Back to Dublin - continuation of the application development history
Hello,
a little over a year ago I wrote an article on Habré: From Dublin to Singapore: the history of the development of an iPad application .
Since then, the application has earned some money (beer money :), and I managed to quit my job and move back to Dublin, devoting myself to fully developing applications for iOS. Oh yes, I also managed to release Colorific 2.0 a couple of days ago.
Under the cat, I will talk about the evolution of the application, about some of its achievements (including sales charts, which few articles can boast of), as well as about the difficulties encountered and the rake that I managed to step on :)
So I will give out some promotional codes as a reward to those who have read such a long post.
')
On material costs, the application paid for itself in about the first month. In terms of time costs ... well, if it paid off, then it is just next to it.
Since most articles do not include specific numbers, it is difficult for a novice developer to estimate the amount of income from applications. So I decided to attach my sales schedule, and explain some points on it:
The first couple of days I was more than pleased. Initially, I was counting on pocket money, and here the profit was like a full-fledged work. But it lasted only a couple of days. Then the profit fell to $ 40. The second surge (almost immediately after the first) I tend to refer to the result of my article on Habré. True difference between the article and the surge - 2 days.
By the way, about the article. After the article on the site of the application was “habroeffekt” in a good sense of the word. There were several thousand visits per day. As for conversions, there were almost none. That is, from these 2-3 thousand people a day in the AppStore passed 2-3 people. Perhaps people then hands hammered the name of the application in the AppStore, but clicks on the link "Available in the AppStore" was negligible.
Most likely, Habr's audience doesn’t overlap with my target audience.
But based on this, I concluded for myself:
The site of the application is done more for the press than for the users.
Maybe someone wants to argue with that - I’ll be happy to hear another experience in to.
But analyzing my behavior, I realized that I did not buy a single application via a link from a desktop browser. Usually I bought either applications from Top, Featured, etc., either according to recommendations from sites or recommended by friends.
When the daily income dropped to 20, I thought about the Lite version. I released the Lite version on September 21, 2012.
I can't say that the Lite version somehow understood me very much in the charts, but I collect some statistics. Here are the data for the last month from the Lite version:
The diagram shows the Buy Colorific window. In total for the last month, it was shown 31,403 times for 9,428 unique users (the window pops up when you click on the buttons for sending by email and Facebook, or by the application launch counter itself).
The red sector in the graph is pressing the “Buy in AppStore” button, which of course moves the user in the AppStore.
So referrals in the AppStore was 5,362. Conversion unfortunately is impossible to track, but definitely a small part of the transitions (perhaps about 1%) are converted into purchases.
Conclusion: Given that the Lite application requires a minimum of costs, I believe that the idea of releasing it fully justified itself.
Colorific has been mentioned several times in resources dedicated to children with autism. Moreover, the reviews were very good, moreover, I sent a few dozen promotional codes to the school for kids with special needs. In March, I learned that on April 2 - Autism Awareness Day and decided to make the application free for 2 days (point 3), announcing it through the several resources with which I contacted.
As a result, on the first day I received a letter from AppAdvice that they wrote about me, and a few hours later I received a report from AppAnnie:
For 2 days, Colorific has installed more than 25,000 people. Did it affect sales later? It seems to me that yes. Prior to that, the average daily income was about $ 10-15, after the end of the distribution, they jumped to $ 60 and stayed at around 30 for quite a long time.
A little later in April, another large resource wrote about me. In August 2011, I wrote a request for a review on iphones.ru, but, like most requests, it was ignored. After I wrote AppAdvice about me, the review appeared on iPhones.ru, though on April 13 (and judging by the comments with information that is outdated for 10 days that the application is free).
On the chart - sales in Russia from 1.03 to 30.05. The red line is the day of writing the article on iPhone.ru. As you can see, sales have risen somewhat after the article.
With this article is connected another story, rather unpleasant. Before the release of Colorific 2.0, I wrote iphones.ru about a proposal to make an exclusive review before the release of the application and referred to the old review. As a result, the chief editor Arthur replied that I did not write anything in the comments, then the application is not interesting to me and will not write about it. The fact that I did not receive a notification about this and the google alert did not affect the decision.
Conclusion : The review is not always reported and google alerts are not as reliable. I still don’t know how to track reviews. MB reader will tell?
I don’t know whether the update 1.2.1, which is indicated by the number 5, or the fact that the application has downloaded 25,000 people has affected, but in the summer sales have slightly increased. Then, due to the lack of advertising and updates, they slipped to the usual beer money - $ 10-20 per day.
Back in December 2011, I decided to release a major update. It all started small - I wanted a new icon to immediately catch my eye. I ordered the icon and rendered it. Here's what happened:
Looking at the icon, I decided that it would be nice to change the interface. spent a few days searching for a designer at Dribbble , threw in wireframes and ordered a design. By the end of January, we finished the design work, and in early March I released the first beta.
In the process of beta, it turned out that the pencil draws unnaturally, and the standard toolbar proposed by the designer does not like children. I had to order a drawn toolbar with icons.
Ordered:
Received:
In general, I was very pleased with the result of the work with the designer. True, the drawing of the toolbar took more time than the rest of the design (including because of the large number of requests for edits on my part). As a result, when the design was completed, I was no longer up to the application - I left Singapore for Paris to finish my business in the company and quit. Then there was a move and so on. As a result, the work on the application resumed only in October and finished in early November.
It turned out such an application:
A new version was released the day before yesterday.
I'd like to share one find. The application is localized in 11 languages and for each I wanted to take screenshots. I wrote an Automation script that went around the entire application and took the necessary pictures, but I could not switch the language of the simulator. The kind person Jonathan Penn helped me with his utility: github.com/jonathanpenn/ui-screen-shooter
If you need to take screenshots in different languages - it must have!
In my opinion, when making an update, I made a huge mistake. Instead of a new application, I decided to release an update. I really didn’t want current users to “break off” and release a new paid application. As a result, a day after the release, nothing has changed in sales ... Something tells me that when a new application is released, it would be easier to get into the charts.
I would be glad if the information provided in the article is useful to someone.
Promised promotional codes:
JF6EXM69KLJ6
FNA9TFYH6A9X
6MX4F46XJTNY
M9RW6FEEW793
App in the AppStore
Description of the application on my site - Appuchino
If you download and enjoy your child - do not be lazy to write a review :)
Thank.
a little over a year ago I wrote an article on Habré: From Dublin to Singapore: the history of the development of an iPad application .
Since then, the application has earned some money (beer money :), and I managed to quit my job and move back to Dublin, devoting myself to fully developing applications for iOS. Oh yes, I also managed to release Colorific 2.0 a couple of days ago.
Under the cat, I will talk about the evolution of the application, about some of its achievements (including sales charts, which few articles can boast of), as well as about the difficulties encountered and the rake that I managed to step on :)
So I will give out some promotional codes as a reward to those who have read such a long post.
')
Some results Colorific 1.x
On material costs, the application paid for itself in about the first month. In terms of time costs ... well, if it paid off, then it is just next to it.
Since most articles do not include specific numbers, it is difficult for a novice developer to estimate the amount of income from applications. So I decided to attach my sales schedule, and explain some points on it:
1. Run the application
The first couple of days I was more than pleased. Initially, I was counting on pocket money, and here the profit was like a full-fledged work. But it lasted only a couple of days. Then the profit fell to $ 40. The second surge (almost immediately after the first) I tend to refer to the result of my article on Habré. True difference between the article and the surge - 2 days.
By the way, about the article. After the article on the site of the application was “habroeffekt” in a good sense of the word. There were several thousand visits per day. As for conversions, there were almost none. That is, from these 2-3 thousand people a day in the AppStore passed 2-3 people. Perhaps people then hands hammered the name of the application in the AppStore, but clicks on the link "Available in the AppStore" was negligible.
Most likely, Habr's audience doesn’t overlap with my target audience.
But based on this, I concluded for myself:
The site of the application is done more for the press than for the users.
Maybe someone wants to argue with that - I’ll be happy to hear another experience in to.
But analyzing my behavior, I realized that I did not buy a single application via a link from a desktop browser. Usually I bought either applications from Top, Featured, etc., either according to recommendations from sites or recommended by friends.
2. Release Lite version
When the daily income dropped to 20, I thought about the Lite version. I released the Lite version on September 21, 2012.
I can't say that the Lite version somehow understood me very much in the charts, but I collect some statistics. Here are the data for the last month from the Lite version:
The diagram shows the Buy Colorific window. In total for the last month, it was shown 31,403 times for 9,428 unique users (the window pops up when you click on the buttons for sending by email and Facebook, or by the application launch counter itself).
The red sector in the graph is pressing the “Buy in AppStore” button, which of course moves the user in the AppStore.
So referrals in the AppStore was 5,362. Conversion unfortunately is impossible to track, but definitely a small part of the transitions (perhaps about 1%) are converted into purchases.
Conclusion: Given that the Lite application requires a minimum of costs, I believe that the idea of releasing it fully justified itself.
3, 4. AppAdvice
Colorific has been mentioned several times in resources dedicated to children with autism. Moreover, the reviews were very good, moreover, I sent a few dozen promotional codes to the school for kids with special needs. In March, I learned that on April 2 - Autism Awareness Day and decided to make the application free for 2 days (point 3), announcing it through the several resources with which I contacted.
As a result, on the first day I received a letter from AppAdvice that they wrote about me, and a few hours later I received a report from AppAnnie:
For 2 days, Colorific has installed more than 25,000 people. Did it affect sales later? It seems to me that yes. Prior to that, the average daily income was about $ 10-15, after the end of the distribution, they jumped to $ 60 and stayed at around 30 for quite a long time.
A little later in April, another large resource wrote about me. In August 2011, I wrote a request for a review on iphones.ru, but, like most requests, it was ignored. After I wrote AppAdvice about me, the review appeared on iPhones.ru, though on April 13 (and judging by the comments with information that is outdated for 10 days that the application is free).
On the chart - sales in Russia from 1.03 to 30.05. The red line is the day of writing the article on iPhone.ru. As you can see, sales have risen somewhat after the article.
With this article is connected another story, rather unpleasant. Before the release of Colorific 2.0, I wrote iphones.ru about a proposal to make an exclusive review before the release of the application and referred to the old review. As a result, the chief editor Arthur replied that I did not write anything in the comments, then the application is not interesting to me and will not write about it. The fact that I did not receive a notification about this and the google alert did not affect the decision.
Conclusion : The review is not always reported and google alerts are not as reliable. I still don’t know how to track reviews. MB reader will tell?
5. Small stature
I don’t know whether the update 1.2.1, which is indicated by the number 5, or the fact that the application has downloaded 25,000 people has affected, but in the summer sales have slightly increased. Then, due to the lack of advertising and updates, they slipped to the usual beer money - $ 10-20 per day.
Colorific 2.0
Back in December 2011, I decided to release a major update. It all started small - I wanted a new icon to immediately catch my eye. I ordered the icon and rendered it. Here's what happened:
Looking at the icon, I decided that it would be nice to change the interface. spent a few days searching for a designer at Dribbble , threw in wireframes and ordered a design. By the end of January, we finished the design work, and in early March I released the first beta.
In the process of beta, it turned out that the pencil draws unnaturally, and the standard toolbar proposed by the designer does not like children. I had to order a drawn toolbar with icons.
Ordered:
Received:
In general, I was very pleased with the result of the work with the designer. True, the drawing of the toolbar took more time than the rest of the design (including because of the large number of requests for edits on my part). As a result, when the design was completed, I was no longer up to the application - I left Singapore for Paris to finish my business in the company and quit. Then there was a move and so on. As a result, the work on the application resumed only in October and finished in early November.
It turned out such an application:
A new version was released the day before yesterday.
I'd like to share one find. The application is localized in 11 languages and for each I wanted to take screenshots. I wrote an Automation script that went around the entire application and took the necessary pictures, but I could not switch the language of the simulator. The kind person Jonathan Penn helped me with his utility: github.com/jonathanpenn/ui-screen-shooter
If you need to take screenshots in different languages - it must have!
In my opinion, when making an update, I made a huge mistake. Instead of a new application, I decided to release an update. I really didn’t want current users to “break off” and release a new paid application. As a result, a day after the release, nothing has changed in sales ... Something tells me that when a new application is released, it would be easier to get into the charts.
I would be glad if the information provided in the article is useful to someone.
Promised promotional codes:
JF6EXM69KLJ6
FNA9TFYH6A9X
6MX4F46XJTNY
M9RW6FEEW793
App in the AppStore
Description of the application on my site - Appuchino
If you download and enjoy your child - do not be lazy to write a review :)
Thank.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/160913/
All Articles