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How I got to the Top AppStore with a simple application of exchange rates

Summary


I want to talk about how I created quite an ordinary and not at all innovative application that objectively became the best of its kind and even stayed for some time at the very top of the top. This is not a success story or a guide to action. I just want to tell you how I managed to make the most popular application in my segment.

The main points are as follows:


Here, perhaps, and everything, welcome under kat.

How I decided to make an application


My wife and I are going on vacation abroad. Once again, the task of buying currency at a favorable rate arose before me. The difference in the price of a dollar or euro of 1 ruble gives 1000 rubles saved for every 1000 dollars bought or euros. Therefore, every day I spent some time monitoring the exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and Moscow’s commercial banks on the exocur website. The rate of the Central Bank set the general trend, and in commercial banks it was possible to make a real currency exchange. If the currency became cheaper for several days, I went to the bank with the most favorable rate for the purchase of currency.

My wife used a PC, a browser and Yandex, which was wild for me, because a mobile phone allows you to update information, not including the computer and you are a programmer’s wife. For some reason, only last year I guessed to see what the AppStore offers to solve my problems. You know, at different periods of my life, I had several different ideas, attempts to implement which I left, finding a dozen ready-made services or applications. But this time I did not even think of creating an application, I just wanted to solve my problem. And I could not even believe it - in the AppStore there is no decent application for tracking currency rates! (Hereinafter, I express only my own opinion in relation to the work of others, and it may differ from the opinions of other people. I only describe my emotions).
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I noticed such a strange state of affairs only among calculators for the iPad, everything is also bad there. Standard Stocks has a terrible interface. For example, to get the dollar against the ruble, you need to enter the unfriendly line RUB = X, and the euro against the ruble - EURRUB = X. Other applications are either just paid or limited free, but for every sneeze they ask for money, or with advertising. Some applications have not been updated for more than a year and are stuck in an era of ske-morphism, others are free, but they work unstablely, as the reviewers say, “the student has done curtsy”.

I immediately realized that here it is, the moment. I want the application to show the dynamics of the course (graph) and the current value, well, and a calculator for calculations. I already see all 2 or a maximum of 3 application screens. I know for sure that the application will be the best, because I sincerely believe that the existing analogues are no good. I am full of energy and determination.

Convention


I decided that I was not facing the most difficult task, but I had to approach it seriously. Therefore, I, after reading Habra and business books, highlighted the basic rules for the development time.

Job
  1. Come to work early;
  2. Whenever I come, leave at 5:30 pm, a maximum of 18 hours, to arrive home awake. If there are any doubts, the desire to recycle for free, remember what is more important for me and stick the doubts away;
  3. Every week evening, allocate an hour and a half, and preferably 2 to work on the project;
  4. Do not work after 22, or at least 23;
  5. Do not pick up the phone from colleagues when I am not at work;
  6. To find out from relatives that they will need from me on weekends and agree on what time I will go about my business.

Development
  1. Work in git;
  2. Designing a system is beautiful and ideologically correct. So that such a code is not a shame to show the future employer that the code is flexible and clear;
  3. No interface builders;
  4. The interface should deal with the designer. I am not a designer.

With IB, I probably got excited, but not worried. This is all the same tastes. You need to be able to work with both code and IB. I did not immediately turn to the designer’s help. And this is a great folly. Everyone must do their job. My job is to code. Well, come up with different things. And I can not draw.

General requirements
  1. No ads;
  2. The application should be easy and fast;
  3. The application should be minimalistic and solve one problem - show the dynamics of the exchange rate;
  4. The application needs to be done quickly. If I’m getting lost somewhere, I need to simplify / score: I will finalize it in the next update;

The lack of advertising is my competitive advantage. The size of the source too. I don’t know how many people pay attention to size, but I think that the application should provide an opportunity to be loaded on the subway, on the street, on 3G, and on the Edge. Many times I encountered the inability to download an application not at home. It may be wrong to say this in relation to games, but a 10 MB exchange rate is not normal. Minimalism is peculiar to iOS7 and iOS8, here the Yahoo Weather app influenced me.

How i did it


Pareto Act worked with me. Before the first release about one and a half months were spent. Until now, I have not told anyone - I was embarrassed. The main wasted time was spent on attempts to independently distribute and implement the design. Stupid idea. A couple of days I waited from the designer for the launch screen image, which I finally made myself in 5 minutes. A lot of time was left to rearrange the views in some places. In short, you need to immediately seek help from a professional. Especially since I was going to make the best of its kind application.

I turned to a familiar designer for help, explaining how I see the design of the application, and I myself started building classes for network interaction, a data model, parsers, etc. All kinds of ideas that came to my mind, I tried as quickly as possible to write to a text file. Bugs also recorded, so as not to forget anything. After a while, the designer prepared several options for the icon. The result was better than my expectations, and it added enthusiasm. And impatience. The design of the main screen, I did not wait.

image

I have repeatedly breached my own agreements. He did not work every evening, he hung up a couple of times until late at night. But I can not say that rare violations of the rules greatly reduce the effectiveness. If you have a headache, the evening is better to spend on a walk. And if you already think about your project and in the toilet, and on the way to work, and before going to bed, well, let yourself work.

For tracking downs, I integrated Crashlytics. To collect statistics used Mixpanel. What to do with the statistics, I did not know. Just wanted to know how often users run the application. Tip: score on the statistics, if you do not know what to do with it. When you think of what you want to know about users, then add.

A few nights I spent on learning how to implement some of the details of the design interface. Then he remembered his conventions and realized that these parts cost me dearly. Postponed their implementation.

I had a few ideas on customizing the application. Including I did not know what color to choose for the background, what period to choose for the chart, whether to display the dates on the chart. I decided to give users the opportunity to choose these settings for themselves. But the implementation of such settings took time. Then I decided to postpone these tasks until the next update.

Release and Results


At some point, I decided that the minimum allowable functionality was implemented and you can click a button to submit the application to the store. When the release happened, I posted the icon on Instagram, made the corresponding posts on Vkontakte and Facebook. Wrote messages with links to friends and familiar developers. I asked the relatives to write 5-star reviews.

The first version existed about a month and was downloaded about 4 thousand times. In the rating category "Business" I was higher than other free converters. It inspired. However, other people's feedback was from Gulkin nose. My exchange rate was displayed in the new applications in the AppStore, which increased downloads.

Crashlitycs and friends with playful pens found a couple of falls in the range check error style. Besides, I still had a lot of unimplemented features. In the next update, I finalized the user interface, but it has already flown out of the new ones. The application has become more beautiful, and downloads have decreased.

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I also decided to add the ability for users to write me letters with questions and suggestions. I created an email account on Gmail and added the account to my phone. This made it possible to very quickly answer people to questions, mark complaints and suggestions and increase user loyalty. In particular, many expressed dissatisfaction with the rarity of the course update. For these users, I added the item “About the program”, in which I described how the application works and explained that the rate of the Central Bank is updated once per working day.

I admit, I have never been particularly interested in the rating of applications in the AppStore, but after the release of my own application for several months, I probably checked my own, and at the same time someone else's rating. During this time, I saw a lot of applications that, out of nowhere, pulled out onto the 1st place of the “Business” category top tag, received a lot of feedback, and after 2-3 days disappeared from the topline forever. Probably, these are paid reviews, I thought.

I wondered how much this pleasure cost. Found out that about 1 $ -3 $ for 1 installation plus 1 review. I have heard more than once that it is necessary to get to the Top by any means, that the Top is a vicious circle from which it is difficult to get out. Well, this is nonsense. After the release, your application falls into the “New” category - and this is already promoting it. If the result does not satisfy you, paid reviews, in my opinion, are the last things to think about. Fly out of the top is not difficult at all. It is better to pay for the review on the Internet.

Built-in purchases


It has long been noted that in the top cash is Viber, which sells stickers. It seemed to me a strange, but undoubtedly working solution. I decided that you can make it possible to pay for the ability to set the theme color for the application. At the same time, he blocked the period setting for displaying the chart and setting the date display on the chart.

Anxiety with a small number of reviews in the AppStore helped me come up with a scheme. Sell ​​these 3 settings for 66 rubles, and if the user evaluates the application, he will be given a 50% discount. Brilliant, yes? Apple wrapped up my super idea, threatening to ban for dishonest cheating rating.

I lacked seriousness in relation to my product. It seemed as if 33 rubles was expensive. So to unlock these 3 settings, you had to pay 33 rubles. This built-in purchase brought from $ 36 to $ 64 monthly. To be honest, I hoped that at least 20 thousand rubles would be received.

Subsequent versions for about 3 months were downloaded 2000-3000 times a month. I was upset by this result, comforting myself with the thought that it was just a converter.

Advertising


At some point, I received an advertising agency with a proposal to display ads in my application. I did not want to spoil my application with advertising, but, after a little thinking, I decided that this could bring about 3,000 rubles a month. And in general, something I experiment a little. 3000 rubles - a lot compared to income from in-app purchases and very little compared to salary and the cost of at least accommodation.

In the next update, I added 2 more built-in purchases: disabling advertising for 33 rubles and full access for 66 rubles, which aggregated two 33-ruble purchases. KFOR advertising agency worked terribly. They displayed some kind of stub, and the shows did not track. But! Income for 1 month exceeded $ 150, and for the second - $ 200! It was a success! I understood a few important things. First, those who liked the application are willing to pay 66 rubles. And maybe more? Secondly, advertising, if you make it not very annoying (I have it displayed when you start the application, and not with each rise from the background), also brings its fruits.

I figured out the advertiser and its KFOR and soon began to make a profit from advertising. If users do not stop launching the application, their number only increases every day, therefore, the number of ad impressions increases. This means that for advertising you will receive a profit at a very rough estimate not less than in the previous period. As a result, by the end of the year, advertising began to bring in from 1,500 to 3,500 rubles a day.

Takeoff


In November, the rapid devaluation of the ruble began. This fueled interest in all similar applications in the store and in my application in particular. I was in the first place in the top of the free category "Business" and began to loom in the top box office. In December, the rate of change of the ruble exchange rate was going off scale. Rolls over and downloads the application. First, I hit the top 100 free apps of the entire AppStore, then I noticed that my daily income exceeds $ 100. Then acquaintances began to joke that people have grief, but I feel good. The takeoff was truly staggering! Pictures instead of a thousand words:

March-November
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March-December
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I note that users have a special relationship with applications from the top. Bugs and shortcomings are considered almost as personal insults. Many popular applications (VK App, Yandex applications, Facebook) receive hundreds, thousands of stakes and angry reviews. So my application with an average rating of 4.5 stars was only 3.5-star. The above does not mean that you can relax or that rating does not mean anything. The customer is almost always right. And many colas and twos in my application contain valid criticism. Just in the Top all the more serious. There is no right to fall or glitches.

Perspective


I am not a businessman and not a marketer. But sometimes I communicate with them. One such friend made his comments. Purchases should be offered to the user without taking context. Disabling advertising must be offered when advertising is shown. Unlock settings - when you try to click on a locked cell. There were other tips towards higher conversion.

The conclusion is banal: communicate and learn from successful businessmen.

In addition, users have long asked me to make a widget. The pushes practically work, but the comrade who helps with the server part stalled. I am already thinking in the direction of specialized services. In general, the push will.

Some users ask for a course of raw materials (oil, gas). There is something to ponder.

In addition, the invaluable experience of the development of the application from zero to the top (albeit not financial), which can be used in other projects.

Results


I had a simple problem. The existing solutions did not suit me and I created my own solution, which was the best. The solution is the simplest, one can say primitive. But very useful. It is very nice to know that you did something useful, something for people.

I have formed an opinion that if you have a problem and you find existing solutions insufficiently convenient or frankly unsuccessful, this is a reason to think about your own bicycle. The main thing here is to clearly understand why the existing solutions are so unsuccessful that it’s time for you to show everyone how to solve such problems.

With the release, I hurried, not paying enough attention to design. Getting into the "New" section gives tangible help.

I changed my attitude to advertising in applications. It allows a simple developer to get at least a small profit. It is important not to overdo it.

Built-in purchases, with skillful use, are able to bring in sufficient money, at least for self-sufficiency, and in the long run for a tangible addition to your income.

And the application itself, even the simplest, developing can bring a tangible income.

As a result, my application has been holding the first place for over a month in the Top Free Business category, for 2 days it ranked first in all categories. I was even offered to sell my application. Two micro-surveys wrote about the application, one of which was named one of the best in the past year. There was even one clone, about which at the moment I swear I am in correspondence with Apple.

Life shows that the ability to sell correctly, at the right price, at the right moment, can bring profit even to the simplest application.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/247877/

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