Pocket Lists 开发者分享APP销售经验

来自 1312 blog 的分享,Pocket list 的开发者给我们介绍了 3个月内,他们如何通过各种尝试,获得了$13500 的收入,有很多值得借鉴的经验喔~

Our iPhone app Pocket Lists brought us $13500 in first 3 months (after Apple’s 30% cut), and we would like to share our experience with our fellow-self-funded-indie developers.

Category: Productivity (to-do & checklist app)
Price: initially priced at $4.99, then settled to $1.99
Developed in: 10 months from scratch to version 1.0
Team: 2 people (1 designer and 1 programmer)
Money spent on advertising: about $1000 on efforts to get the app noticed (mostly on paid app reviews)
Funding: Self. We are indie developers. If you are low on a promotion budget, our experience may shed some light on sales numbers you may expect in the beginning.
App localizations: English, Russian. The app was initially released and promoted in these two languages, and in two App Stores: US and Russia.

The first month $1263

The application was released on December 1st, 2011 and priced at $4.99. We were complete newbies in releasing iPhone apps, so we did not care about hyping the release. We were hoping that the app will be featured in its category right from the start, but it wasn’t. When the app was released, it was immediately lost among other apps in the App Store. Sales were about $5—10/day.

A week passed, and nothing was changing. Reducing the app price to zero (free) for one day helped a bit and brought about 10’000 free downloads. The app went up in top charts, and when the free offering ended, sales kept on a $100/day level for a couple of days, but then returned back to $5-10/day. Free giveaway was worth it, because it quickly brought the app a bunch of positive customer reviews, and allowed to catch some bugs we couldn’t find while testing the app.

We ordered a few paid app reviews in blogs about iPhones and apps, but that was vague. There were a couple of paid reviews which paid for itself, but generally they didn’t help the app to get noticed by the big guys.

We submitted the app to most websites which publish app reviews on a free basis (based on how interesting they find the app), and it gave the first positive sales experience. A short article on appadvice.com pushed the app sales to $613 for one day. It was a relief after the first month full of silence!

Obviously we realized that no matter how good our app is, no matter how positive customer feedback is, there will be no move in sales without the buzz about the app.

The second month $9576

The situation changed when we released an update to version 1.1, in which we changed the app screenshots and introduced location-based notifications for to-dos. Apple introduced APIs for location-based notifications only in iOS 5, and apparently that helped — the Pocket Lists app was featured in the New & Noteworthysection in both Russian and (hooray!) US App Stores. The sales figures picture above shows how it affected sales: on the top day the app made $1251!

Sales shortened 2—3 times when the app went from the New & Noteworthy to the What’s Hot section.

148apps.com published a review of the Pocket Lists app, but that did not affect sales.

By the end of the second month the app went off the featured shelves of the App Store, and sales went back to “normal” $10/day level.

The third month $2565

In the beginning of the third month we published a development story of the Pocket Lists app on iphones.ru (a popular blog about iPhones; in russian), and this pushed the app to #5 in the overall Top Paid chart in Russia, which was bringing about $450/day in sales.

To make the app move further, we offered another free giveaway, and this time the app was downloaded about 35’000 times!

US and Russian App Stores

It is widely known that the US App Store is the largest. Based on the Pocket Lists experience, same positions in the US App Store generate approximately 10-15 times more sales than in the Russian App Store.

If you plan offering your app exclusively in a non-US App Store, that may be a very hard sales experience. Today (beginning of March 2012) top paid positions around #10—20 in the Productivity category of the Russian App Store generate about $20/day.

The price

During the first two months we were experimenting with the app price varying it from $4.99 to $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, and zero.

Since we implemented so many cool features in the app, we initially wanted the price to be $4.99. But very soon we realized that this price will not allow the app to move up in the charts and effectively compete with hundreds of other to-do & checklist apps. We decided to set the price to a minimum — $1.99 — in order to have freedom in reducing the price to $0.99 on special occasions and promotions.

It’s all similar to songs and movies. No matter what kind of movie you are watching and how expensive the movie was to produce, either it is a blockbuster or an art house film, the ticket price is the same. App Store’s model for apps is much the same. Really.

Things we’ve learned

  1. App Store apps are packed like sardines. Even if your app is great, handy, and powerful, don’t think that it is going to get featured automatically, fly up the charts and sustain there. Rather be prepared for a “ping pong” in the App Store top charts.
  2. Paid app reviews does not work. We are not going to waste time and money on them anymore.
  3. Focus on the US App Store. If you get featured in the US, other App Stores will likely to feature your app too.
  4. The goal to sales is a position in top charts. The goal to a higher chart position is a continuous buzz about your app.
  5. Positive app ratings do not really lift you up in the App Store’s top charts.
  6. Do not overestimate your app. Focus on volume, not the price.
  7. At the first hand, release the app for yourself and your friends. If they don’t use and don’t like your app, it is hardly that everybody else will.

Pocket Lists app is the ultimate to-do & checklist app featuring comprehensive to-do management tools, collaboration options, due and location-based notifications, smart to-do input (“meeting tomorrow morning”), OCR (photo to checklist), and more.

Get your copy today: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-lists/id482537116?ls=1&mt=8
App website: http://www.pocketlistsapp.com

Web 开发资源与工具集合 120+

“工欲善其事,必先利其器。”花大量时间去找资源和工具是件令人痛苦的事,好在有大善人为我们做了这件事,这里有超过 120 个网络开发资源,因篇幅过长,以下只是一部分,更多请见文末链接。包括WP BLOGER TOOLS..

 

 

参考手册和综合资源:

TechCheatSheets-收集各类编程的清单和参考指南。
Creative Commons-用它给你做的网络应用程序授以部分或全部权限。
Yahoo! Design Pattern Library-雅虎设计模式库(带详解的常见问题最佳解决方案)

综合开发工具:

TurboDbAdmin-一个基于浏览器、用来察看和编辑数据库且无需刷新和提交的解决方案
GENNIT-帮您生成代码,节省大量时间
Kaosweaver-Dreamwaver拓展,包括“高级随机图片”和“面包屑”( Breadcrumbs ,“面包屑型”网站架构)。

应用程序开发工具:

Coghead-用直观的界面开发基于网络的应用程序。
Iceberg On Demand-一个基于网络用来开发、分享和销售网络应用程序的平台。
Nenest-一个网络应用程序框架,包括一个表单开发工具和数据库,且无需编程。

代码片断(Code Snippets)、搜索引擎和宝库(Repositories):

krugle-一个代码搜索引擎。
All The Code-源码搜索引擎。
Ohloh-开源软件目录。

开发环境及框架:

BackBase Ajax 360-一个企业级 Ajax 开发框架。
Maguma Workbench-全功能的 PHP & Python 集成开发平台
Tapestry-用来开发动态、强健、高可拓展性 Java 网络应用程序的开源框架。

聚合(Mashup)与API:

OpenKapow-聚合编辑器和主机寄存(hosting)服务。
Dapper-允许你抓取来自任何网站的 RSS、XML 或任何其他类型的订阅,使之对你的聚合或其他应用程序有效。
OpenLayers-允许你把一个动态地图放置在任何网页上。

测试、查错和工程管理:

spigit-它是一个可供开发者展示他们的新想法和开创一个专业的网络的社区。通过模拟,使你能在发布一个beta之前去开发和完善你的构想。
Rainbow9-在线编码、测试 javascript、css和html。
16bugs-容易而不冒失的 bug 查找

Ruby & Ruby on Rails 资源及工具:

Ruby on Rails-一个偏爱常规的开源网络框架。
Instant Rails-一个“运行时”(runtime)方案,预置Ruby, Rails, Apache and MySQL,无需安装。
Nitro-Ruby和Javascript网络应用程序框架,轻易创造出 Web 2.0 应用程序。

Ajax 资源及工具:

ajaxload.info-这个易上手的网络应用程序使你创造出基于AJAX的载入条、花朵(和其他形态的),用以显示网站载入状态。
Aptana-免费、开源的以 Javascript 为中心创建 AJAX 应用程序的开发环境。(不错,我用过,也可编辑CSS)
Mini ajax-提供免费、简易、可下载的 ajax & dhtml 代码。

PHP 资源及工具:

PHP Object Generator-生成完整的 PHP4/PHP5 面向对象代码。
Symfony-一个 PHP5 工程专用的网络应用程序框架,有简单模版、Ajax 支持、智能 URL 等功能。
CakePHP-它是一个快速的PHP开发框架,提供结构化的框架使各种水平的 PHP 用户都能快速地开发出可伸缩性的网络应用程序。

Flash 资源及工具:

flashvillage-免费高质量 flash 模版。需注册才能下载。
Dontclick.it-一个用以创建免点击用户界面的框架。
Flash Developer Center-Adobe 公司的flash 开发者中心,提供下载、实例、快速启动和社区。

Python 资源及工具:

Pylons-将 Ruby、Python & Perl 结合在一个轻量级的网络框架中,使之能在快速开发的同时,依然保持可拓展性。
zope-支持 Python 网络应用程序的开源应用程序服务器。
Spyce-使网络开发又变得有趣。

 

相关链接
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