Sweatcoin · B2C · app that pays you to walk
Let users swap coins for 3 free months of Spotify or Apple Music
Founder says users loved it; instant rewards with no shipping delay
Workedpartnershipsretention
What they did
During COVID, added digital rewards from subscription services such as Spotify and Apple Music: the first three months are paid in sweatcoins, after which the user pays cash. Digital rewards avoid slow physical fulfilment, which matters for instant gratification.
What happened
Anton says 'that was just amazing'; no numbers.
- Stage
- growth
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How to Turn Gamification Into a Retention Powerhouse — Anton Derlyatka, Sweatcoin“But when you get a subscription, like, you know, we worked with whatever Spotify, Apple Music, and these guys like, you know, the basically the proposition is that you can get the first three months for sweatcoins, and then the rest of it is paid through, you know, fiat or cash.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Sweatcoin: Pay users 1 coin per 1,000 walked steps, spendable in a rewards shopRetention far above other fitness apps early on; users walk ~20% more
- Sweatcoin: Show two ways to earn on the home screen: walk, or invite a friend for 5 coinsNew users went from under 300 a day to 300, 1,000, then 5,000 a day
- Sweatcoin: Offer a few donated brand products a day, with a new one every daySolved cold start; brands later queued for months to be featured
- Sweatcoin: Pay 1 coin for watching an optional video ad, up to 1-3 times a dayRetention and engagement rose at 1-3 views a day; fell when more were allowed
- Sweatcoin: Unlock a secret prize shop after 30 successful invites, for creators with small followingsSpread 'like wildfire'; about 5% of all users came this way
- Sweatcoin: Kick off spikes with friendly creators, then let fast invite chains push store rankings#1 app in the US, Brazil and 65 other countries; now stable growth
- Sweatcoin: Make a fitness app look like a finance app, with a name people react toPress picked it up; first 30-40K users
- Sweatcoin: Build free-tier limits in early, then sell a plan that lifts them and removes adsBasic plan already makes 'considerable' revenue; founder thinks it came 12-18 months late
- Sweatcoin: Let a health service fund extra prizes to keep diabetes program patients engagedProgram completion rose from ~25% to 89%; activity +45% vs +20% on free app