KBMH · B2C · kettlebell home workout app
Engage with creators for 3 months, then pay them monthly for a weekly post
4 creators signed; likely drive more revenue than tracking shows
Workedinfluenceraffiliate
What they did
Like creators' posts, DM compliments and engage with their content until they engage back and follow; after ~3 months of back-and-forth, invite them. Four affiliates now (two ~150K followers, two smaller) post workouts as Instagram collabs with the KBMH account. Switched from commission to an upfront monthly retainer for one piece of content per week. Track via coupon code plus Branch.io deep links, cross-checked in-app.
What happened
Four creators on retainer; attribution misses many users, but revenue spikes suggest they drive much more revenue than the affiliate numbers show.
- Effort
- ~3 months of engagement per creator
“I basically had to start interacting with the potential people on Instagram and on other platforms, like liking their posts, DMing them like, "I love your your stuff," and just to engaging with their content”
“I just started to pay them upfront, like a monthly retainer. And like everyone is doing like one one piece of content every every week”
“Probably based on the spikes that we have that we had, they generated the app much more revenue that it actually showed in the affiliate program”
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
- KBMH: Post a workout reel every day until you hit 100, then judge~2,000 followers and a few hundred dollars after 3 months; later the base for 450K
- KBMH: Watch Brendan Kane's podcast talk and do every task in his free workbook20-40K new followers a month; single reels brought 60K and 52K followers
- KBMH: Put a few hundred dollars a month behind your best reelsPart of the 20-40K followers/month growth; not measured on its own
- KBMH: DM every new follower and sell interested ones on a Zoom callA couple hundred dollars in the first 3 months
- KBMH: Launch in 3 weeks with one program and no login screenApp approved despite bugs; grew into a 40K EUR MRR business
- KBMH: Spend 3 months testing 30+ paywalls, prices and onboarding lengthsInitial conversion near 30% by end of Q1, settling ~16%; revenue reached 20-25K/month
- KBMH: Test different screenshots and app names on your App Store pageNew users 2,000 -> 6,000 per quarter with the same social traffic
- KBMH: Right after sign-in, show swipeable slides of what the app doesFounder says it worked very well; no numbers
- KBMH: Ask for an App Store rating in onboarding if users already know youTons of reviews; being moved to make room for the tracking prompt
- KBMH: Offer a free trial only on the yearly plan; monthly has noneHalf choose yearly; 50-60% of trials convert to paid
- KBMH: Give paying users a WhatsApp group where they can talk to the founderFounder says it raised conversion and retention; instant bug and UX feedback
- KBMH: When someone says they love the app, reply with the review link'Works like magic'; no numbers
- KBMH: Hire a senior developer who pushes back on your feature ideasSaved 'enormous' time and money; no numbers
- KBMH: When new users skip the paywall, show a one-time 50% off yearly offerA large share of new revenue; regular subscription revenue unaffected
- KBMH: Show the one-time 50% off yearly offer to every existing free user500+ extra yearly subs and ~25K EUR in 3 weeks, after many refunds
- KBMH: Let creators make their own link and 25%-off code for a 50% commissionMost creators ignored it; active ones earned only $200-300/month
- KBMH: Run a plain white image with one line of text as your adCPA about 5x lower than abs-and-promises ads
- KBMH: Turn your best organic reels into Meta adsSomewhat profitable, but well behind the plain text ads
- KBMH: Drop lookalike and interest targeting and let Meta pick the audienceBroad worked much better; lookalikes and men 35+ didn't work
- KBMH: Test 5 new ads a week for installs, then move winners to a sales campaignKeeps testing affordable; not every install winner converts on purchase
- KBMH: Tell Meta every trial start or purchase is a 25 EUR saleAds profitable within 7 days; trial-to-paid stayed stable
- KBMH: Track ads in a daily sheet, subtracting your usual organic sales firstShows ads profitable within 7 days; month on track for 100K EUR
- KBMH: Add web checkout so ad money comes back faster than App Store payouts
- Price at $9.99, $14.99 or $19.99, not odd amounts like $12.49Rounded prices tend to perform better in App Masters' data; no numbers