GlamUp · B2C · AI makeup glow-up app
Show a fake 'analyzing' scan with blurred results, and run the AI only after payment
What they did
In their words
Nicole Cheung - she makes $400k/mo from ai apps (while in college)
Joseph ChoiAnother thing that I noticed was like the results were blurred. Was that ever a decision, whether to blur the results or not? Because like the scan itself is the value, and you want people to pay to see the results?
Nicole CheungYeah, that's a great question. This scan is completely fake. It's a fake scan, so we don't actually get their results at all. We only run the API after they pay, because we don't want to waste, you know, the API cost.
Joseph ChoiSo yeah, the the referral system is very um It's very interesting. Did you get inspiration from anywhere for that? Cuz I feel like a lot of people think of referral systems as k-factor, where they're trying to get multiple downloads from each download that they get, but it seems like the main benefit was it just made your content so much more viral. Have you seen anyone else do that in the app space?
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More from this episode
- Post the same before/after makeup slideshow with one fixed hook, caption and audioFirst post hit 10M views; millions of views a day at peak
- Strip makeup off Pinterest photos, then add it back in-app for big contrastContrast made the slideshows go viral; founder claim
- Find a viral format on your own accounts first, then hire creators to copy itFounder went viral first on all four apps; scaled GlamUp to 30-40 creators
- Let users skip paying by inviting 3 friends with a code1.6M share/code requests; codes flooded TikTok comments; conversion barely dropped
- Put the app name in the copy-paste referral message so TikTok search ranks itSearching 'GlamUp' on TikTok shows only their content; founder claim
- Triple the weekly price from $3 to $9Conversion rate went up despite the 3x price
- Raise monthly and annual prices 20%, then test another 20%Conversion and revenue per download both rose; second +20% in test
- When people close the paywall, show the same plans at 50% off
- Limit scans per week by plan, and offer a bigger plan when they run out
- Ask for a rating mid-onboarding; make users tap 'I rated' to continueOther founders who copied it say ratings improved; softer version still works
- After each onboarding question, show a screen on how the app beats the alternativesFounder says it primes users to convert; no numbers
- Skip the annual plan for a job-search app; sell weekly and monthly via Stripe
- Show the paywall right after onboarding, before users can open the app+50% conversion vs letting users try features first
- Put every new creator through a video course with a quiz after each moduleOver half go viral within 2 weeks; 100M monthly views at 200+ active creators
- Recruit creators in influencer-run Discords and on Handshake, then vibe-check them in 15 minutesMany top creators had no experience; founder claim
- Pay creators $10-30 per post plus view bonuses that shrink per view at scaleFounder says the decreasing tiers work best; no numbers
- Give creators line-by-line scripts with the emotion and camera shot for each lineTrained creators averaged hundreds of thousands to millions of views per video
- Film a 6.7-second 'War is over' clip flipping a job tracker cell to 'Accepted'Hundreds of millions of views and many conversions (not attributable)
- Rebuild a hit men's looks app for women, launching a rough MVP in a month1M users in 6 months; ~$150K MRR peak
Tags: fake-scan, blurred-results, api-cost