Elevate · B2C · brain training app
Soft launch a rough version on Android and watch replays of every user
~500 downloads a day; learned a lot without needing scale
Workedvalidationproduct-activation
What they did
Launched a very rough version of new apps on Android, where background organic traffic brought ~500 downloads a day, and watched the session replays of all of those users. Not statistically significant; the goal was to start the learning and iteration loop cheaply.
What happened
Learned a ton from ~500 daily users without scaling spend.
- Stage
- pre-launch
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Making Web2App Work: From Basic Landing Pages to Complex Sales Funnels — Nathan Hudson, Perceptycs“we would launch a super busted version of the app, and then we would get like a trickle of downloads, and we would just look at all, we'd watch, we'd literally watch the session replays for like all 500 of those users.”
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
- Advertise a free recorded masterclass, not the app, then sell the app at the endAgency says it worked, especially long-form on YouTube; no numbers shared
- Copy your working in-app onboarding to the web before inventing a new quizAgency rarely sees a profitable in-app flow fail when mirrored on web
- Launch your first paid ads to a web checkout so money and data come back fastPayouts in days, not ~60; about $1K of spend can teach you something
- Measure Meta app ads with AEM instead of SKANMuch more accurate; big accounts fully migrated
- Give each creator their own web page with tracking links instead of an App Store linkGuest calls influencers and affiliates 'amazing with web'; no numbers
- Run web sales ads and free guides to reach people who ignore app adsReaches new user pools and keeps data on non-buyers; no numbers
- Send sign-up, trial and purchase events from your web funnel back to MetaStandard practice; value-based bidding tried with no results yet
- Put screens between quiz questions that prove, reassure and show how the app works
- None to Run: Write a blog post that ranks for 'alternative to Couch to 5K' and links to the appBecame the app's main traffic source
- Charge $1 for the first month on web instead of a free trialScreens out fake cards; small net effect on conversion
- Dipsea: Test a money-back guarantee instead of a free trial on the webExperiment in progress; no results shared