Super Unlimited · B2C · free VPN app
Don't show any ads the first time someone opens the app
What they did
In their words
How the World's #1 VPN App Reached 1 Billion Downloads – Tanuj Chatterjee, Super Unlimited
Jacob EitingAre you on ads? Do you defer showing ads until you've determined somebody's not a likely purchaser? Do you have any orchestration between showing ads versus not and stuff like that? Or are you thinking about it that granularly yet?
Tanuj ChatterjeeFor the first download, if you just install it, we don't show an ad right away, right?
Jacob EitingSo yes, I guess is the answer, is you do some sort of smart and be like, "Okay, we're going to defer to see if this person's going to... They might convert right away and we don't want to degrade the experience."
Tanuj ChatterjeeIt's not just for conversion. It's also, we want them to see the value of the app. So even the paywalls are not very hard. There's a big X sign where you can cancel out very easily. So, we are not trying to over monetize it. Just the main goal is come and use the product.
Jacob EitingYeah. I guess becoming their VPN app is probably more important than monetizing on that [inaudible 00:17:54].
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More from this episode
- Read your reviews and rivals' reviews, then fix what people complain aboutCredited as the main driver to #1 for 'VPN'; no single number tied to it
- Let people use the app right away: no login, one tap to connectVisits last ~30 seconds; guest credits it for organic volume and ratings
- Ask for a rating only after the app has done its job2M+ high ratings on the App Store; no before/after given
- Test modern, prettier store screenshots against your plain old onesModern designs lost 80% of tests; winners gave no meaningful lift, so old ones stayed
- Hire an SEO agency that knows your field to publish programmatic pages~1,600 app downloads a month; poor conversion; some AI-search traffic, not top 5
- Give away an unlimited free version, paid for with an ad or twoLow paid conversion, but 1M+ mostly organic downloads a day and very profitable
- Keep the free service running in poor and censored countries, even at a loss15M downloads in 4 days during a Turkey Instagram ban; each spike leaves a higher baseline
- Charge for no ads, faster servers, more locations and use on every deviceCompany growing and very profitable; no conversion numbers
- Show an ad for your new eSIM app to all existing VPN usersDidn't work: no travel intent; now planning timed promos before summer
- Buy search ads in Apple and Google stores only where the return holds upSpend capped by ROAS; some cannibalization of organic installs accepted
- Have the head of support report to the head of productGuest says product hears about problems right away; no numbers
- Walk into elevators with a debug build to test dropped connections
- Compare your ratings country by country and dig into the low onesGuest says it helped a lot; no numbers
- Launch a new feature in 5 countries behind a switch, then expand
- Start on the cloud, then move heavy traffic to your own rented serversMakes a free tier affordable; cloud still absorbs surges
- Launch a Windows version and promote it to your mobile usersNamed biggest win of the year; people buy on the website directly, no numbers
- Build the product so free users cost almost nothing to supportLets the company keep a generous free tier; no numbers
Tags: ad-timing, first-session