Australian developer Stuart Hall has decided to conduct an experiment: to develop an application for iOS on the subject, in which he did not understand anything, and without any cost and effort to make it a successful promotion. As a result, made on the knee fitness program 7 Minute Workout came in the top App Store in more than 40 countries, its downloaded more than 2 million users, and built-in purchase brought Stuart $ 72 000. It all ended so that the application is bought medical startup. Edition Ain Share this experiment Australian.
"In May, the 2013th I was a co-founder of the music startup Discovr. Our application has gained more than 4 million downloads, has brought us more than $ 1 million, and in our hometown of Perth in Australia all company called "successful" (in fact, it ended not quite).Often come to me and asked people what magic has helped me make the app so popular.We somehow have created something that people want to buy, but if we could recreate it from scratch?
The first strokes
The first strokes
I decided to write an application for one night, no one spoke of it, and instead conduct a series of experiments and see if I can make it a success. I thought the most screwed a couple of thousands of downloads and earn a couple hundred bucks.
For the purity of the experiment decided to make the application of what is generally not understood. Fitness - what could be better, if you are a developer, pants sit at the computer?While the time was the hype around the principle of "seven minutes of training", is described in the New York Times and Hacker News, so I had some idea of no confirmation of the need in the market.
Then I outlined the main objectives of the application:
- explain the 12 exercises (had a good Googling to find out what the "plank")
- add voice alerts that time and work out what will happen
At the same time, in my mind there were chaotic all the new ideas and features:
- iPad support
- adjustable duration
- random selection exercise
- Duplicate sets of exercises
- browsing history
- social functions
Given the short period of time, it all had to be simplified as much as possible.
Development
Five hours later I was ready screens and some text. I'm not a designer, so everything was flat and simple - no graphics.
Another hour went on to create icons (flat number seven on a colored background - my skills in design really scarce), new screenshots and basic product description.
I was surprised that the name of the 7 Minute Workout is still not occupied. Suggested that other applications are still there and await Review, and I was right. Your application I developed and presented in six hours, and now waiting for feedback.
Approval of version 1.0
Six days later review my application approved. No one except me knew that I did it (I did not tell my wife). But this time in the app store had a few more applications called 7 Minute Workout.
The aim of the first week was just run sale, not to tell anyone and do not attract the attention of the press. I did not expect much, but was surprised to see that the application download with fairly consistently.
Nothing extraordinary, and still pretty good, considering that the boot is 100% come from the people search the App Store.
Version 1.1 - Marketing
Version 1.1 was purely to promote. I added the possibility of social sharing agreement - to Facebook, Twitter and email - and analyst on completion of the third cycle training. Following the advice of experts, I have written the perfect press release and sent observers to the largest applications, adding to each of four promotional code.
Guess what happened? Nothing at all - none of obzorschikov not answer, and only one of them published promo codes on Twitter. None of them has not uploaded my application even for free. No wonder that in the next week to boot I was almost calm.
All this, I spent three hours. As a result, my beliefs were confirmed - to sell something, you start with the story. And you can only interest those with whom you've already built some no relationship.
Version 1.2 - Versatility
The next step - to increase the market by supporting the iPad. Application had to be as simple as, so to develop it took me only two hours and 30 minutes more at the screenshots and update the App Store. And it is again produced no results in sales.
Give free
It is time to become free. I used to be experimenting with the change of price, and I know how it can be effective. Late at night, when the US was morning, I value resets and went to sleep.And then the fun began. Chart speaks for itself:
I was shocked. 216.718 downloads in three days, on average 72,000 per day. Given that before the average daily rate did not exceed 28 downloads, growth was 2500 times! My application took first place in the category of "fitness" in 68 countries for the iPad, and in 49 countries for the iPhone. In addition, in 12 countries, it entered the top 10 in all categories, while in the Netherlands and some other even entered the top 5 free applications.
In the United States, where received the most downloads, it entered the top 25 iPad apps across all categories.
As a result, I have received many letters such as "the best free app of the day" from various sites, and along with a ton of offers from companies that were trying to sell me a cheat downloads. By the time I could not keep it to myself. I shared my experiment with a few people and asked them to tell no story.
So, I was in the tops. I still do not understand why the application for zero price soared so - I had not advertised in the press about me not a word written. I described the results obtained in the blog (it was only the first part, it was followed by four more), which sold very well. Read the post for nearly 20 000 people, more than 220 shared account to Twitter, about 50 to Facebook, and another story appeared on the front page of Hacker News, and this in itself is a success for the product.
This was followed by the same vertical drop. And no Hacker News not help to fix it.
Purchases within the application
I have a conflicting relationship with purchases within applications. Today, they are the easiest way to ring out in court, and at the same time, in my opinion, many developers abused (especially in children's games).
Users often ask me to add the possibility of flexible exercises and sets, so that I could legitimately run Pro-version with the upgrade. It's simple - a couple of bucks for a couple of additional features.
So how do you operate domestic sales (IAP - In App Purchase) compared to paid download?Specifically in the case of my application it was $ 65 compared to $ 22 per day, that is, I earned so three times as much. Conversion of IAP was about 2-3% per day.
Often users ask to log activities in the application, and when I did, sales rose to $ 75 a day.
Translation of the description in the App Store
Over 50% of downloads come from the United States, and countries such as Canada, the Netherlands, England and the Philippines had no more than one-tenth of the total.Previously, I noticed that very well describe the applications in their native language on the local segment App Store. Therefore, based on the receipt of the recommendation, I have translated the description of your application 7 Minute Workout Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, German, French and Simplified Chinese. On www.icanlocalize.com all this cost me $ 100.
As a result, this part of the experiment was a complete failure. Presenting not a whit increased dynamics downloads in those countries whose language I bet.
Sleek design
The only problem was the flat design that people did not understand that because of all this, all clickable. So I added a small light to them, it became clear where to click.
The sale
When stable downloads you expect stable sales, right? So, sales fell steadily throughout the year.
Blue on the chart marked the sale inside the application
Almost 70% of the profits came from US users.
I also experimented with the tariffs within the application. There were three: 99 cents, $ 1.99 and $ 2.99. Each of them I ran for a week, but as seen in the previous graphs, it changed nothing. Any increase or decrease in prices was offset in the amount of sales.
Peak sales fell for the Christmas holidays and New Year brought download and sales to a new level. Revenues held steady at $ 50 per day throughout November and December. And in the first half of January daily revenue from sales did not fall below $ 200. It turned out that it is time to holiday - the best time for fitness!
I added a few updates in the app - new exercises, calendar capabilities, Pilates. By March, all just going to start a new life. But if you do not take into account the sharp spikes, load returned to the level deaf season - up to 2-2.5 thousand per day. On the number of purchases of the original Pro-version updates are not reflected (they were at $ 50-60 per day), but the total daily revenue increased to $ 70-80 per day.
Then I added a package of "all at once" - the opportunity to buy Pro-version with all the benefits available at a fixed price.
This brought significant results, and the package has become almost the main source of income.
Anyone who wants to increase domestic sales, I highly recommend this method as a package.
HealthKit
Here's how it describes Apple: «HealthKit enables applications from the field of health and fitness to share data with the new application and Health with each other. User information is stored in a secure location, and users decide what information to share with the application. "Sounds good to integrate with the 7 Minute Workout.
I want my application could work with HealthKit as only Apple will release it. So I updated it to support iOS 8, HealthKit and iPhone 6/6 Plus long before all this came on the market.
iOS 8 launched when Australia was night. And in the morning I saw that my application is withdrawn from the market:
I had a missed call from the United States. I googled a bit and found out that Apple has withdrawn from the store all the applications that support HealthKit due to some problems with this service. Well, anyway, it's not me.
Should be noted that the company has worked perfectly. 36 hours later my application was returned without loss of position or ranking in the search, and all this time with me in touch representatives of Apple. And with the launch of iOS 8.0.2, finally, came the long-awaited HealthKit. I was just at a conference in Melbourne, when Apple mentioned my application in a set of "special fitness applications" on the promo page, in the United States.
Here's how it affected the sales:
Those were the best days in the history of my application. Better than the New Year. And also wrote about it a number of media.
The conclusion from all this is simple - you need to give Apple the opportunity to observe your application in any way. For example, one of the first to integrate the function that Apple is going to roll out in the near future. By the way, how it is faring WatchKit?
Wahoo Fitness Sale
The company produces Wahoo Fitness sensors associated with mobile applications that help manage physical exertion. Previously, they were mentioned in the WWDC Keynote 2014. Their new sensor TICKR X is a heart rate monitor, which is able to monitor the impact of sporting activities on the health of the heart muscle.
So when Mike May of Wahoo wrote me a letter about how you can be integrated 7 Minute Workout in their range of products, I was intrigued. Over the next two months we have been active discussions with him, who then reached an impasse, because by that time I have not finished your application, and Wahoo - development of your device. And in November they returned with an offer to buy 7 Minute Workout. It was a very good time - I have actively worked on a new project, and also was convinced that 7 Minute Workout will be in safe hands.
I always remember the words of Chip, CEO Wahoo, he said to me during the negotiations: "Most likely, we would not consider buying your application, if not read his story". As I wrote, if you want to sell something - start with history".