Genius Scan · B2C · document scanning app
Launch free for a few days, then switch to a $0.99 paid app
Downloads fell from thousands a day to 1-2; switched back to free
Failedpricingpr-launch
What they did
Launched in June 2010 as a free app as a 'launch offer', planning to go paid after a few days. After a few days set the price to $0.99 paid upfront. Downloads collapsed immediately, so they panicked and made it free again (later monetized with iAd, a separate paid version and in-app purchases).
What happened
Downloads fell from thousands per day to one or two per day at $0.99; reverted to free immediately.
- Stage
- launch
- Effort
- A few days at $0.99
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Bootstrapping a Subscription App to 5M MAU and 2X+ Revenue Growth — Bruno Virlet, Genius Scan“And then after a few days, we would just put it paid, and then, you know, make some money. And so after a few days, I put it as a paid app, and immediately we went from like, I don't know, thousands of downloads a day to one, two downloads a day.”
“So, so basically, we panicked, and we put it back as a free app.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
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- Genius Scan: Start charging monthly for cloud backup while keeping the one-time upgradeNo customer backlash; users understood storage costs recur
- Genius Scan: Let people who paid once keep their features when you switch to subscriptions
- Genius Scan: Drop the $0.99-a-month plan and sell only the $3 oneStill ~100 purchases a day, now all on the pricier plan
- Genius Scan: Show only the yearly plan on the paywall; tuck monthly one step deeperNearly everyone switched to yearly; no numbers
- Genius Scan: Keep the button for your top paid feature on screen, not in a menuHiding it cut paywall views ~10-20% for months; putting it back restored them
- Genius Scan: Test the words and icon on the in-app banner that opens your paywallOne wording converted 2x the old one; a deliberate A/B test confirmed it
- Genius Scan: Remove outside ads from the free app, even though they paid wellFounder believes happy free users drive recommendations; no numbers
- Genius Scan: Skip the paywall at signup; show it only when someone taps a paid featureFree users convert over time and recommend the app; no numbers
- Genius Scan: Answer every support email yourselves and build what people ask for repeatedlyFounders say it gives the best pulse on problems; no numbers
- Genius Scan: Beat the phone's built-in scanner with better scans and auto-export to DropboxGrowth never stalled when Apple added native scanning
- Genius Scan: Tune App Store name and ratings but skip paying for search adsTop five for 'scanning'; can't pass rivals who buy Apple ads
- The Grizzly Labs: Hire only when founders are overloaded, and pick people who work independently10 people, little management needed and low turnover
- RevenueCat: Ask users how they heard about you, with a free-text boxRevealed ChatGPT and Claude were sending people; read daily
- RevenueCat: Check 5-10 key numbers every morning, with 30- and 90-day averages30-day above 90-day means healthy; no outcome reported