An app at $4M+ ARR · App Masters client
Grow with Meta ads alone before adding any other channel
$4M+ ARR for one client and ~$1M MRR for another, Meta only
What they did
What happened
In their words
Live App Teardowns: App Growth Optimization
HYeah. Back. Yeah, there is an option, see, the middle one, blue, "Redeem code".
Steve P. Young… or Meta, or Google, but those are the big five. I have a a slide for all this and I'll share with you guys, but I think people complicate it a bit and just kinda do everything. What I've seen from the successful indies that we've got to work with in the past is, man, they just have one or two channels, and then they figured that part out, and then they go, "Okay, I'm adding on this other channel." So here's my favorite slide that ChatGPT helped me create, but essentially, stick with these five, and stick with one or two in the very beginning, because I've seen apps and I have the proof where they're able to hit 5 million ARR with just one, literally one or two of these channels, that's it. So one of our clients doing 4+ million ARR, just Meta. One indie developer I just talked to, and hoping he can come on, he knows who he is, but he's been able to scale to about a million MRR with just Meta. And then he's like, "Steve, can you help me with Apple Ads?" So we're working with him for the Apple Ads side of things, but he was able to scale it with just Meta, right? Like you don't need that many. So depending on your audience, I think for me, I'm just always like, is this a push or pull campaign? So like for Value Study, there's just not a lot of volume people searching for it, so it's a pull it's a push campaign, right? You're gonna have to get in front of your audience and say, "Hey, I have this great app. Come download it," and that's Meta, right? That's TikTok. Whereas Google, SEM, Apple Ads, and ASO, they're more of a pull campaign. "Hey, you're looking for a metronome. You're looking for an app blocker. Come over, and when you search …
HYes, let me go first, Steve. Okay. So, Steve, how do you know someone has the newest iPhone duo?
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More from this episode
- Put the brand word you target first in the App Store keyword fieldReached #2-3 for 'Apple Wallet'; one app, anecdotal
- Run Apple Ads in every country except the US to find where buyers areFound the Netherlands: same keyword popularity as the US, difficulty 17 vs ~60
- Give Apple Ads max-conversion 5-10 top keywords, a high tap bid and a target install costAgency says it works across clients ($80K for one); 'Basic Plus' setup sometimes beats it
- Drop the $1.99 monthly plan because 90% buy the $10 yearly oneSales went down; the monthly price was the anchor that made $10/year look cheap
- Show only a yearly plan on the paywallMonthly plan was back within 2-3 weeks; observed from outside
- Add a hard paywall to an app that used to be freeWorked well for revenue, but brought many 1-star reviews from people who reinstalled
- Give ad-driven users a hard paywall and App Store searchers a closable oneFounder said it worked really well; no numbers
- Price utility apps at $5 a week, $20 a year, or $30 once
- Give free lifetime access through the Indie App Santa promotionUsers emailed feature requests and said the icon made them download; no numbers
- Test different app icons on a new utility app
- Ask gender in onboarding and show one matching testimonial on the paywallIn use; an A/B test vs ratings was mentioned but the result wasn't stated
- Give existing users 3 months' notice before charging for a free app90-99% of existing users happy to pay; new users complained
- Find UGC creators on Collabstr and work with micro-influencersDeveloper calls it a great success; one creator had a big impact; no numbers
- Switch from a paid app to free with purchases, then to subscriptionsMade more money at each step, per the friend; no numbers
- Show different prices depending on what people answer in onboardingHeard it works really well; app unnamed, no numbers
Tags: meta, single-channel, focus