A niche subscription app · B2C · host's own app
Rank number one for your niche's main keywords
About $30K MRR; #1 for ~10 related terms
Workedasopositioning-niche
What they did
Host's own niche app ranks number one for about 10 terms all related to the app. Host looks for niches with few competing apps and keywords around 30 popularity in ASO tools. Now looking for ways to reach people beyond search.
What happened
About $30K MRR
- Stage
- growth
“we're ranking really well for similar numbers, like 10 terms, number one, all related to the app itself, and the app's doing about 30K MRR.”
Related topics
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New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
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- Value Study: Rank for many small, specific keywords that only your real users search1,000+ keywords ranked; low volume but high conversion
- Value Study: Show what the app does in the first screenshot, not a menu
- Value Study: Win over teachers, who hand your app to a whole class at onceMain growth driver; teachers share with ~30 students at a time; founder says paid outreach to them struggled
- Value Study: Sell school licenses through a separate schools-only appDidn't work; no school took it
- Value Study: Turn the workarounds users show you into built-in featuresFounder says it worked; no numbers
- Value Study: Remove a feature people call confusing once a newer one covers itBackfired; many users who relied on it complained
- Value Study: Ask an optional 'Where did you hear about us?' with a free-text box31,000 answers; free text names specific teachers, courses and books
- Value Study: Ask which mediums users work in so the app feels made for them
- Value Study: Translate your app into several more languagesPaying users in the new languages; Dutch became common out of nowhere
- Value Study: Add a one-time Pro unlock to an app that has always been freeAbout £200 a month, steady; most users stayed free and missed key features
- Value Study: Announce 3 months ahead that the free tier ends; lifetime buyers keep accessClear spike in lifetime purchases before the switch; no review backlash mentioned
- Value Study: Drop the free tier and charge everyone a small amountSubscriptions and lifetime sales rose; revenue doubled in a year to $61K
- Value Study: Offer a lifetime plan next to the yearly plan50% lifetime, 50% yearly until the Android launch
- Value Study: On Android, replace the hard paywall with a soft paywall trialAndroid reviews recovered from very bad
- Value Study: Reply personally to every support email and fix bugs right awayMany reviews name the founder; turned angry users into five-star reviewers
- Value Study: Hire a cheap influencer with a big following in another language$4,000 in one week and a lasting lift; broken Android translations brought bad reviews
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- Value Study: Add a tip jar to your settings menu$157 in tips this year, covering the developer fee
- Value Study: Test higher prices in the US firstSettled on a price about halfway up; no numbers
- Add Meta ads once organic growth in your niche levels offRevenue doubled or tripled; took time
- Raise your yearly price from $29.99 to $49.99Good so far, per a viewer; no numbers
- Show 2-3 screens of benefits and testimonials right before the paywallWon the client's test against the other onboarding version