Where to Focus to Grow your iOS app

Presented at Mobile Growth meetup in Belgrade.

Transcript

1. Where to Focus to Grow your App
   MOBILE GROWTH · BELGRADE, SERBIA
   Jan 26th, 2016
   

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2. Aleksandar Vacić
   R A D I A N T T A P. C O M
   Publishing apps since 2009
   Main job since 2012
   70+ apps in total @radiantav · @aleksandarvacic
   

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3. What Growth?
   Downloads
   Active Daily/Monthly Users
   Paying Users
   Product Sales
   All of the above?
   

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4. AIM RIGHT
   GROWTH COMES FROM
   WHAT SUCCESS MEANS FOR YOU
   ▸ I want to be new Facebook / Instagram / Twitter 

   = global domination
   ▸ I want to be a leader in my niche 

   = topic domination
   ▸ I want to live comfortably of my own product 

   = lifestyle business
   

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5. Prepared
   BE
   

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6. KNOW YOUR MARKET
   APP STORE CHALLENGES
   ▸ Too much of everything
   ▸ Mostly free or low-cost
   ▸ No trials
   ▸ No paid upgrades
   ▸ Terrible Search & Ranking
   ▸ Zero contact with your customers.
   FOR INDIE DEVELOPERS
   

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7. KNOW YOUR TOOLS
   MEASUREMENTS & METRICS
   ▸ iTunes Connect App Analytics, Sales & Trends
   ▸ iTunes Affiliates program
   ▸ AppFigures.com
   ▸ Mixpanel.com, Adjust.com (AppTrace), AppAnnie.com etc
   ▸ Collect customer contacts: landing pages, newsletters,
   support contacts
   

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8. KNOW YOUR OPTIONS
   MARKETING AVENUES
   ▸ Blogs sponsorships
   ▸ Podcast sponsorships
   ▸ Ad Networks / Exchanges
   ▸ App cross-promotions
   ▸ Social Networks / Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, Pinterest
   ▸ Word of Mouth / Organic Installs
   

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9. Approach
   RECOMMENDED
   

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10. SOLVE A PROBLEM AND ASK
    GOOD MONEY FOR IT
    RECOMMENDED APPROACH · SOLVE REAL PROBLEM
    http://lucvandal.com/2015/07/05/how-to-be-a-successful-indie-developer/
    Luc Vandal
    

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11. WHEN SHE COULDN’T FIND A GOOD APP
    TO KEEP TRACK OF HER HOURLY JOB, I
    VOLUNTEERED TO BUILD A GREAT ONE
    FOR HER.
    RECOMMENDED APPROACH · WORK WITH CUSTOMERS
    https://medium.com/@carlosribas/how-hourstracker-earns-five-figures-a-month-on-the-app-store-85a20bb972eb
    Carlos Ribas
    

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12. IF I WAS TO RELEASE A RECIPE APP…, I’D BE
    IMPRESSED IF I COULD GET MY MOM TO DOWNLOAD IT.
    THEREFORE, FOR MY HEALTHY RECIPE APPS, I ALWAYS
    TEAM UP WITH HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL BLOGGERS.
    RECOMMENDED APPROACH · PARTNER WITH RIGHT PEOPLE
    https://medium.com/ios-os-x-development/how-a-2-99-recipe-app-became-a-top-2-paid-app-in-the-app-store-f7e83abbb40e
    Andreas Kambanis
    

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13. Successes & Mistakes
    LEARN FROM SOMEONE ELSE’S
    

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14. Apps available since 2012
    LIFETIME DOWNLOADS
    211k 274k 2k
    

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17. KEY TAKEAWAYS
    ▸ Not really a pressing problem for most people
    ▸ Low daily usage → not a good fit for freemium app
    ▸ Temporary free sales are only good if you already plan to
    go freemium and want to increase customer count

    ▸ Still a worthwhile app - a good show-off of my skills
    

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19. KEY TAKEAWAYS
    ▸ Good target problem → lots of people want to be in better
    shape
    ▸ Great app → lots of word of mouth
    ▸ Nice, reasonable, organic growth
    ▸ Following Apple’s pace pays off and leads to…
    ▸ App Store features and promotions, which help, a lot
    

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20. ISSUES & CHALLENGES
    ▸ Seasonal app
    ▸ Limited life span / no follow-up apps
    ▸ Hard to succed against well funded competition
    ▸ Running communities / coaches don’t really rush to partner
    with me (my app replaces them)
    ▸ Way too common name makes podcast ads useless
    ▸ App review sites are not a good fit
    

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21. to grow Run 5k
    WHAT CAN I DO
    

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26. 2016 targets
    OPTIONS I CONSIDER
    

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27. PLANS, LOTS OF PLANS
    ▸ Experiment with targeted ads / Facebook, Instagram
    ▸ Make new apps / programs to follow up 5k
    ▸ Try Product Hunt for the launch
    ▸ Use IAPs as basis for my own affiliate scheme
    ▸ Simplify initial user flow, affiliate rewards
    

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28. PLANS, LOTS OF PLANS
    ▸ Use local push notifications to remind customers
    ▸ Export to calendar to push for more regular runs
    ▸ Push the IAP more heavily, from first completed run
    ▸ Allow large number of options for humble brags
    ▸ Focus on sharing through SMS, email
    ▸ Expand social network sharing, as appropriate
    

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29. PLANS, LOTS OF PLANS
    ▸ Be reasonable.
    ▸ Continue working on 2-3 client projects per year
    

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30. FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS
    THANKS FOR LISTENING.
    SpeakerDeck.com/radianttap/
    

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