Clear 30 · B2C · app to quit or cut down weed
Try organic posts, influencers, Reddit and SEO to get first users
Useful for early feedback, but hard to convert; the first $1K was the hardest
What they did
What happened
- Stage
- early
- Effort
- Many channels tried; spend and duration not given
In their words
Asher Herbstman & Thatcher Clough - I Built a $30k/mo App That Helps You Quit Smoking
HostI love it. This is a awesome story. I feel like there's two parts, there's like 0 to 10k in revenue and then there's the 10k to 30k in revenue. I think if you're watching this, you might be at the 0, you might be at the 10, maybe at the 30, but I think there's a lot to learn here, so let's start with the 10k. How did you guys get your first like 0 to 10k in revenue?
Asher HirschmanThe most difficult was 0 to 1k. I think even just making the first dollar before we really had a system in place. We tried a million things. A lot of people start organic, posting free content on the internet, we tried influencers, we tried Reddit, we tried organic content, we tried SEO. In the end, it was like an uphill battle to convert people. We have this meme here to show you guys. It hasn't really been since paid ads that really began our flywheel. So here, this is credit to Sebastian Steff. He's a brilliant YouTuber in the app space and helps apps grow as a marketer. You can see here, it's like the virgin organic poster, which is what we were doing, has PTSD from waking up to zero views on launch day, and we've turned into the Chad paid marketers. Has zero followers, but still makes money. We started with a lot of organic, seeing what works, and I think that's really important to be able to get your first few people in the app, getting feedback, all of that stuff. You know, our graph looks like this and then this, and it …
HostYou guys film your own paid ads. Can I see some of those?
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More from this episode
- Grow with paid Meta and TikTok ads once the app converts wellBecame the growth engine; founders say they 'cracked paid ads' and are scaling
- Film your own funny ads that call out a very specific momentSpecific callouts grab attention; calm ads with an older speaker convert best
- Check which ages and quit reasons pay most, then aim ads at them26-30 year olds convert at almost double the 18-20 rate
- Ask users where they found the app, and also run proper ad trackingShows cost per trial by platform to rebalance spend daily; founders call it very helpful
- Track users from the first screen, not only after they sign inRevealed drop-offs; intro screen passes 85-90%
- Make onboarding a conversation: use their name, echo goals, show proof and quick winsPart of the 2-month push that took revenue from $10K to $30K a month
- Keep the slow 'what do you want to achieve?' questions in onboardingUsers spend 20-30 seconds on them with almost no drop-off
- Give users a free personal report on their habits before asking them to payFounders call it a big point of value; no numbers
- Ask new users which features they'd use, to show them off and learn
- Say up front the app costs money, next to what the habit costs themOnboarding conversion up about 3%; fewer 'it's paid' complaints
- Ask for a star rating during onboarding, right before showing reviewsReviews went from ~50 to almost 1,000 and keep climbing
- Sign users up by phone number and text them funny, personal messagesNo results given; founders cite ~95% of texts read within 5 minutes
- Open the paywall with a day-by-day plan for the first 7 days, not featuresPaywall conversion rose from ~20% to 30% with only this change
- Tell users 'no payment due now' and remind them 2 days before the trial endsMost users choose the yearly plan with the 3-day trial; no conversion numbers
- Test $30, $40 and $50 yearly pricesSettled on $30/year; no test numbers shared
- Run ads inviting people to take a quiz about their weed habitDidn't work; tried half-heartedly while onboarding was weaker
- Study which ads Meta and TikTok spend most on, and reuse their hooksAd with a woman beat one with a man; camera-shot look beat polished
- Offer the app to universities and addiction services, and add paid extras
Tags: reddit, early-traction