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
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
3. What Growth? Downloads Active Daily/Monthly Users Paying Users Product Sales All of the above?
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
5. Prepared BE
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
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
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
9. Approach RECOMMENDED
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
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
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
13. Successes & Mistakes LEARN FROM SOMEONE ELSE’S
14. Apps available since 2012 LIFETIME DOWNLOADS 211k 274k 2k
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
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
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
21. to grow Run 5k WHAT CAN I DO
26. 2016 targets OPTIONS I CONSIDER
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
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
29. PLANS, LOTS OF PLANS ▸ Be reasonable. ▸ Continue working on 2-3 client projects per year
30. FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS THANKS FOR LISTENING. SpeakerDeck.com/radianttap/