Yeah… cross-promotion does not really work if you are using banners. You just get the standard CTR and install rate from clicks.
You need to be more in-your-face with the Users.
Anagram Hero just got featured under a new feature group called “Word Games”… along with WordHero
You lucky bastard. 
Congratulations. It’s like you have your own section on Google Play.
So, how’s the server (or Flurry) activity for Anagram Hero? Getting good downloads??
AH is getting 1/10th the downloads of WH… I did not expect the difference to be that high.
I wouldn’t guess that also… I didnt see the featuring, but assuming both were equally highlighted I would expect them to have about the same amount of downloads…
Thinking about it a bit, here are my 2 cents on it:
Anagram tells a lot what the game is about… but only to those who already plays word games. It’s like a secondary, sub-game to the Word genre. People downloading a word game for the first time wouldnt go for a sub-genre game, and thats what Anagram Hero looks like at first glance.
For example, me, as a player, I dont care if the game is related to Anagrams when Im making the download decision. All I care is if its a word-related game. I would only look for an Anagram game after I played a Word game and tired of it, then I would look for sub-genres. If it’s my first download, I would certainly pick Word Hero, because it answers to my question “what would be a good Word-related game for me to play?”.
Maybe you could try changing the name of the game as a test on the next few days (only on Google Play description), like “Word Anagram Hero”, “Word Twist Hero”, or some other words that makes it compete for the general Word Games genre, and not a sub-genre of it, and see if download rates change.
Mind, I see you added “Best word puzzle” to AH’s app title. How effective is this method? I’ve seen lots of apps that do this. I’d rather not added it to my apps, as it’s kind of hokey, but maybe if it’s worth it. Did you see much increase when you added this?
Nope… I believe I probably need to rewrite Anagram Hero’s description. 
Maybe rename it: “7 letters, 100 words” or something equally dumb to get traction!
Mind,
I think there is a basic difference in the playability of WordHero vs. AnagramHero (although that would NOT account for differing download rates assuming ratings/comments are similar - since people would still try both and maybe the retention rate would tell you WordHero has better retention while AnagramHero is uninstalled immediately etc.).
I found WordHero to be a comfortable experience - there maybe some things still which could be improved - for example when game ends, the stats one doesn’t really get a chance to see that - it’s kind of good but there is a lot of info there which I found myself not reading that much (maybe I’d read 2-3 words in that word list etc. - and the score doesn’t mean much to new user). The ranking vs. others playing the game however has some meaning …
With WordHero the interface is intuitive and one knows from playing around what the mechanics seem to be.
Not so with AnagramHero, where initially it is confusing what needs to be done - the Anagram name suggests one should arrange the letters IN-PLACE (drag letters) to get different anagrams (since Anagrams means you use ALL the letters once - so a simple juxtaposition of all the letters in the “word”).
I then could not think of any juxtaposition of letters which created a new word. So immediately you are stuck and one figures that initially there should be some easy examples so users get an idea.
The empty boxes at the top seemed odd (given my presumption of how the game SHOULD work - since I was not primed by any intro screen which suggested how the game SHOULD be played). The behavior where tapping on letters seemed to bring them on top of the others was confusing also (given this presumption).
The Real Purpose
Later I found out one has to tap on letters to select and then click on checkmark to use them (to fill empty boxes at top). However, even this I am not sure (and I have not read the help) - but this is indicative of what a casual user would feel - so there should be some intro screen or video which explains how this more-complex-than-WordHero mechanic works.
WordHero vs. AnagramHero
AnagramHero by it’s construction is one-dimensional (or seems to be given my presumption it was about Anagrams) vs. the 2-dimensional or more (up/down/diagonal) nature of WordHero. So for someone coming from WordHero, the sense one gets is of constraint rather than an expansion of capability.
Now if AnagramHero extended interface to be 2D somehow - maybe that would seem like a new thing.
So what I have said is not necessarily how AnagramHero SHOULD be judged, but it is certainly ONE experience of how your app is being seen by a user.
Some simple suggestions maybe to:
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clarify in an intro screen or video how the game is played - how to select letters or fill the empty boxes or whatever. As I said I am STILL unsure having used AnagramHero 4-5 times for short periods.
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perhaps very short video which plays at the beginning may clarify all of this (a video that runs fast and could be replayed again and again so user “gets it”).
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also I wonder if Anagram even describes the mechanics of the game correctly - since an anagram usually uses ALL the letters - whereas your game is allowing sub-sets of those letters to fill those empty boxes at top - unless I misunderstood what the actual purpose of the game is …
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if the purpose of the game is to pick out SUB-SETS of letters then this game is an exact sub-set of WordHero capabilities - except done in 1-dimensions (where user does not have the benefit of 2-d image processing to make connections etc.).
@adforandroidapps Nice analysis. I agree on the 1D vs 2D. Take a look at the Anagram Hero tutorial. I think I should have made it so that users cannot skip it! Help -> Learn to play
I would like to hear your feedback once you have gone through the Tutorial!
What is the active/total installs ratio for Word Hero and Anagram Hero?
Showing the tutorial by default may help (or even having Help as a visible part of the screen - I had to look around in menu - then discover that the screen was scrollable downwards - where I found the Help.
Even looking at the Help tutorial one can see that the process is MORE COMPLEX than WordHero. You have to select letter and then drag them and then underscore them. Compare that to WordHero where a single continuous swipe selects the letters, plus their sequence AND the “ok”. So for a user of WordHero, there will be a significant downgrade in usability when moving to AnagramHero.
Even after reading the tutorial, I am not fully clear what the empty boxes are for … since there is no mention of that. Whether there is some bonus to fill those etc.
The Game Types screen in Help tutorial is confusing (from a 5 second look) - this detail maybe better left for later as they graduate to next level maybe (?). Or maybe could be split up into 3 separate screens. Maybe skip the Leaderboard etc. explanation - as that is extra info that user could glean themselves.
But very basic to the playability is:
- lack of instant ability to see what/how game is played - or what the goal is
- reduced UI (compared to WordHero) in seamless ability to do things in one stroke (instead of 3)
WH @ Google Play : 389,330/1,892,9013 + 300k on Amazon. Not sure how to get those stats though.
AH @ Google Play : 20,896/46,404
When you make a word, the letters get animated up the the boxes. They show the last 3,4,5,6,7 letter word you got. In fact, if you click on them, a list of all words you got appears… but this is an undocumented feature.
Good points about usability. Good thing creating points in my next game is just a single swipe!
For Amazon stats go to Reporting and then Engagement(last option to the right).
How is the monthly income with AH?
5% of WH? 
After being in android ecosystem for 8-9 months, I think these two apps need much better title specially Anagram. I think neither I or none of my friends would search for anagram however they would search for word game(s).
For word hero, I think it would be a loss to change name now.