Google’s pulled the covers off App Invites, a new way for developers to encourage users to recommend their apps.
The set of tools allows devs to easily incorporate SMS and email invitations, highlight recommended contacts, create personalized onboarding and measure the success of app invites with custom reports.
It’s a timely development and giving users the ability to invite friends in a way that feels less sterile than a lot of the current approaches will definitely appeal to a lot of developers.
The <3 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
App Invites doesn’t just give users a simple list of contacts to choose from. It will recommend specific people based on their closeness to the user or their interests. For example Yummly, which tested the service, suggests its app to people who are interested in food.
Invitations are sent out by SMS or in an email, which includes an ‘install’ button in the body. Android has an advantage over iOS – users who click on an invite will be able to immediately download the app from Google Play without having to stop off in a browser on the way.
Developers can also deep link to specific pages in their apps. That’ll allow users to do things like share a discount code with a friend, which is another obvious way to increase engagement.
Facebook revealed its own ‘App Invites’ system at F8 earlier this year. It also lets users share personalized messages on an even more granular level (adding things like user-generated photos or screenshots). However, the social network’s invites stay within its own walled garden and can’t be sent by SMS or email.
Google’s App Invites developer website offers sample code and detailed instructions on setting them up for iOS and Android if you want to get started.
➤ Grow your app installs with App Invites from Google [Google Developer Blog via TechCrunch]
Read next: Everything Google announced at Google I/O 2015 in one handy list
Image credits: Google Developers
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.