Joined September 2023
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since the latest update, i've been seeing a lot more purchases like this.
users who had been using the app for a long time without paying are suddenly subscribing after updating to the new version.
looks like something in the new version finally convinced them to pay.
the changes i made to my flagship app are working really well.
it's day 6, and there hasn't been a single refund request from users on the new version so far.
conversion to paying is also improving.
you, me, we're small players. we can't succeed by doing what everyone else does. we need to experiment, try different approaches, and find new ways.
2 days ago, i found this keyword while testing a new approach to keyword research.
i created a new campaign and already got my first sale.
yes, the ttr is bad. yes, the cr needs improvement. and yes, i'm currently losing money on this campaign.
but that's not the point.
i found a keyword i wouldn't have discovered using my usual approach, and it already brought in a paying customer.
now i have something to optimize.
that's what experimenting is all about.
i think old school aso is becoming less effective in competitive markets.
here's why we need to rethink our metadata strategy.
any comments, likes, or reposts would encourage me to share part 2, about its connection to apple search ads. thanks! :)
they can make their whole app free, as long as they don't show up above me in search results. :d
i'll keep going while my avg cpt is acceptable. being big doesn't always mean they'll get everything right.
even if i start losing money, i'll keep running ads on the few keywords that are still profitable.
once none of my keywords are profitable anymore, i'll offer to sell them my app. :d
if they say no, i'll stop running ads and see if the app can still make money organically.
and if that doesn't work either, i'll move on and try to find another app that makes money.
screenshots showing free trials hurt my soul.
my app made $1.11 yesterday 🎉
but if you look closer it's 5 free trials in one day from italy, the US, france and spain, plus 1 paid sub lol
my ads only ran in the UK. none of these came from ads
organic is starting to work. the problem is the same as with the ads: people start the trial, but almost nobody pays yet.
so the next week is all about the paywall. if those trials start turning into money, then i scale the ads
let's say you get 100 installs.
if those are the only users you'll ever get, it's okay for your app to be ugly because you wouldn't get any more users anyway.
if there are many more potential users out there, it's also okay for your app to be ugly because you'll have plenty of chances to attract more users with better versions.
things are starting to improve.
still no refund requests, and conversion to paying is gradually returning to normal levels.
good news:
no drop in revenue per new subscriber
yearly subscription share increased
no refunds so far
bad news:
conversion to paying dropped to 3.52%. fewer users are subscribing.
everything went as expected except c2p.
i expected a 1 percentage point drop, but it's now down 2.3 points.
i need to have a talk with claude :d
someone needs to tell Opus 5.5 about ad blockers. it keeps trying to unlock every premium feature through rewarded ads. :d
i guess i'll have to add a rule to the .md file.
what i've noticed is that Apple now seems to evaluate all metadata as a single contextual group.
in the past, we used titles, subtitles, and keywords to match specific search terms.
but now, Apple seems to treat them more as contextual signals to understand what an app is actually about.
i think the old approach will still work in smaller markets.
but in competitive markets, we need to rethink how we structure our metadata.
Something is happening in the App Store. 👀
On September 30, we cleaned up our keyword database, but over the past few days, we’ve barely touched it.
Yet we’re seeing massive shifts in keyword rankings and the number of indexed keywords across multiple countries.
We used Spotify as an example because it clearly illustrates just how dramatically things are changing in App Store search.
Our Anomaly Detector is also picking up unusual activity across the globe. 🌍
Looks like another App Store storm is brewing! 🌪️
they just don't care.
one developer copied my app. same features, same UI. he even copied my onboarding images with just a few minor changes.
and you know what's even funnier?
my app's old name is still in his app description. and it's not even a generic name. it's a made-up word with no meaning or use outside my app.
he didn't even bother to check what he was copying. :d
It's funny that someone who copied all of Adam's apps and got banned actually reached out to him. That's really strange to me. If I were the copycat, I'd be ashamed to even contact him, let alone ask for help.
So we can understand the mindset of copycats a bit. They are people who lack common sense and the ability to think 😅
good news:
no drop in revenue per new subscriber
yearly subscription share increased
no refunds so far
bad news:
conversion to paying dropped to 3.52%. fewer users are subscribing.
everything went as expected except c2p.
i expected a 1 percentage point drop, but it's now down 2.3 points.
i need to have a talk with claude :d
what i changed and how it's affecting revenue:
the first results are in. 210 new customers since the update, so we're starting to have some meaningful data.
what did i change?
made a bit more of the app available for free. the goal is to reduce the very high refund rate by letting users understand the app better before subscribing.
added a weekly plan to the paywall. previously, it only offered yearly and monthly subscriptions. now it offers all three.
what happened?
i was worried about a big drop in conversion to paying (c2p).
it dropped from 5.8% to 4.8%, but that's not as dramatic as i feared. i can live with that if the refund rate improves.
the real problem is revenue.
each new subscriber now generates about 30% less net revenue on average compared to the old version, mainly because there's been a big shift toward the weekly plan.
i'll give it a bit more time and keep watching the numbers. if this trend continues, i'll probably remove the weekly plan again.
yesterday, i shared this tweet and said in the first point that my new app was a bad choice.
right after that, the app got two yearly subscriptions.
life is full of surprises
some updates from me:
1. my new app failed at monetization. it's an app that helps people save money, so maybe i shouldn't have published it in the first place :d
2. my flagship app got approved yesterday morning. now waiting to see the numbers.
3. published an update for my first refactored app. it already made one yearly and one weekly sale.
4. the second refactored app is ready for an update. just need to submit it for review. it also got a yearly sale yesterday.
the updates for #3 and #4 are mainly about removing some rewarded ads. i think they'll perform better this way.
5. planning to refactor another app, but waiting for the others to get approved first.
besides all this, most of my time goes into apple ads optimization and app localization. these two are keeping me pretty busy.
if you're gonna use it, use all of them together with ads keywords. (of course, check first :d)
keywords shared with dm because of your possible competitors.
Title: App Blocker: Limit Screen Time
Subtitle: No Scroll & Stay Focused
app store connect keywords: dm'd
apple ads keywords: dm'd
if you're gonna use it, use all of them together with ads keywords. (of course, check first :d)
keywords shared with dm because of your possible competitors.
Title: Language Learning - Pictionary
Subtitle: Learn Spanish Vocabulary
app store connect keywords: dm'd
apple ads keywords: dm'd
