Mobile app markets have been touted as fastest growing marketplaces in
the world. Every day thousands of apps are published to join millions of
others on app stores. The competition for top grossing apps and market
visibility is fierce. The way an app is visually represented can greatly
contribute to the amount of attention an icon receives and to its
consequent commercial performance. Therefore, the icon of the
app is of crucial importance as it is the first point of contact with
the potential user/customer amidst the flood of information. Those apps
that fail to arouse attention through their icons danger their
commercial performance in the market where consumers browse past
hundreds of icons daily. Using semantic differential scale (22 adjective
pairs), we investigate the relationship between consumer perceptions of
app icons and icon successfulness, measured by 1) overall evaluation of
the icon, 2) willingness to click the icon, 3) willingness to download
the imagined app and, 4) willingness to purchase the app. The study
design was a vignette study with random participant (n = 569) assignment to evaluate 4 icons (n = 2276)
from a total of pre-selected 68 game app icons across 4 categories
(concrete, abstract, character and text). Results show that consumers
are more likely to interact with app icons that are aesthetically
pleasing and convey good quality. Particularly, app icons that are
perceived unique, realistic and stimulating lead to more clicks,
downloads and purchases.