Shot Pattern · B2C · golf strategy and GPS app
Grow through App Store search in a category old, rich apps dominate
Hasn't worked; competitors too entrenched and few target users search
Failedaso
What they did
Golf GPS is dominated by some of the oldest, highest-revenue apps (e.g. Golfshot, 10+ years). People searching generic terms are not his audience, who hang out in other places, so he chose paid ads over ASO.
What happened
Still hasn't figured out how to get ASO to work
- Stage
- growth
- Effort
- Unspecified
“they're doing so well that I still haven't figured out how to get ASO to work”
“those people that are going to the App Store to search for a some generic term, there's not enough of them thinking like, "Oh, I need an app for this."”
Related topics
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New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from Shot Pattern
All 33 Shot Pattern tactics- Pay golf creators $750-$1,500 per video and run the videos as adsCreator ads were not the winner at first; still used as ongoing ad content
- Make a quick screen recording of the app with auto captions and run it as an ad$0.70 installs vs $3.50-4 revenue per download; drove 2024 to ~$185K
- Build an app for something golfers already do by handEarly trials and paying strangers with little effort, unlike the first app
- Post helpful golf tips on X with app screenshots, starting before launchA few trial starts after each helpful post; slow steady growth
- Pay $5,000 for golf course data, then dig through it for new featuresFound data for a new expected-value feature that went viral
- Tweet a teaser of a feature you are still building25-40K impressions from ~1,000 followers; influencer calls and a buyout offer
More from this episode
- Shot Pattern: Launch in weeks with just two features no competitor offers$1,000 revenue by the end of the first June; users asked for more
- Shot Pattern: Join conversations on X where your audience already talks and mention your appOnly channel in the first months; drove the first $1,000
- Shot Pattern: Post a teaser of a feature you're halfway through buildingFirst viral tweet; reached a pro who won a tournament and led to a $75K offer
- Shot Pattern: Compare your conversion rates with RevenueCat's benchmarks before you accept an acquisition offer99th-percentile trial rates; turned down $75K and netted ~$100K the next summer
- Shot Pattern: Raise your yearly price to about $75 so paid ads can pay offFounder says it set up profitable paid ads; no before/after numbers
- Shot Pattern: Start paid ads only once your trial and paid conversion rates are strongAds worked from the start because the funnel already converted
- Shot Pattern: Run Meta install ads with at least three videos and about $300 a day$1.57 per install (under $1 early); $1 spent returned ~$4
- Shot Pattern: Run a quick screen recording of your app with your own voiceover as an adGot 80-90% of spend and beat both creator ads; $1.57 per install
- Shot Pattern: Use an interest-free credit card to keep profitable ads running until Apple pays you~$100K net income in one summer push
- Shot Pattern: Clip a demo of your newest feature into an ad that looks unlike other adsAds reached 1.8M and 1.3M paid views at $500/day; main performance channel
- Shot Pattern: Pay a popular creator's tournament entry in exchange for an ad about your appMeta barely served it; lost to a lo-fi founder video
- Shot Pattern: Run static image ads on MetaDidn't go anywhere; switched to video
- Shot Pattern: Pay a YouTuber who already uses your app to work it into videosFounder says these channels help together; no numbers
- Shot Pattern: Cut your paywall down to almost no wordsTrial starts rose each round, but trial conversion and LTV fell
- Shot Pattern: Fill your paywall with a long feature list so buyers see a great deal12% fewer trial starts (21% to 18%) but significantly more revenue
- Shot Pattern: Copy the usual onboarding screens: social proof, permissions, setup questionsEach screen lost users; lowest install-to-sign-up rate ever
- Shot Pattern: Make onboarding an interactive tutorial where people try the appSign-ups up 8%, trial starts up 19%
- Shot Pattern: Cut the onboarding step where the most people quitSign-ups 70% to 74%; no significant change in trials after 9,000 users
- Shot Pattern: Hire a contractor from your industry to run paywall and onboarding testsStarted regular experiments; mixed results, including some wins
- Shot Pattern: Build for advanced users and let casual users walk away
- Sell a mental-skills app to high school athletesYears of near-zero sales; teens didn't see the problem or pay