Sago Mini · B2C · preschool app studio
Track app usage with only a per-device ID: no IP, ad ID or account ID
Gets 90-95% of the picture; parent and kid devices can't be linked
Workedanalytics-attribution
What they did
Use a stripped-down Mixpanel implementation with no IP addresses, no IDFA and no account ID; Apple's IDFV (device-specific, not linkable across platforms, cleared on uninstall) is the connective tissue for data. No ad SDKs at all; only a skinned-down AppsFlyer.
What happened
Captures 90-95% of the picture, good enough; can't join a parent's iPhone purchase to a kid's Samsung tablet.
- Stage
- Scale (scaling)
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How to Build a Great Kids App with Minimal Data — Brennan Clark, Sago Mini“So we do have a Mixpanel, but again, it's- it's a- a very stripped-down version. So no IP addresses, we use the IDFV. So no, there's no IDFA or there's no account ID in that Mixpanel implementation.”
“you get say 90%, 95% of the picture, which is, it's good enough for us.”
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More from this episode
- Sago Mini: Send players of your older apps to your main subscription appAbout 1M installs in a year; filled part of the gap left by lost ad channels
- Sago Mini: Add parent accounts so you can email parents about your other appsNo numbers; became key once there were several subscription apps
- Sago Mini: Send the kid's drawings to a parent app so parents see the valueGuest calls it a nice reminder of value; no numbers
- Sago Mini: Measure ads with Apple's anonymous data only and model lifetime value yourselfWorks because 80% of purchases happen in 2 days; still a slow manual process
- Sago Mini World: Advertise inside free kids games that match your age groupSurprisingly good on iOS; weak on Google Play, especially for the learning app
- Sago Mini School: Aim ads for the learning app at parents and ads for the play app at kidsShifting further toward parents for the learning app; no numbers
- Sago Mini: Choose partners willing to build custom tools for your rulesPartner built a compliant custom SDK in about 3 weeks with ~20 people
- Sago Mini: Bring kids into the office every week to test apps and check what the data saysCaught a 'popular' feature that kids were really tapping to get back to the menu
- Sago Mini: Keep all text out of gameplay so only store and account screens need translatingApps travel well internationally with little localization work, guest says
- Sago Mini: Offer free branded printable activities to collect parents' emailsNo results shared
- Sago Mini: Make special web offer pages for deals with phone carriers and device makersNo results shared; web hasn't been a big success overall
- Sago Mini World: Add a character creator and more customization so older kids keep playingGuest calls it a major step; no numbers
- Sago Mini: Launch apps for younger and older kids so families move up through your brandNo results shared
- Sago Mini: Sell a monthly craft box that matches the app's themesNo results shared
- Sago Mini: Skip launching on Amazon because it costs as much work as iOS for far less returnLearning app still not on Kindle two years after launch
- Sago Mini: Charge one subscription price with no ads or in-app purchases so parents trust youGuest calls safety and trust a big selling point; no numbers
- Sago Mini: Try small YouTube brand ads aimed at parentsOnly tested, never scaled