Reframe · B2C · app for drinking less
Reposition from quitting to cutting back, a need no one else served
The first major growth catalyst; unlocked other channels and more funding
Workedpositioning-nicheonboardingproduct-activation
What they did
In mid-2021, against warnings that the existing community would leave, the founders moved Reframe from 'quit drinking' to 'cut back' (drinking is fine if you choose it). They made the message consistent end to end: changed ads, onboarding, the core product loop and the program, checked with their research partners that the tools still applied, and rebuilt everything from first point of entry to the program in about a month.
What happened
Nothing happened at first, then a large number of people rolled in; became 'the only name in town' for cutting back; unlocked previously failing channels and new funding
- Stage
- mid-2021
“we were like the first company to kind of go from quit to like, "Let's help somebody cut back on alcohol,"”
“that was really the the first major catalyst. Um that like unlocked our other growth channels, which were initially not working.”
“so we we we changed like we changed our onboarding, we changed like the core product loop to be like more focused on helping people cut back.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Reframe: Partner with online groups already serving your users, with a discount and revenue shareFirst couple thousand subscribers came from this; channel has since got crowded
- Reframe: Post about your app on Reddit and other forumsDidn't get much traction; details not given
- Reframe: Offer your health app to treatment centres to hand to their patientsCentres were excited at first, then shelved it when the pandemic hit
- Reframe: Launch under a name that tells your first users exactly what it doesFounder says it won the first cohort; renamed later because it wouldn't scale
- Reframe: Raise money to buy users once each user brings in friendsFounder says organic referrals were already flowing; no spend or return numbers
- Reframe: Interview 10-15% of your early users and answer every message yourself500+ interviews; learned users were spreading it by word of mouth
- Reframe: Start users on one core feature, then add new tools over the following weeksUsers disliked the full toolkit up front; gradual rollout got tools used
- Reframe: Build your program with university researchers and say so in the appFounder says it shaped the toolkit; no numbers
- Reframe: Raise your priceConversion went up slightly instead of dropping
- Reframe: Test prices with big jumps, not small stepsA two-thirds price cut got users but less engagement; original price worked best
- Reframe: Launch sister apps for other parts of your missionTeam was too small to support them at the time
- Reframe: Use your store title for your brand message, not search keywords
- Build a strong iPad version, where ASO is easier$1.4M of a client's ~$2M yearly revenue came from iPad
- Charge a subscription for a simple flashcard-style appDidn't work; host suggests a lifetime offer or per-deck unlocks instead
- Test lower prices in countries where you rank well but get few downloadsStarting to see more traction in the Netherlands; no numbers yet
- A/B test a new app iconNew icon is winning; no numbers given
- Pick 6-10 keywords and rotate through them to see which ranks