the business side of windows 10 apps - ms network6
TRANSCRIPT
Alan Mendelevič@ailon
The Business Side of Windows 10 Apps
Who am I?Alan [email protected]@ailon
Agenda• What and why?• Making money• Getting users
Windows app ecosystem• 4 indie developers made more
than $1,000,000• Random Salad Games made more
than $1,000,000 from ads• 1 indie game made more than
$9,000 per day from IAPs• Game Insight made “millions of
dollars”• 16 million+ downloads of apps
made by Rudy Huyn
App gold rush is over
Did you know…
WTH am I trying to do?
Hobby?
Contracts?
Apps are my business
Developer’s Work Cycle
Task Deliverables Money
Employee/Contract developer
Task Deliverables Money
Entrepreneur developer
SALE
SALE
What do I build?
Getting ideas and inspirationThe Daily Practice
“Every day I write down ideas. I write down so many ideas that it hurts my head to come up with one more. Then I try to write down five more.…The “idea muscle” atrophies within days if you don’t use it. Just like walking. If you don’t use your legs for a week, they atrophy. You need to exercise the idea muscle. It takes about 3-6 months to build up once it atrophies. Trust me on this.”
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/
Original vs. “me-too”
“One of Jobs’s talents was spotting markets that were filled with second-rate products.”
Top AppCampus alumni
From hobby toXbox Live
Music game #1, funding5 million downloads
Megahit?
Atley Hunter
500+ apps
Release date is a feature!“… this was quite important since it got a lot of attention for being the first real picture effects / photo filter app in the market. The big blogs like Gizmodo, Engadget and MSNBC covered a few of the must have WP7 apps and Pictures Lab got featured in all. I guess that helped to jump start the app.”
René Schulte, PicturesLab
With every SDK/OS release there’s a chance to be the first to utilize some previously unavailable capability
Getting return on your investment
Paid (Premium) Apps• Set a competitive price• Consider psychology• Consider who and where
your customer is• Set a price that makes
business sense• Can’t try == won’t buy
Freemium/Trial• Nobody buys paid apps anymore• 10x+ more downloads
Free-to-play/In-app purchases• The most popular monetization method
on all platforms• Requires specific app/game design to be
successful• Be careful
3rd party payment services no longer supported in new apps.
All apps starting June 2016.
In-app advertising• Best suited for frequently
launched, long running apps and games
• Not every ad network accepts developers from every country
• Low revenue predictability
Fill rate
Mitigating low fill rate
Ad Provider 1
Ad Provider 2
Ad Provider N
Cross promotion or “house ad”
Ads in Mobile Apps and Games 101
Free ebookhttp://adplx.co/eBookAds
What’s new in Windows 10• Subscriptions• Affiliate program• Promo codes• Discounts on IAPs• New device types (Xbox, IoT,
HoloLens)
What’s new in 2016• Managed consumables• Downloadable content• Bundles• Pre-orders• Scheduled price changes• and more…
(watch sessions from Build 2016)
Crowdsource ideas for new features
CrowdSource.CrowdFund.CrowdMarketLet your loyal fans help you grow your business.
Crowdfund the development of these ideas
Crowd-promote their availability
A P P S T R E TC H . C O M
So, which model should I choose?• Did I design the app with F2P/IAPs in mind?• Can I “extract” any premium functions?• Would people run my app often and stay in it
for prolonged periods of time?• Am I solving a unique important problem in
some niche?
Survey stats
User Acquisition
Don’t monetize your app from day one!
Don’t monetize your app from day one
Giving your app away is the cheapest and most effective marketing instrument you have.
App Store Optimization (ASO)App’s name, rating, price and tile.That is all users see.
ASO: keywords
Beta versions
Release betas. Beta-testers will be your first evangelists.
Kudos to Domagoj for wpbeta.me!
User feedbackControl the flow of user feedback:
Good feedback should go into the store. Bad feedback –into your mailbox.
Good feedback
Bad feedback
Localization
http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2015/04/15/windows-and-windows-phone-store-trends-april-2015-update/
Publication
Provide as many “optional” materials as possible. This improves your chances of getting featured.
Don’t auto-publish
You want to be in control of the moment your app hits the Store.
Online presence• Site• Video
Free user acquisition
Blogs, forums, specialized sites• WindowsCentral.com• WMPowerUser.com• 1800PocketPC.com• OneTile.ru• WindowsPhoneLovers.it
“We’re here to act as a liaison between you and your customers, if you ignore us you’re not taking advantage of your largest Windows Phone resource and that is just bad business.”
Daniel RubinoEditor-in-chiefWindowsCentral
Store featuring• Be ready• Get in front of the
right people
Word-of-mouth
The only realistic way to get users at scale without “scientific” approach to monetization and paid user acquisition.
Jump-starting word-of-mouth• Integrate social networks into your apps• Actively promote your app in social media• Track and react to feedback• Show your app to everyone everywhere
Demo: AppRaisin
Cross-promotion• Don’t forget to advertise your
other apps in each of your apps• Swap adds with other friendly
developers• Participate in cross-promotion
networks
Empowering Windows Phone and Windows Store app and game developers to help each other grow.
Step 1: Create an ad for your app
Step 2: Place a line of code into it and start advertising other apps
Step 3: They promote yours in return
What’s the catch?
You show
You get
Paid user acquisition
On the web• Blogs• Specialized sites• BuySellAds.com• AdWords, Bing Ads• Facebook• etc.
In apps• Microsoft Dev Center• AdDuplex• AdMob• Smaato• vserv.mobi
In discovery/”app-of-the-day” appsApps advertising special deals, temporarily free apps, etc.
• myAppFree• AppDeals• AppRaisin
How much does it cost?
If you know Lifetime Value of your average user, you know how much you can spend on user acquisition.
To summarize…Pr
oduc
t • In demand• Better than
competition
Busin
ess m
odel • Appropriate
for the product
• Logical• Profitable
UA • Effective• Persistent• Economically
sound
Thank you!
Alan MendelevičFounder & [email protected]@ailon
download the book at http://adplx.co/eBookAds
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