Marketing guidelines
Once you have developed your app, you have to prepare the App Page used to promote your app at the VTEX App Store. The App Page is the first point of contact for merchants to learn more about your app and decide whether it is suitable for their business.
Make sure to present your solutions professionally by adhering to the following principles:
- Clearly describe your app’s value proposition, key benefits, and how merchants can benefit from it.
- Choose a product name that indicates the purpose of the app.
- Use high-quality images (icon and screenshots) and videos (if applicable).
Note that if we see room for improvement, we’ll reach out to you before listing your app on the VTEX App Store.
Refer to the following sections to improve your App Page and increase its adoption on the VTEX App Store.
We recommend you follow these best practices while setting up the files that compose the marketing assets of an app. Please refer to this guide for more information.
Tone & Voice
Choose to favor the Serious and Authority tones. We understand that they capture the reliability and expertise our system’s voice should have.
| Tone and Voice | Description |
|---|---|
| Serious | Speak firmly, respectfully, and honestly - always with a more serious tone than playful. |
| Authority | Speak with mastery, proficiency, and expertise. |
To see more about VTEX’s tone and voice, go to UX Writing Guidelines and VTEX Brand Guide pages.
Images
Images are a tool to express the visual identity of your app, make users learn more about the app, and reinforce your brand in the VTEX environment. The principles of a pack of images for the app are the following:
- Use high-quality images of your app’s UI to show the users how it behaves.
- Add one icon that represents your app that will appear in search results, the first page of VTEX App Store, and the App’s page.
- Upload up to ten screenshots (app’s images) and a minimum of three.
- For storefront apps, combine Admin and storefront images to illustrate your app’s experience for both Merchant and Shopper.
- Add different mobile and desktop screenshots to improve the user experience depending on the screen.
Icon
Your app icon is one of the first elements of your app that developers and merchants see. It expresses the visual identity and reinforces your brand in the VTEX App Store environment.
Do’s and Don’ts
- The icon must be in
PNGformat, a square image, without rounded corners. - The icon must have a minimum resolution of 1024 x 1024 pixels, a maximum resolution of 3000 x 3000 pixels, and a 1:1 ratio.
- The background of your icon must be transparent.
- The icon design must be simple and avoid unnecessary visual details. This will help merchants understand your app's purpose and have a better fit on smaller screens.
- The icon must not exceed 75% of the total space available of the icon size.
Show example
Screenshots
Use screenshots to visually represent your app’s key features and purpose.
Do’s and Don’ts
- Provide three to five images showing the app on a Desktop and Mobile screen.
- Choose images of the app's interface and behavior, as well as the app's avaialble configurations on the Admin panel.
- Use the PNG format.
- The image’s size must be up to 700 x 400 pixels.
- Ensure text in your images is localized according to the app’s applicable market.
- Screenshots must highlight the purpose, actions and benefits of the app.
- Do not use images that reveal real usernames and accounts. Opt to take images with fictional or blurred information.
- Do not fully maximize the window when taking a screenshot. It can damage the quality of the image.
Download and use our templates to create great app images for your App Page, such as the ones from the Live Shopping app.
Licenses
Licenses are written documents that contain the Terms and Conditions (T&C) of your app. They establish the direct business relationship between you, the developer, and the retailer that installs the app.
Do’s and Don’ts
- Seek legal advice for the writing of your T&C.
- Prepare a Personal Data Governance Program, which includes clauses in its T&C on the subject, depending on the applicable legislation, in addition to tools that allow data subjects to exercise their rights.
- Consider wording limiting liability clauses.
- Remember to cover Intellectual Property issues.
- Offer the T&C in your User’s language (Expected in English, Portuguese and Spanish).
- Analyze the consumer laws of the countries in which you operate, and offer consumers the rights provided.
- Review specific legislation related to your business, such as those issued by central banks if you are in financial services.
- Make it clear how you can hire your service: free, freemium, or premium, for example. Also, review the regulations regarding the payment methods you will accept.
The recommendations presented here are intended to serve as guidelines for the third-party developers and do not represent a legal recommendation. VTEX is not responsible for direct, indirect, moral, punitive damages, consequential damages or loss of profits arising from the use and/or compliance with these guidelines. Hiring legal advice is necessary and recommended for the final writing of terms and conditions for applications.
Messaging
The textual content of your App Page must highlight your app’s value proposition and features in a clear and concise way so merchants can easily understand what they can do and achieve with your app.
Remember, your App Page is your main marketing tool and touchpoint with merchants.
Name - Required
The name of an app is decisive for how merchants will find your app on the VTEX App Store.
Do’s and Don’ts
-
The app name must be a maximum of 26 characters.
-
Keep it concise and descriptive. Ensure that it alludes to the experiences the app provides.
Show example
✔️
Live Shopping
❌
Live Shopping - The app that allows you to live stream events on your store's website.- Capitalize the first letter of each word.
Show example
✔️
Live Shopping
❌
Live shopping- Use & instead of And.
Show example
✔️
Reviews & Ratings
❌
Reviews and Ratings
- Do not include the word VTEX.
Show example
✔️
Abandoned Cart
❌
VTEX Abandoned Cart- Do not use punctuation, such as period, comma, exclamation point, question mark, semicolon, colon, and underscore unless it’s part of the actual company name.
Show example
✔️
Social Selling
❌
Social Selling- Do not include the version number of the app.
Show example
✔️
Google Tag Manager
❌
Google Tag Manager 2.xHeadline
The headline should describe the value proposition of your app in a concise sentence.
Do’s and Don’ts
-
The headline must have a maximum of 120 characters.
-
Capture your app's key value proposition in a consise way.
Show example
✔️
Engage with customers through live broadcasts, real-time chat, and product promotion.
Create live broadcasts on your store, increase sales and boost customer interaction in real-time.
❌
Live broadcasts with customers.
Create Live streaming and sell more.
Show example
✔️
Set shipping address based on user browser's or IP Geolocation.
❌
This app attempts to determine the users' location and set their shipping address.
-
Consider using verbs that reference the actions the users will be able to do with your app and the benefit it will deliver
Integrate data|create wishlists|monitor performance.Increase revenue|deliver convenient experiences.
-
Avoid repeating the application name.
Show example
✔️
Integrate your store with Google's navigation and conversion tracking platform.
❌
Google Tag Manager is the app to integrate your store with Google's navigation and conversion tracking platform.
Overview
The overview is the description of the app and should be an engaging message that focuses on how your app can benefit merchants in a clear and precise way.
Do’s and Don’ts
- Write a short overview limited to a maximum of 200 characters.
- The app description must give a glimpse of your app’s benefits and functionalities, not a step-by-step on how it works.
Show example
✔️
Integrate with WordPress to bring blog data to your VTEX IO store and create a blog "homepage", category pages, and blog post pages.
❌
The Wordpress Integration app provides a way to bring in blog data from the Wordpress API and create a blog homepage, category pages, and blog post pages on your store, using your existing store header, footer, and styling.
- Make sure you are addessing for whom your app is, what need it solves and how uniquely do you solve it.
There are numerous value proposition frameworks that can be used as a reference in this task, such as the following: Our [product] help(s) [audience] who wants to [jobs to be done] by [verb e.g. reducing, avoiding] + [a user pain or gain].
Show example
✔️
With The Live Shopping app, create live stream events on your store's website, promote product collections, increase sales, and enhance user experience simultaneously while interacting via live chat.
❌
Live shopping is an app to stream live events on your store in real-time.
- Use the active voice to give a sense of action to the user.
Show example
✔️
Offer an exclusive payment method to selected clients. With Customer Credit, you grant credit, determine limits, and manage invoices.
❌
With Customer Credit, the credit will be granted, limits determined, and invoices will be managed.
- Avoid technical and jargon language.
Show example
✔️
Interact with customers in real-time by generating personalized experiences through real-time chat and interactive like button.
❌
Interact with customers by managing the event’s live chat in the events list clicking on the desired live event’s arrow button.
Features
In features, provide a list of your app's main features.
Do’s
-
Highlight which tasks can be performed within the app.
-
Write concise and brief descriptions (no more than 15 - 20 words).
-
Use bullet points to make the content easy to scan.
-
Describe what makes your app unique.
Show example
✔️
- Stream & Sell with the VTEX Live Shopping app. No need to hire a separate streaming platform.
- Highlight products in the live stream to increase sales.
- Add to cart alert: Show which products are trending and encourage the audience to add these products to their shopping cart.
❌
Stream and sell with the VTEX Live Shopping app without hiring a separate streaming platform. Also, highlight products during the live stream to increase sales.
Website URL
The Website URL is a hyperlink to your website to redirect users to your own corporate or app page. Website hyperlinks will be displayed in the sidebar of the App Page. This is an interesting component to present your solution in more depth to retailers browsing the VTEX App Store.
Do
- Enter a valid URL in this field to direct them to a landing page, "About Us" page, or your corporate website.
Support
Provide support information to make potential buyers aware of your support channels, such as email, a ticket portal, or a phone number. Including details on how support for your app works might make merchants more confident to choose your app.
Additional Information
Use this field to provide more specific details about the app. For example, is your app only available in certain regions? How the merchant will receive the app’s billing information? Is your app available only in specific environments (Legacy CMS Portal or VTEX IO)?
Do
- Write a summary, a maximum of 80 characters.
- Consider your app’s audience: regional location or global user, IO or Legacy user.
Show example
✔️
This application is only being made available in a Beta version.
If you do not have the integration done yet, you will need to complete the integration form.
We have three different plans that adjust to your content and commercial needs to have the most competitive rates.
❌
Simpler logistical operation and a reduction in logistical costs.
Automatic messages (after-sales)
Real-time metrics: After the end of the event, review quality KPIs such as likes, comments, and shares, as well as performance KPIs such as sales and average product value (AOV).
These describe the features of apps. Therefore, they should be in the feature section.
Video
Use videos to demonstrate how your app behaves in different scenarios. Videos are exciting resources to complement images as an educational tool showing your app’s main benefits and features.
Do's
- Feature videos of a maximum of 2 minutes.
- Make a video showing the main features and benefits of your app.
- Localize your video audio and or transcription according to your audience.
- Make visually compelling videos to attract attention from potential buyers of your app.
For example, check out the video for the Live Shopping app.
Metric description
Metric descriptios are required only for apps whose pricing is based on one or more metrics. If this is not the case, please do not fill in this field.
For each metric declared in the billingOptions field (found in the app's manifest.json file), you must include a simple description of how it works. This description will help the extension buyer understand what each metric does and how it will impact the application billing.
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