July 2023 Summaries

Shaun, an indie app developer from London, created Personal Best, an iOS app that leverages Apple's HealthKit to provide detailed workout insights such as fastest runs, earliest swims, and monthly distances. Initially launched in May 2020 as a short project during the UK lockdown, the app evolved due to Shaun's growing passion for app development and has since garnered a global user base. Personal Best offers a free version with an optional Pro subscription, which Shaun initially found challenging to implement until he integrated RevenueCat, simplifying the process. Inspired by Curtis Herbert's approach to reducing subscription friction, Shaun redesigned his app's paywall to allow instant access to a free trial, which significantly boosted subscriber growth. Future plans for the app include introducing trackable goals, iPad support, and conducting A/B tests with RevenueCat's Experiments feature to further enhance user experience.

In a special episode of the Sub Club podcast, app growth consultant Thomas Petit emphasizes the importance of understanding your audience before investing in paid user acquisition (UA). Drawing from over a decade of experience and managing millions in ad spend, Petit advises setting clear objectives and ensuring cash availability before launching campaigns. For effective growth, he suggests a minimum monthly ad spend of $10-20k on major platforms like Meta, Google, and TikTok, warning that smaller budgets may struggle with algorithmic optimization. Instead, he recommends influencer marketing for those with limited funds. Petit also underscores the necessity of radical testing and iteration to identify successful ads, emphasizing the need for ads to convert rather than just engage users. Additionally, he highlights the importance of conversion-focused campaigns and discusses how a single ad can significantly impact a company's trajectory.

Lose It!, a pioneering health and wellness app, shares its strategies for achieving substantial user growth, emphasizing the importance of organic growth as the foundation for reaching 50 million users. Erin Webster-Shaller, VP of Marketing, and Paul Apollo, Senior VP of Operations, highlight the significance of offering excellent free products to upsell users to premium subscriptions without compromising brand integrity. They discuss the benefits of a prolonged onboarding process, termed "longboarding," which enhances user engagement by promising a tailored experience. The app leverages user success stories to drive word-of-mouth marketing, further strengthened by App Store Optimization (ASO) efforts. Encouraging users to explore premium features during trial periods, alongside offering discounts to non-converting users, proves effective in boosting conversions. Data analysis and A/B testing are crucial for identifying actions that predict user subscriptions, with in-app messaging found to be more impactful than traditional push or email notifications. Throughout its journey, Lose It! has maintained a consistent strategy and mission, highlighting that sustainable app growth relies on pleasing users and continuously adapting successful approaches.

Cracking in-app purchases (IAP) has evolved from requiring jailbroken devices to now being facilitated through machine-in-the-middle (MiTM) piracy, particularly since iOS 12.2 made it easier to install on-device proxies. This shift has led to significant vulnerabilities in apps that use backend-side receipt validation, including those powered by RevenueCat, as attackers intercept and alter API requests to gain unauthorized access to paid features. In response, RevenueCat has introduced Trusted Entitlements within their latest SDK versions, which use public key cryptography to secure apps by signing responses with a private key and verifying them with a public key. This solution aims to combat piracy without using SSL pinning, which can be problematic due to certificate management issues. Trusted Entitlements come with different verification modes—disabled, informational, and an upcoming enforced mode—allowing developers to choose how they handle verification failures, thus securing app revenues and ensuring a fair user experience.

Growth engineering, as exemplified by Jason van der Merwe's work at Strava, focuses on enhancing user experience and business impact through constant experimentation and user-centric ideologies. At Strava, growth engineering involves a mindset shift from merely delivering prescribed features to actively improving user flows and reducing friction, often requiring quick, innovative solutions. Jason emphasizes the importance of testing, encouraging new team members to engage in A/B tests to refine ideas and metrics. Strava's growth team has made strides in feature education to better empathize with new users, incorporating tools that allow team members to experience the app from a fresh perspective. Despite inherent chaos in app development, managed chaos, as described by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, allows for innovation and adaptability. Ultimately, the user-focused approach not only enhances product engagement but also fosters a culture of inclusivity and creativity, reinforcing the importance of user empathy in driving app growth and retention.

Lose It!, a pioneering health and wellness app, has achieved significant growth by focusing on organic user acquisition and offering a high-value free product rather than relying heavily on paid marketing. With 50 million users to date, the app emphasizes authenticity in an industry rife with gimmicks, ensuring that it delivers on its promises without overselling. The company's marketing strategy centers on driving users to its free platform, from which monetization efforts are initiated, supported by effective app store optimization and discount messaging to convert free users to premium subscriptions. Despite experimenting with paid user acquisition, Lose It! found that maintaining an organic growth strategy was more sustainable, as paid marketing efforts yielded low returns on ad spend. The company continues to explore innovative methods to incentivize user engagement and referrals, such as potentially adopting ideas like Headspace's sweepstakes concept, to further enhance user success and sharing.

A recent announcement introduces a contest where participants can win one of eight expert-recommended books on app growth, covering topics like product design, community building, monetization, and analytics. To enter, individuals simply need to subscribe to the Sub Club newsletter, which provides curated app growth resources every two weeks. The newsletter is particularly valuable for those developing subscription apps by offering insights from RevenueCat, the Sub Club community, and other online sources. Ten winners, randomly selected from the subscriber list, will be announced on August 1st via social media and email, with the featured books including titles such as "Lean Analytics" and "Monetizing Innovation."

A curated list of essential book recommendations for those interested in mobile app growth and product development has been compiled from insights provided by industry experts. The recommended reading spans various aspects of product development and growth strategy, including leadership and team building, customer understanding, innovative thinking, monetization, data analysis, and broader human perspectives. Notable titles include "Turn the Ship Around!" by David Marquet, emphasizing leadership and empowerment; "The Mom Test" by Rob Fitzpatrick, focusing on effective customer conversations; "The Elements of Choice" by Eric J. Johnson, exploring consumer decision-making psychology; and "Monetizing Innovation" by Madhavan Ramanujam, which advocates for integrating pricing strategy early in product development. These books aim to equip readers with timeless principles, strategic insights, and practical frameworks to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of mobile apps and ensure sustainable growth and innovation. Additionally, subscribing to the Sub Club newsletter offers an opportunity to win these books and access more expert insights into mobile app growth.