AppSource / Azure Marketplace Listing Marketing Assessment

This self-guided worksheet is designed to help you assess if your AppSource / Azure Marketplace listing page is effective from an emotional engagement perspective. When prospects find your app on the AppSource / Azure Marketplace you only have a few seconds to get their attention and stimulate enough interest to move them to take action. The latest research in neuro marketing has been incorporated and applied in this assessment to help you identify what changes to make to increase your engagement level and conversion rate.

For each of the questions that follow please choose ONE best answer. Once completed we will immediately email you a summary of your results.

App Publisher Name*

App Name*

AppSource / Azure Marketplace Listing Page URL*

Name of individual completing this assessment*

AppSource / Azure Marketplace Listing Page Screenshot

Max. file size: 50 MB.

Tribal Engagement

Immediate Tribal Identification*

It is evident from the app page messaging and visuals that this app is designed for a particular vertical industry.
It is evident from the messaging that this app addresses a very specific targeted business process or workload, potentially across industries.
The messaging and imagery are mostly horizontal and general.

Tribal Empathy*

All copy is consistently written in the second person [you] rather than in the third [they, the company] or first person [we]. There is little use of the words “we”, “our”, “clients”, “companies”, “businesses”, or “they” and instead there is frequent use of the words “you”, “your business”, or “your company”. All the messaging speaks directly to the prospect.
“You” or “your” is used twice or more, but the messaging predominantly speaks about the product and or benefits in the first or third person. For example, the text contains “we”, “our clients” and “businesses will…”.
“You” is used in the text only once or not at all. All messaging is written from the app provider’s perspective and about the app at the exclusion of the customer perspective. The app features and functionality are the hero of the narrative, and not the customer. It should instead speak to the desired state and experience of the prospect.

Persona Engagement*

75%-100% or more of the app page content appeals and speaks to either the senior decision maker or the business line manager. In addition to highlighting the features and functionality of the product, it discusses the benefits and the value a company can gain.
50%- 75% of the messaging centers on the business benefits of the app and less than 50% discusses the product features and functionality.
Less than 50% of the messaging addresses the benefits to be gained by the customer. More than 50% of the messaging is about what the product does and how it does it, and lists the product features and functionality without identifying the business benefits of these features. The messaging predominantly targets an end user or technical person rather than a business manager.

Unveil Compelling Pain*

Pain is a stronger motivator of action than reward. 3 or more specific business pains are mentioned in the app text. Rather than highlighting the positive benefits i.e. saving time and money and improving effectiveness, most of the messaging on the app listing addresses core emotional business pains, challenges and problems the prospect is experiencing such as inefficiencies, high costs, wasted time and lost customers.
There are only one or two pains mentioned.
There is no business pain mentioned at all. The majority of the messaging is either benefit-based or speaks predominantly about the features and functions of the product.

Emotional Engagement Triggers

Stimulate an Emotional Response*

Fear and loss are often the key drivers of changed behavior or investment in new solutions. On your app page, your messaging calls out your prospect’s fears and risks. Examples include losing customers, eroding margins, not being in compliance, increasing costs, declining market share, not having the data needed to make important decisions, etc.
Negative emotions aren’t stimulated; rather, the App listing page evokes positive desire, greed, hope, or joy in prospects. Examples include identifying benefits such as experiencing growth, more control, freedom, or safety.
There is no mention of fear and risk, or of desired positive emotional states. The text contains emotionless features and functionality.

App Name Effectiveness*

The app name clearly conveys the value or benefit the customer will gain and/or includes vertical industry specific vocabulary.
The app name is descriptive of what it does, but does not speak to the benefit or value it delivers.
The app name is not descriptive, nor does it suggest the value delivered. The name does not trigger any response in the prospect.

Visual Stimulation

Visual Engagement*

There are three videos on the app page.
There are one or two videos on the page.
There are no videos on the app page.

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Video Effectiveness

Videos included are authentic, engaging and interesting. They are less than 3 minutes long. One or more highlight customers who are speaking, or discuss the benefits a customer will enjoy. A prospect would resonate with the messaging and feel compelled to buy as a result of watching.
Videos are up to 5 minutes long and/or are a mix of product demonstrations and discussions of benefits. They tell a somewhat compelling enough story to generate a buying decision.
One or more video(s) are longer than 5 minutes and mostly include a boring demo/sales pitch. They are not compelling and could be much more engaging.

Curiosity and Persuasion

Visual Effectiveness*

Videos included are authentic, engaging and interesting. They are less than 3 minutes long. One or more highlight customers who are speaking, or discuss the benefits a customer will enjoy. A prospect would resonate with the messaging and feel compelled to buy as a result of watching.
Videos are up to 5 minutes long and/or are a mix of product demonstrations and discussions of benefits. They tell a somewhat compelling enough story to generate a buying decision.
One or more video(s) are longer than 5 minutes and mostly include a boring demo/sales pitch. They are not compelling and could be much more engaging.

Build Anticipation with Questions*

The app listing includes one or more provocative and emotionally stimulating questions. The questions are negative in perspective, highlighting pains the prospect can relate to, or they are questions that the prospect does not know the answer to but would like to know. The questions get the visitor to nod in agreement. Examples: Worried about losing market share? Tired of not having the information you need to make decisions?
The app listing does not have any headline questions but does ask the prospect one or more questions in the body of the text or in videos.
The app listing does not ask the prospect any questions; all of the messaging is presented in the form of unemotional statements.

Visual Engagement*

The app listing has two or more strong, visually appealing images in the form of video and/or screen shots. These attract your attention and draw you in.
The app listing has only one or two interesting visual elements which may include graphs/tables highlighting industry data and/or statistics, or compelling screenshots.
The app listing generally includes boring text with just a product screen shot or product demo, and is not emotionally appealing or engaging.

Tangible, Concrete Language*

Words are kept to a minimum and the language used is natural day-to-day language. No complex or abstract ideas are presented. No vague meaningless claims and generalizations are made. For example, instead of “Improve business processes and productivity”, messages read “Today it can take you up to an hour of valuable time to process an order; after installing our app, you can reduce this time by 50%!”.
Some of the messaging is concrete and written in ordinary day-to-day language, but some abstract and vague ideas are included.
The messaging doesn’t tell you anything concrete about what you will gain if you buy; it just lists product features and describes functionality and/or makes general claims and statements such as "greater efficiency and improved business practices."

Proof of Claims

Contrast Screen Shots to Prove your Claims*

There are 1 or more contrasting images or screen shots that visually demonstrate life before and after. The still images depict a compelling and engaging story and include realistic data.
There are 1 or more screen shots or videos that visually demonstrate the benefits discussed or show how specific pains are alleviated.
It is not obvious from the screen shots or videos what the benefits to the business are. The screen shots or visuals only show product features or functionality.

Compelling Social Proof*

There is third party objective evidence that the app delivers value in the form of stats/data, a customer quote or a video testimonial.
There is one text quote or statistic that demonstrates third party social proof.
There is no third-party proof of the claims made on the app listing page.

Action Engagement

Compelling Call-to-Action*

There is a strong and clear next step call-to-action on the app listing page. Persuasive and compelling action words and benefits statement are used, such as “buy now”, “click here to learn five ways to save money” and "start saving money now”.
There is a specific call to action, but it is descriptive and not very compelling or emotional nor does it mention benefits. e.g. “Learn More”.
There is no call to action or clear next step towards buying.

App Landing Page*

We have an AppSource / Azure Marketplace specific app landing page that prospects can directly go to or will find when following the free trial journey. This page is not our company home page.
We have a link on the AppSource / Azure Marketplace page to our regular general corporate website home page or a products/services page.
There is no further link on our AppSource / Azure Marketplace listing page other than one to download the trial or to download a brochure or other marketing asset on the app listing page itself.

Please specify your app product sales landing page URL, if you have one:

Effectiveness of App Listing

Self Assessment*

We feel this app listing is very well presented and effective. We have implemented most of the AppSource listing best practices recommended. We feel it is compelling and will get customers to buy.
We feel this app listing effectively describes what the product does but is not yet sufficiently compelling or emotionally engaging. We have implemented some of the best practices recommended, but there is still room for improvement.
We haven’t yet optimized this app listing to maximize engagement and conversion. We just quickly put something together to describe our solution and need more time to refine the messaging. We have not yet implemented the best practices recommended, but expect to do so in the future.

App Potential

Value Proposition*

We believe this app offers a compelling value proposition to our target vertical market and will appeal to many companies within that vertical and its micro verticals.
We believe this app addresses a very specific business process pain and will appeal to many Microsoft customers across a broad range of industries.
We are not yet sure who will enjoy the greatest value from our app but are hoping to validate the market and find out soon.

Strategic to our Business*

This app is an important part of our core overall product and services strategy.
This app is part of our secondary product /services strategy or a minor part of our overall product strategy.
We are just testing the waters with this app to see if we want to explore a new or different market.

Final Comments

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Total

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First Name*

Last Name*

Email*

Company Name*

Website*

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