Praycreen · B2C · pray-to-unlock phone app
Give non-payers a free version with an ad before each daily prayer
~$0.05 per user per day; ad spend paid back in 14-15 days
What they did
What happened
- Stage
- monetization
In their words
Lotanna Ezeike - He Built a Simple $120k/Yr App, Then Sold It For Multiple 6 Figures!
Lotts… kind of different. You kind of have to find what's the strong point of your own app. Our conversion from install to paid wasn't like anything outstanding whatsoever compared to like all the other apps out there. We're kind of thinking like this, if our conversion is like 2.5%, for example, what that's basically telling us is that we are spending x amount for like let's say 100 users to come in, and only 2.5% of them are converting to paid users.
LottsAnother way of looking at that is that you're basically telling 97.5 people to fuck off. So we were like, "Okay, our retention's super good, so what we should do is actually have a free version, but then have ads instead." Because we know that 60% of people of the 100 people are still going to be here doing four prayers every single day for 30 days. So that really worked out for us, because I think we were making like $0.05 per user per day um on ads.
LottsIt took us like about 14 or 15 days to get a return on investment.
Host$0.05 a day for 30 days, it's like $1.50 per user, and it's only $0.50 cost per install. And this is for 60% of the not-converted users. This is That's like completely lost revenue if you hadn't done...
HostIs there anything else interesting to share about Praycreen?
LottsI just think generally the faith space also is also interesting. Because we did four ads a day for each person, cuz they have to watch an ad before they do a prayer, and then I kept on seeing the same ad, and it's called Whiteout Survival. Live now, guess how much money do they make a month, across both iOS and Android.
HostA month, I would guess maybe 5 million a month, I don't know.
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More from this episode
- Copy a proven app idea and rebuild it for Christians~$120K ARR in 5-6 months; first 'Bible focus' app, then 70 copycats
- Post shock-value TikToks across 10-12 accounts to get people arguing in commentsEarly comments were angry, then turned to 'I needed this'; main driver of growth
- In videos, flash the app's opening animation, then the main screen and the success screenFounder says it brands the video without showing onboarding; no numbers
- Put well-loved Christian songs under the TikToksViewers commented on the songs; founder says it helped
- Run the TikToks that already went viral as Instagram ads$0.39 best-day CPI, $0.70-0.80 average in the US; one video took 70% of spend
- Start as a WhatsApp bot before building the appGrew at first, but WhatsApp's ~$0.02 per conversation got too expensive
- Run X ads aimed at followers of the 20-25 most famous pastorsHost calls it an underpriced channel; no costs or results given
- Earn money only from banner ads, skipping full-screen adsCouldn't crack monetization; founder was wary of charging for faith content
- Build an app around a new AI tool within 4 days of its launch
- Show a text that's only arguably a red flag so viewers argue in commentsFounder says the formats worked; 330 videos ready, ads never tested
- Tweet that the app is for sale and take a fast close over top priceBuyers DMed; sold within a week (3 days) to a past BibleBuddy suitor
- Don't translate your apps yourself; leave it as upside for the buyerBuyers usually translate first; founder says it makes the app easier to sell
- Get apps to $5-10K a month, sell them, and take many shotsSeveral exits; buyers and funders now come back to him
- Grow a simple first app with one TikTok and one Instagram account$8K MRR in about 4 months
Tags: ad-monetization, freemium, interstitial-ads, high-retention