The Microsoft Edge Extension team reviews many app submissions on a daily basis. They know exactly what you need to present to optimize your developer registration and submission experience and be up and running quickly. This article is taken from a recent exclusive www.cleanapps.org webinar presented by Pratyusha Avadhanula, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft Edge Chromium Extension Team. It highlights the key points that can make or break your submission. Most of these points are based on an in-depth study of successful applicants and consumer behavior.
The most successful developers who breeze through the application process understand that a strong trust factor is crucial to the process and influences many of their app building decisions. This trust factor is a three-way link between the extension developer, Microsoft, and the user. Success is directly based on the strength of that triangle. Virtually all the points in your application process are designed to maximize this trust. Your fully compliant submission will reward you with a smooth experience and an affluent business.
What to know about registration before you begin
· Registration is free and there are no upper limits to the number of extensions you can submit.
· You will need a Microsoft Account (MSA) with Outlook, live, or Hotmail. AAD accounts are not supported at this time.
· If you register as a company and not as an individual, your account will go through a vetting process that may take a week to complete.
· At his time there is no way to add multiple users and email IDs to manage an account.
· If you already have a Partner Center account, log in with the corresponding MSA account to register for the Addons program.
· Registration is mandatory before an extension can be submitted.
· Register here: https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/dashboard/registration/AccountInfo?accountProgram=MSEdgeAddons
Submission vital data
Keep these points firmly in mind for an easy submission process:
· Your upload package is well tested.
· You intend to make the extension broadly available and not to a limited audience.
· You know exactly what regions your extension should be made available in.
· You provide an engaging and relevant store logo and professional screenshots that will be used to inform the public.
Tips to ensure a smooth and quick review process and increase your extension’s success
· Is your extension adding clear and uniquevalue to the end user?
· Are you asking for the narrowest set of permissions possible? Are the permissions you ask for relevant to the extension’s functionality?
· If you need broad permissions, clearly explain why to the reviewers in Notes to Certification.
· If you are accessing user data, ensure you have added the correct privacy policy.
· Make absolutely sure your extensions do not have an unclear, obscure or hidden code.
· Use Notes to Certification to explain any special instructions or unique considerations the review team needs to know.
Developer Submission Experience: Key Steps
1. Log into the Partner Center.
2. Ensure you can see the Microsoft Edge program on the left. If not, you haven’t registered as above and will need to do so.
3. The above screen shows your Addons you’ve registered into the Extensions program. In the beginning it will be blank. The following screens show sample extensions.
4. Click on create new extension at the top right.
5. You will have to provide the details in left column and upload the package which brings you to this screen.
6. Once you upload the package, there is a package validation that happens. You want to ensure you have corrected any errors or you will not be allowed to submit the package.
7. On the first screen, under availability:
It is important that you call out whether you want to keep your extension public or hidden. If you have two extensions where you want to keep one as a text test extension and publish the other as a production version, you can keep the test hidden and in the Notes to Certification field (shown later) you can state that one of them is a test extension.
8. Market selection is also important. This is where you want the extension to be available. The regions where it can be obtained. Make your choices here.
9. On this screen:
Choose the category that is most relevant to your extension. Many people browse the categories to find a similar extension if they already have one extension they are not happy with or they are trying to enhance the existing functionality, so make sure you are looking at categories that are most applicable to your extension.
10. The privacy policy URL is very important. If your extension has access to any of the user data or if you are accessing or transmitting any of the users personal data or even if you are requesting permissions which can typically provide access to user personal data, Microsoft insists upon a privacy policy URL. You must provide this if you want to get through the review smoothly.
11. Make sure you are correctly marking the content as mature if it includes any of the content mentioned here. An oversight will lead to problems later.
12. Providing any website or support URL details adds to the trust factor of the extension when users are trying to download it.
13. Store listings details are seen on to the storefront and represent your extension. The languages are automatically picked up from your package and you can choose to provide as many languages as you want, but at least one listing is mandatory.
14. This is the place where you can provide all the media that is required that will go onto the storefront including the logo promotional tile, screenshots and so forth. Each of these elements must adhere to Microsoft specifications. A new functionality is that you can duplicate any of the media onto any other languages your extension has.
15. Further down this screen you will find the search terms field.
These are the search terms used when users are trying to search for your extension on the storefront. It is important that you enter the most relevant search terms for your extension’s functionality so that users can find you easily.
16. Notes to Certification field. This appears once you submit. This is the field you use to communicate with reviewers. If there is any particularly data you want reviewers to consider or take into account during the review, this is where you put it.
17. Make sure you save your work before you exit.
18. If you need help in submitting an extension, the Microsoft Extension team is standing by to help. Use this link: ext_dev_support@microsoft.com
How To Improve Extension Discoverability
The Extension team has conducted a series of studies and analyzed what users take into account when looking for an extension. Beyond the quality and usefulness of your app, discoverability is the most important consideration and here are a few points to tip the odds in your favor.
· As already mentioned, use proper and relevant search keywords for the Add-ons store.
· The majority of traffic comes in from external websites and SEO driven messaging, so call out your extension on relevant websites or apps that you might own. This includes blogs and forums and review sites.
· Request to feature your extension in any of the Edge Add-on collections.
· The team has noticed that users tend to install extensions that have very focused callouts and brief and exact features/benefit descriptions. The importance here can’t be over-empathized. Unclear features and descriptions experience very low install rates. No one wants to put something on their computer they are unsure of.
· Although no extension costs money, calling out that it is free increases traffic.
· As mentioned earlier, strive for an excellent look and feel as well as sharp promotional screenshots, logos and other branding. These are points that elicit trust in your app and your company and can make you very successful.
· Build excellent ratings and reviews and handle any negative experiences quickly.
Team Extensions for Microsoft Edge Chromium is a highly engageable group of professionals who are passionate about you, the developer, the continued evolution of Microsoft technology, the success of Microsoft Edge, and the Microsoft user community. Understanding how they expect their customers to be served goes a long way to ensuring your extensions are build right and adds to the experience of Microsoft Edge.
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