, with any product, it is important to understand the market before discounting.   Determining the correct sale price and how to promote it is crucial in meeting the goal of increased installs AND increased revenues.

App Featuring

• In the first 3 days of Featuring,  titles saw the following increase in rank:  Android (+42 spots), iPad (+27 spots), and (+15 spots).   
• Featuring also has a significant lasting affect on the titles ranking.  In the five days following the end of the feature placement, the % increase of installs was the following:  iPad (145%), iPhone (+75%) and Android (+828%!!).

There are some other insights on both subjects in this Free report that is available here.