The Google Apps Marketplace team is always looking for ways to help its vendors add new users and improve installation metrics. In order to help achieve these goals, we have launched the Apps Ecosystem Marketing Kitchen. Through experimentation, we want to collectively identify, test, and share best marketing practices for business web app.
The first initiative we cooked up is designed to help you, as a vendor, minimize the abandonment rate of Marketplace prospects as they bounce around your Marketplace property and various product pages without clear a “call to action”.
The Challenge:
The vendors who drive the most traffic and installs to their Marketplace listing page through their “Add to Apps” button between Nov 9th - 16th will be included in the front page Featured and Notable sections on the Apps Marketplace site.
To find out about this challenge and future ones, check out the Google Apps Developer Blog. Additionally, stay in touch with us on Buzz and Twitter. Send your questions and suggestions to marketing-test-kitchen@google.com.
Harrison Shih, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google Apps Marketplace
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Marketplace Recommendations
We’re working on a set of Marketplace app recommendation features designed to make it easier for buyers to discover apps that closely matches their needs. We plan to share app recommendations in a number of locations within the Google Apps product and the Marketplace, beginning with the Google Apps admin control panel and the Featured and Notable sections of the Marketplace front page.
The app recommendations will be powered by a recommendation engine that will use a variety of criteria to formulate its suggestions. App-side metrics (like installation and conversion rates), buyer-side metrics and other factors are being considered for the recommendation algorithm. Once we launch the app recommendations in the coming months, we will be fine-tuning this criteria over time based on the data that we gather to make sure we deliver the best experience to marketplace buyers.
Feedback or questions? Please discuss with us over on Buzz -- we’d like to hear from you!
The app recommendations will be powered by a recommendation engine that will use a variety of criteria to formulate its suggestions. App-side metrics (like installation and conversion rates), buyer-side metrics and other factors are being considered for the recommendation algorithm. Once we launch the app recommendations in the coming months, we will be fine-tuning this criteria over time based on the data that we gather to make sure we deliver the best experience to marketplace buyers.
Feedback or questions? Please discuss with us over on Buzz -- we’d like to hear from you!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Looking for Developers to Highlight to Press
Every week we have opportunities when we talk to the press to highlight fresh and innovative web apps. Although Marketplace apps can be built using any tools you want and hosted on any platform, we sometimes have additional PR opportunities for those built using tools like Google Web Toolkit or hosted on App Engine.
If you're a developer interested in the possibility of getting some publicity for your application (app must be currently available) and working with us on this, please shoot an email to apps-customer-stories@google.com with contact information so we can follow-up with you to discuss further.
If you're a developer interested in the possibility of getting some publicity for your application (app must be currently available) and working with us on this, please shoot an email to apps-customer-stories@google.com with contact information so we can follow-up with you to discuss further.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Gmail Contextual Gadgets: giving the gift of time
We've talked with a lot of Marketplace vendors who weren't aware of the Gmail Contextual Gadgets launch back in May at Google I/O. Gmail Contextual Gadgets is one of our favorite APIs that's launched in recent time, so we wanted to make sure you're all aware of it. It's a great way to save time for your users.
Contextual Gadgets greatly accelerate user adoption by bringing the application directly to the user in context and in their normal work flow. Many great apps fail to gain user traction because they are separated from the normal workflow. Gmail Contextual Gadgets solve that problem for developers, and make it much easier for the end users to see the benefits.
Here's an example gadget from Harvest-- allowing the users of their time tracking application to fill out their time sheets directly from within Gmail:
We just posted more info on both our developer-facing and customer-facing blogs. Check it out:
Google Apps Developer Blog
Contextual Gadgets greatly accelerate user adoption by bringing the application directly to the user in context and in their normal work flow. Many great apps fail to gain user traction because they are separated from the normal workflow. Gmail Contextual Gadgets solve that problem for developers, and make it much easier for the end users to see the benefits.
Here's an example gadget from Harvest-- allowing the users of their time tracking application to fill out their time sheets directly from within Gmail:
We just posted more info on both our developer-facing and customer-facing blogs. Check it out:
Google Apps Developer Blog
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Going Deeper - More Integration Examples Available in our Developer Docs
Users love Single Sign-On, but we’ve found the depth and quality of a Marketplace app's integration with Google Apps is a key factor in both the user experience and vendor success in the Marketplace. Deep integration makes users happy, because it helps them avoid entering duplicate data and makes useful information accessible from their day-to-day communication and collaboration tools.
To help you discover ways to integrate your own applications with Google Apps, we added a new section to our developer docs showcasing examples from popular applications in the marketplace. Some examples, like BatchBook’s streamlined sign-up process for users, show simple ways applications can help users get started quicker.
Apps can help users be more productive by displaying information and allowing them to take action right within an e-mail message. Harvest, a time tracking application, allows users to complete their timesheets in gmail when they receive their weekly reminders.
You’ll also find examples for collaboration and document sharing, such as Manymoon’s seamless integration with Google Docs. This makes it easy for users to share information with teams or attach relevant docs to tasks.
You can read more about these and other integrations, or try out the apps yourself by going to the Google Apps Marketplace. Of course these are just a few of many ways to make apps easier for users, and we look forward to seeing even more creative ideas from developers.
If you want to learn about the APIs which enable these deep integrations, meet with fellow developers and ask questions of Googlers, come to our Google Apps and Apps Marketplace Hackathon at the Google Mountain View campus on August 24th!
To help you discover ways to integrate your own applications with Google Apps, we added a new section to our developer docs showcasing examples from popular applications in the marketplace. Some examples, like BatchBook’s streamlined sign-up process for users, show simple ways applications can help users get started quicker.
Apps can help users be more productive by displaying information and allowing them to take action right within an e-mail message. Harvest, a time tracking application, allows users to complete their timesheets in gmail when they receive their weekly reminders.
You’ll also find examples for collaboration and document sharing, such as Manymoon’s seamless integration with Google Docs. This makes it easy for users to share information with teams or attach relevant docs to tasks.
You can read more about these and other integrations, or try out the apps yourself by going to the Google Apps Marketplace. Of course these are just a few of many ways to make apps easier for users, and we look forward to seeing even more creative ideas from developers.
If you want to learn about the APIs which enable these deep integrations, meet with fellow developers and ask questions of Googlers, come to our Google Apps and Apps Marketplace Hackathon at the Google Mountain View campus on August 24th!
Steven Bazyl, Google Apps Marketplace Team
Monday, August 9, 2010
Google Apps and Apps Marketplace Hackathon
What: Google will be holding a hackathon to help you get started integrating with Google Apps and the Google Apps Marketplace! We will be doing short introductions and presentations throughout the day on many of the Apps APIs. There will be plenty of time to try out APIs, ask questions, and get hands-on help from members of the Google team and other local developers. Bring your laptops and come hang out at Google. Food will be provided.
Who: Software developers looking to learn about integrating with Google Apps. Whether you’re a customer integrating with your existing systems, a VAR/SI helping customers integrate or a SaaS software vendor looking to reach the 2 million businesses using Google Apps by selling your integrated app on the Google Apps Marketplace, this event is for you! Of course, if you’re a developer and have already integrated with Google Apps and are just looking to learn more about the latest APIs or meet the Google team and fellow developers, you’re welcome as well!
When: Tuesday, August 24th from 10AM to 5PM.
Where: Google Campus: 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043. Room to be announced to confirmed attendees.
Sign up here!
If you’re primarily interested in Google Apps Script, we’re having a separate hackathon on September 23rd just for Apps Script. Please see this site for more information.
Who: Software developers looking to learn about integrating with Google Apps. Whether you’re a customer integrating with your existing systems, a VAR/SI helping customers integrate or a SaaS software vendor looking to reach the 2 million businesses using Google Apps by selling your integrated app on the Google Apps Marketplace, this event is for you! Of course, if you’re a developer and have already integrated with Google Apps and are just looking to learn more about the latest APIs or meet the Google team and fellow developers, you’re welcome as well!
When: Tuesday, August 24th from 10AM to 5PM.
Where: Google Campus: 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043. Room to be announced to confirmed attendees.
Sign up here!
If you’re primarily interested in Google Apps Script, we’re having a separate hackathon on September 23rd just for Apps Script. Please see this site for more information.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Important: opportunity to test new account infrastructure
Back in May, we announced that more Google applications are coming for Google Apps customers. This is being made possible by a significant overhaul to our underlying systems. While we expect this to have have no direct impact on how your Marketplace applications work, we did want to explicitly invite you to test these changes to ensure your application still works flawlessly.
More information:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-google-applications-coming-for.html
Testing signup form:
https://spreadsheets1.google.com/a/google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGdfTTA2eGhFT0c0SDVLXzMzMFNwUUE6MA#gid=0
One UX item to note:
Currently most Google Apps customers can only login via OpenID using the Google Apps OpenID endpoint. Unless they have a 'normal' Google account with the same e-mail address, they're unable to login to the 'consumer' OpenID endpoint. This will change for these next generation Google Apps accounts --- they'll be able to login both to the 'consumer' endpoint and the Google Apps endpoint. However, their OpenID identifier URIs will be different depending on which endpoint they use to login. You'll want to make sure to still guide all Google Apps customers to login via the Google Apps endpoint and you'll continue to get the same OpenID identifier for those users, which you'll notice is on their own domain (eg appscustomer.com) as opposed to Google's domain (google.com).
Questions?:
Please let us know if you have questions or problems related to this change by posting in the most relevant Google Apps developer discussion forum.
More information:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-google-applications-coming-for.html
Testing signup form:
https://spreadsheets1.google.com/a/google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGdfTTA2eGhFT0c0SDVLXzMzMFNwUUE6MA#gid=0
One UX item to note:
Currently most Google Apps customers can only login via OpenID using the Google Apps OpenID endpoint. Unless they have a 'normal' Google account with the same e-mail address, they're unable to login to the 'consumer' OpenID endpoint. This will change for these next generation Google Apps accounts --- they'll be able to login both to the 'consumer' endpoint and the Google Apps endpoint. However, their OpenID identifier URIs will be different depending on which endpoint they use to login. You'll want to make sure to still guide all Google Apps customers to login via the Google Apps endpoint and you'll continue to get the same OpenID identifier for those users, which you'll notice is on their own domain (eg appscustomer.com) as opposed to Google's domain (google.com).
Questions?:
Please let us know if you have questions or problems related to this change by posting in the most relevant Google Apps developer discussion forum.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Important: Change in Provisioning API
Yesterday there was a change in the provisioning API that may be causing errors for some applications. The provisioning API is considered "userless" and does not use the xoauth_requestor_id parameter when access with 2-legged OAuth.
Previously, the API ignored this parameter if set. The API no longer accepts requests with xoauth_requestor_id and now return a 401 error with the error message "Token invalid - AuthSub token has wrong scope." If you're application is seeing these errors, removing the xoauth_requestor_id parameter will correct the problem.
We apologize for the inconvenience this change has caused. The "userless" nature of the Provisioning API 2-legged oauth was only lightly documented in the Best Practices guide, and we've filed a bug to document it more thoroughly.
Previously, the API ignored this parameter if set. The API no longer accepts requests with xoauth_requestor_id and now return a 401 error with the error message "Token invalid - AuthSub token has wrong scope." If you're application is seeing these errors, removing the xoauth_requestor_id parameter will correct the problem.
We apologize for the inconvenience this change has caused. The "userless" nature of the Provisioning API 2-legged oauth was only lightly documented in the Best Practices guide, and we've filed a bug to document it more thoroughly.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Don’t forget the button!
Since launching the Google Apps Marketplace last March, one of the stronger trends we’ve seen among high-performing Marketplace apps is use of the “Add to Google Apps” button. The “Add to Google Apps” button is the highest-converting source of traffic to the Marketplace, and the vendors using it are seeing the benefit.
We’ve put together a simple guide explaining how to correctly implement the button and add tracking code, including examples of how some of our vendors are using the button. If you have a landing page about your integrated app, we highly encourage you to use the “Add to Google Apps” button.
Posted by Chris Kelly, Google Apps Marketplace Marketing
Posted by Chris Kelly, Google Apps Marketplace Marketing