The business
SimplyCash (simplycash.in) is an instant personal loan app from Hero FinCorp. It offers small loans to salaried employees across India through a mobile app, so the website’s job is to attract people searching for quick loans and turn them into app installs.
The challenge
SimplyCash had just launched, and the instant-loan segment was already crowded with established apps. Resources weren’t the problem; standing out was. The scope covered both search engine optimization (SEO) for the website and App Store Optimization (ASO) for the app.
What I did
On the website
- Rebuilt the site structure. I redid the entire silo structure and navigation, developed the content, and optimised pages to turn visits into app installs.
- Found the problem hiding underneath. Search Console’s crawl stats showed the server was rejecting more than 35% of Google’s crawl requests: more than one in three. I worked through the fixes with the tech team until Google could crawl the site freely.
In the app stores
- Rewrote the store listing word by word so it covered every important search term from the app store’s point of view.
- Shortened the sign-up journey. Mapping the path from install to loan application showed our app took 13 steps, while competitors took 9 to 11. I redesigned the journey into 8 steps, and the conversion rate rose from 3% to 14%.
- Fixed what users were complaining about. I analysed recent reviews and the app’s health reports in the store dashboards, and resolved the issues customers were facing.
- Got updates to every user. Many Android users had installed the app from third-party app marketplaces and were stuck on old versions. I set up a process to release each update to those marketplaces at the same time as Google Play and the App Store.
Results
- ~7,300% growth in organic traffic in 15 months.
- ~580% more total app installs and ~220% more unique installs from SEO and ASO.
- App conversion rate up from 3% to 14% after the onboarding redesign.
- More than 1 million app installs over the engagement.
What other fintech apps can learn
- Check crawl health before anything else. A server that rejects Google’s requests caps your growth, however good your content is.
- ASO doesn’t end at the listing. The number of steps between install and application decides how many installs become customers.
- Release everywhere your users are, not only on the main app stores.
Frequently asked questions
What is App Store Optimization (ASO)?
App Store Optimization is the work of making an app easier to find and more likely to be installed in Google Play and the App Store. It covers the listing’s keywords and text, ratings and reviews, and the experience after install. For SimplyCash it also included shortening the sign-up journey from 13 steps to 8.
How can crawl errors hold back a website?
If a server rejects Google’s crawl requests, new and updated pages are found slowly or not at all. On SimplyCash, more than 35% of Google’s crawl requests were being rejected; fixing that was one of the biggest drivers of its organic growth.
How do you improve a loan app’s conversion rate?
Remove every step a borrower doesn’t need. SimplyCash’s journey from install to application had 13 steps against competitors’ 9 to 11. Redesigning it into 8 steps lifted the conversion rate from 3% to 14%.
