Back to Blog

App store preview videos: Should you make one?

In this overview you'll learn:

• What the pros do with their App Preview
• What Apple feature
• What Yahoo! Advertising found
• Other research
• Should you make an App Preview?

What the pros do with their App Preview

I went through the top 50 grossing apps on the US iPhone store. 22 of the 50 had app previews. Or another way to look at it is actually the majority of top grossing apps hadn't made an App Preview.

I was pretty surprised.

These companies are making many thousands a day on their apps, why would they choose to not make a video?

What Apple feature

Next I looked at 50 apps that Apple had featured on the front page of the App Store. 27 of the 50 apps (54%) of the apps had an app preview video.

Again I was pretty surprised. I was under the impression that an App Preview was almost a prerequisite to being featured. But still the majority have a video, indicating that Apple prefer apps that do.

What Yahoo! Advertising found

Yahoo! Advertising surveyed people to find what the most important factors are when people search app stores. “Video showing the experience” came in right down the bottom of the factors.

This indicates that resources should go elsewhere first. Things like reviews and ratings, your pricing strategy, description and so on.

Other research

The research I could find by others also focused on the negatives:

• Anna Pratskevich shared on Smashing Magazine: "Video Preview: Costly, No Study Confirms Increase In CVR"
• Lior Eldan wrote on Venture Beat: “After examining dozens of App Store Optimization (ASO) projects, we've noticed that videos sometimes have a negative effect on the app's conversion rates.”

Why all the negativity?

The general consensus is that videos delay the user from downloading your app and time to download is critical for conversion.

Should you make an App Preview?

Like everything, it depends.

• If you're an indie developer with limited resources and can't make an amazing video then you are probably better off skipping it. Focus your resources on more important factors like reviews, screenshots and the description.
• If you want to stack the odds of an App Store feature in your favor and you have the resources to make an amazing compelling video then definitely go for it.

And don't forget there are now amazing analytics tools to measure the impact of changes you make. Add a video and see if your conversions go up.

About The Author

Estelle leads digital marketing at Appbot where she spends a lot of time analyzing app data and writing about her findings. She also enjoys pina coladas, browsing amazon.com and can do her hair in record time when an unexpected Zoom meeting is dropped on her.

Enjoying the read? You may also like these

How to get featured in the App Store and skyrocket your app's success

Increase your chances of getting featured in the App Store with our checklist of points to address. Perfect for seasoned developers or if you're just starting out.

Switching to app store subscriptions

Are App Store subscriptions better than one-off in-app purchases? Read about our subscription pricing experiments to the first $1k in MRR.

App pricing strategy 101: Roadmap to pricing your app

Whether you're launching a new app or looking to optimize an existing one, this guide will empower you to level up your app's profitability.

Mobile app growth strategy - The definitive guide

Master the art of mobile app growth hacking with this definitive guide. Explore 5 key areas: Market, Storytelling, Capturing the Market, Downloads & Conversions.