A subscription app · B2C · Phil Carter's advisory client
Move a Facebook-dependent app toward word of mouth and SEO
Unknownword-of-mouthseo
What they did
The client's paid CPI, cost per trial and cost per subscriber were best-in-class on Facebook, but too much of its acquisition was paid. One of the first projects was growing word of mouth, SEO and other non-paid channels.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Using Subscription App Benchmarks to Make Better Growth Decisions — Phil Carter, Elemental Growth“And so, one of the first things that I worked on with that client was figuring out how to get them off of the drug of paid acquisition and how to acquire more users through word of mouth, or SEO, or other non-paid channels.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Compare your last 12 months of metrics to similar apps to find your weakest spot
- When users stay but few pay, fix onboarding, the paywall and price firstSeveral wins; no numbers given
- Survey free and paying users about what the free and paid versions are worthFound the free version was so good people didn't need to pay
- Give a bigger annual discount and nudge more users to the yearly plan
- Buy users with ads that pay back in 45 days, even with low retentionProfitable despite 30% annual retention; guests warn it won't reach a big outcome
- Tinder: Offer several paid tiers and convert users fast when they won't stay longMakes up for weak retention; guest gives no numbers
- Duolingo: Spend the first 5 years on the free product, then add a subscriptionBuilt a moat; now worth over $10B
- Duolingo: Show more ads to free users so they either earn you money or upgrade