Reading.com · B2C · learn-to-read app for kids
Build your own analytics, clean the data, then send it to Amplitude
Got needed insight while passing Apple's kids-app review; no numbers
Workedanalytics-attribution
What they did
Apple's kids-app rules block third-party analytics and attribution SDKs (Amplitude, Google Analytics). Built an in-house first-party analytics tool, cleaned and anonymized the data, then forwarded it to Amplitude.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · What Reading.com Learned Testing Prices and Funnels — Tim Dikun, Teaching.com“We had to build our own first-party analytics tool in order to really understand what was going on in in the app. And then we're able to kind of clean the data and anonymize it, and then kind of send it into Amplitude from there.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Reading.com: Test monthly prices from $4.99 to $19.99 and keep checking LTV for years$12.49 won (vs $6.99 launch); still winning after multi-year look-backs
- Reading.com: Drop the free trial on the monthly plan to push people to annualMore annual picks, but realized LTV fell 17%; not rolled out
- Reading.com: On web funnels, charge upfront with a 30-day money-back guarantee instead of a trialLower conversion but better Meta signal and longer-staying users; few refunds; no numbers
- Reading.com: Point each ad set at one web funnel, and split campaigns by tracking method
- Reading.com: Copy the app's onboarding exactly onto a web page and send ad traffic thereTrial conversion up 50% and paid conversion up 30% vs the same flow in the app
- Teaching.com: Buy plain category domains like Reading.com to earn trust and search trafficPeople skip the ad and type the domain directly; credited for web funnel success
- Reading.com: Build the reading app so a parent sits with the child every lessonSmaller audience, but those parents pay more and stay longer; no numbers
- Reading.com: Add onboarding slides and parent guides explaining why parents must join inStill many cancellations from parents who won't take part
- Reading.com: Right after purchase, offer all the printable worksheets at once for $9.99About 20% of web trial starters and buyers take it
- Reading.com: Sell printed sets of the app's storybooks on Amazon
- Reading.com: Extend lessons to third-grade level and plan more apps for later reading stages
- Reading.com: Find a way to give a book-like moment in the first lesson
- Teaching.com: Hire outside experts for each ad channel instead of in-house marketersFaster and cheaper than in-house hires; little management needed
- Teaching.com: Turn off Basecamp alerts and use Slack only for urgent blockersGuest says it improved the quality of work; no numbers
- Teaching.com: Drop Scrum and let developers change or kill features late in the buildScrum turned engineers into ticket-takers; dropped for late-change freedom