growing your iphone/ipad app business

Best Practices for Growing Your iPhone and iPad App Business

Rob Weber, Co-founder, W3i

@robertjweber on Twitter

App Aficionado

• Founded W3i in 2000• More than 500 million

cumulative installs– 120 Million in 2010

• 70+ employees• Venture backed

– Boston-based Alta Communications

• Active in Minnesota Tech

Community• Blogger & ClickZ Writer

Investor in Mobile App Startups

Jenkat Games

Riptide Games™ SkyVu Pictures

TrioDesign Studio

InEarth

Hive Media

Purple Talk Veiled Games

Bight Games

Build a Profitable App Business

• Planning, Development, Launch

• Driving Distribution• Increasing

Engagement• Generating Revenue• Optimizing Mass

User Base

Planning, Development, Launch

What Type of App to Build

• Pick a category– App Store 20 total categories– Games

• Games 19 sub-categories - 15% of App Store

• Highly competitive

– Social– Niche

App Store Categories

Books

Business

Education

Entertainment

Finance

Games

Health/Fitness

Lifestyle/Medical

Music

Navigation

News

Photo

Production

Reference

Social Networking

Sports

Travel

Utilities

Weather

Creating the Blockbuster

• It is harder to create a hit without a cowboy mentality surrounding you.

• Fail upwards. • Don’t create a bigger footprint and get trapped in your

own wealth.• It helps to be a little crazy, a little delusional.• Don’t be afraid to pivot.• Start with a lot of concepts, then start cutting.• Understand the human side of business.• Relentless focus on quality and creating apps that don’t

suck• Stop doing things that piss users’ off

– Hurry up and wait- Eliminate splash screens– Surprise and delight- Add those little things that impress

people. – Implementation detail- Never let them see how you made it– Design for everyone- Bejeweled versus Grand Theft Auto– Don’t be a jerk- spam

Build in engagement

Licensed IP vs New IP

• Licensed IP – Game– Books

• New IP– Game– Books

More Decisions

• What device?– iPhone– iPad– iPod touch

• Universal vs by device

Development Choices

• In house• Work-for-hire

developers• Key requirements

– File size under 20 MB– Managing submissions

Be Transparent

• Make it easy for users to find the answer– Added “Need to request a

refund?” and “How to disable in-app purchasing”

– Direct link in app via a “?”

– Additional disclosures in App Store Description

Plan the Launch

• ASO requires research and planning (more later)– Icon– Name– Screenshots– Description

• Advertising – burst campaigns• Dropping the price/discounting• PR• Reviews• Cross-promotion• Trade shows• Luck

Tap that App Launch Party, Chicago

App Store Optimization-ASO

• Icon: – Easy to recognize and tie to app– Consistent use (small and large icon)– Avoid trademark violations– Vector based

• Name– Describe utility of the game– Avoid special characters– Don’t use the device in name

App Store Optimization-ASO

• Screenshots: – Take the time to make quality images– Capture images that best depict app– Don’t use device imagery (automatic

rejection)

• Description– First two lines most important– Simple, concise words– Match tone to game– Use copy to enhance credibility– Don’t include price– Maximize copy above the fold– Be aware of how word wrap works

Drive Distribution

Predictable Distribution

Estimated download volume needed for Top 100 ranking:

App Store Position Est. # Downloads Needed

Top 10 ~50k-150k

Top 25 ~30k-50k

Top 25-50 ~17k-30k

Top 50-100 ~10k-17k

Sub 100 Free 100s-depending on category popularity

Once in the Top 50, Volume of organic downloads will increase significantly. -Source: AdMob, Inc.

Dolphin Play Ranking

How to Influence Rating

• Apply viral hooks in your app to encourage sharing

• Use in-app messaging• Don’t blindly submit • Develop a plan

Driving Installs

• Public Relations– Apperang– Twitter– Networking

• Results:– 10 Media Mentions– 80+ In-coming Leads

Elusive Apple Feature

• Mystery• Credibility &

Awareness• Demo at mobile

shows• Nag, ask questions• Luck

Advertising

PPI Display Search

Pricing CPICost per install

CPMCost per impression

CPCCost per click

Cost per click ~.05-.15 ~.05-.30 CPC

Cost per install ~.40-.75 CPI ~.75-1.25 ~.75-3.00 CPI

Targeting In device Mass audience Key words

Saturation Yes No No

Predictable Yes No No

Game App Advertising US

*Seasonal price sensitivity

Discounting

• Discounting can get you noticed

• App price trackers will promote

• Make sure price drop is ridiculous enough to get PR

Never say never. Mark Rein, VP of Epic Games-creator of Infinity Blade, "Folks we are NOT going to screw the folks who bought Infinity Blade at $5.99 by dropping the [price] only a few weeks after we ship!"

Just discounted price by 50%.

AppAllStar – iOS App Calendar

iOS App Calendar

Promotional SiteCalendar Widget Single-day Widget

Viral

• Getting more social– Ngmoco – launching

worldwide social gaming network

• Samsung’s Android phones

– Facebook’s single sign-in

PopCap Games crack the Code

• Bejeweled 2 +Blitz– #4 Top Grossing

iPhone App in 2010– 3.7 million DAU– 11.1 million MAU– Retaining top ranking

Capitalize on Holiday Demand

• Christmas is a head spinner— over 3X the traffic

• Watch out for the big guys like EA

• Don’t over analyze• Promote 4 days prior• App Store holiday lockdown• Demand for holiday themes

Do you Need a Publisher?

• Be careful with the contract

• Can provide credibility for an unknown developer/app

• Can provide experience and expertise

Rovio cuts out Chillingo when they debuted Angry

Birds Halloween

Increasing Engagement

Increase App Usage

• Plan. Who’s the audience? What is sticky for them?

• Plan for strong entertainment value• Give tips about use• Create a community• Collecting• Exchanging• Allow customization• Scoring-points• Create competition among friends

using visible metrics• Add fresh content• Give incentives for returning

Reward Users for Coming Back

• Strategic reward schedules– Fixed interval reward

scheduling– Fixed action reward

scheduling

• Elements of Good Reward Schedules– Contingency– Response– Reinforcement

ReenforcementTrade Nations

Fixed action rewardDolphin Play

Fixed interval rewardTrade Nations

Alerts Are a Must.

Push Notifications• Maximum 3 times a day• Uses

– Tied to events or actions• Decay thresholds• Time thresholds• Maximum thresholds

– Social• Visitors

– Drive action and game progression• New Content/features• Discounting

Compulsion Loops

• Tangle of social obligations

Eliminate ProGets users hooked and then asks them to pay

Bejeweled BlitzChallenge friends Farmville

Buy tractor, plow faster

Dolphin PlayDolphins need feeding

Constant Updates

• Push notification keeps game top of mind

• Examples– Improve game play– Add fresh content– Add social elements– Fix bugs Pocket God

37 updates were released for the iOS version of the game as of February 23, 2011,

Revenue Generation

Game Balancing

• Having multiple options or routes to victory

• User can buy a quicker route

Smurf’s Village“…blatant attempt to push user into buying massive amounts of in-app currency.”

10 out of 25 top grossing iPhone game apps are using the free-to-play model

iTunes Top Grossing 03/15/2011

16 out of 25 top grossing iPhone game apps are using in-app purchases

iTunes Top Grossing 03/31/2011

Free vs Paid

October2009

June2010

December2010

June2010

December2010

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

100%

64%

51%

88%

71%

22%

15%

5%

14%

14%

34%

7%15%

Revenue Share Free Applications With In-App PurchasesRevenue Share Paid Applications With In-App PurchasesRevenue Share Paid Applications

Revenue Share By Monetization Type (United States)

With W3i’s Ad-funded Payment Platform

• Recommend apps for virtual currency

• Easy for user to participate—no cash outlay required

• Higher conversion rates• Increased life-time value• Fully brand for your app

– Your virtual goods– Customized interface– User install history

• Easy to integrate

Fully Branded

3rd Party Developer Simulation Game

Ad Funded

Payment PlatformIn-App

Purchases

Before

After

+54%

RAIX FISH FARM

Sold Millions, Now What?

Transmedia

Licensing

Questions

Robert WeberVP & Co-Founderrobert.weber@w3i.com(320) 257-7551 direct

Twitter:robertjweber W3i

Blogs: W3iSmartAppMarketing AppMarketingTips

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