My apps don't sell

unruhschuh · September 2012

I didn't expect much when I developed my two apps (see sig) but I thought, that I would sell maybe 10 of them a day. Right now I'm selling one sometimes not a single app a day. They are niche apps but I think pretty useful.

I wrote ~15 Emails to bloggers who deal with either music, music apps or both and I have a website for my apps. Other than that I didn't do any Promotion.

Notedown!
released Sep 9, 2012
sold so far: 15

Play@Sight
released Aug 29, 2012
sold so far: 12

Is this normal? Do you think writing a press release would help? I was thinking about prmac.com What else could I do to boost sales?

ilmman · September 2012

Maybe its time to do some aggressive promotion

KarlJay · September 2012

Can't help with marketing, but when you go to the Play@Sight, the description is "what is it?"
... You have to click the 'more' button to get the description.
Poor way to describ the app. Show a 'headline' at the top of the description, then have the details lower as needed. A viewer should know what the app does with a 'one liner's

unruhschuh · September 2012

Can't help with marketing, but when you go to the Play@Sight, the description is "what is it?"
... You have to click the 'more' button to get the description.

You're right, I will change that.

What about prmac? I'm just wondering who is actually reading these press releases. I will try it as soon as my next update for Notedown! is ready, I'm just curious if you think if it will make a difference.

ilmman · September 2012

I had a look at your app in your signature (on iTunes but didn't download) and here are my first impressions (solely my opinion):
Icon is a bit dull I would suggest making it more better, if it was me I would use a single note instead of a series. I took a course once in publishing and my lecture always said simplicity is also effective. You have 5 musical notes, 5 lines and a a texture background so it's kind of hard to have a focus which will mean a lot of users will miss it when scrolling it in the search. Also the color white as a background never seems to be a good idea. You may want to change the icon with an update.

For screenshots it's the same thing, background is white and plain which may turn users off. I mean it is simple but the white background makes it hard to read at all. That's why power point presentations always have black background with white text or else the crowd will be glared by the brightness. I suggest changing the UI a bit.. Making it a bit sleeker or something and possibly less boring. App vaults have some good designs.

Did you use app seo for your keywords? Your app is niche so I would say good keywords are Important to use. A trick I use is look up the most popular app that are closely related. Use that app seo key search website and search their app for what keywords they use. The thought process for me here is that if it did well for them, then they might of had good key words.

In my opinion, promotions really do nothing and first impressions is what always entices the user to even bother considering downloading your app.

So in concuclusion, updating your icon and screenshot would be more effective than paying a blog site and free too if you know basic photoshop.

Yoshkow · September 2012

You also might want to follow rules of metric grouping in your logo (if you stick with multiple notes) to appeal to theory purists...
;)

paulyan · September 2012

ilmman said:

Did you use app seo for your keywords? Your app is niche so I would say good keywords are Important to use. A trick I use is look up the most popular app that are closely related. Use that app seo key search website and search their app for what keywords they use. The thought process for me here is that if it did well for them, then they might of had good key words.

Hey @ilmman, could you show which seo key search website did you use? I haven't found a free option yet :-(

ilmman · September 2012

paulyan said:

ilmman said:

Did you use app seo for your keywords? Your app is niche so I would say good keywords are Important to use. A trick I use is look up the most popular app that are closely related. Use that app seo key search website and search their app for what keywords they use. The thought process for me here is that if it did well for them, then they might of had good key words.
Hey @ilmman, could you show which seo key search website did you use? I haven't found a free option yet :-(

Some guy around the forum is the owner of the website around here.. I can't remember where it is and too lazy to get to my pc to get the booked raked page, but if you scour around here it's there somewhere.

unruhschuh · September 2012

ilmman said:
I had a look at your app in your signature (on iTunes but didn't download) and here are my first impressions (solely my opinion):
Icon is a bit dull I would suggest making it more better, if it was me I would use a single note instead of a series. I took a course once in publishing and my lecture always said simplicity is also effective. You have 5 musical notes, 5 lines and a a texture background so it's kind of hard to have a focus which will mean a lot of users will miss it when scrolling it in the search. Also the color white as a background never seems to be a good idea. You may want to change the icon with an update.

For screenshots it's the same thing, background is white and plain which may turn users off. I mean it is simple but the white background makes it hard to read at all. That's why power point presentations always have black background with white text or else the crowd will be glared by the brightness. I suggest changing the UI a bit.. Making it a bit sleeker or something and possibly less boring. App vaults have some good designs.

Did you use app seo for your keywords? Your app is niche so I would say good keywords are Important to use. A trick I use is look up the most popular app that are closely related. Use that app seo key search website and search their app for what keywords they use. The thought process for me here is that if it did well for them, then they might of had good key words.

In my opinion, promotions really do nothing and first impressions is what always entices the user to even bother considering downloading your app.

So in concuclusion, updating your icon and screenshot would be more effective than paying a blog site and free too if you know basic photoshop.

Thanks for your answer. I know Play@Sight looks a bit dull, it's my first app. I'll probably change the design in the future and consider your suggestions, but right now I'm focused on Notedown! since it's the more interesting app. Any thoughts on that one?

ilmman · September 2012

I would say the icon doesn't need to have the title of the app in it..

alan@appromoter.com · September 2012

Agree with the above comment. Maybe try and utilise social networking tied into your website.

A press release could be useful. Video is very important.

Here's our hints booklet that might help.

alan@appromoter.com · September 2012

Ok, not sure if the attachment worked. Or if I'm going to double post. Will post a link in a bit when I can find it:))

ilmman · September 2012

Lol this blog mentions your app here http://www.designboost.net/how-to-design-iphone-screenshots-that-sell/

unruhschuh · September 2012

Haha nice! I guess it's some publicity ;)

harshathlete · September 2012

Here's my 2 cents..... Your Notedown! app is $1.99..with no ratings whatsoever... app users are frugal ( cheap ) and are really resistant to pull the trigger when buying an app..and with a "higher" price point that most apps ( free or $0.99) and NO ratings or reviews whatsoever, you are giving them no incentive to make the purchase....

Before you shell out any money on promotions...I would say give out promo codes to folks who can review it in return OR buy some paid reviews... Then come back and post your results here...

A common trick used by coffee shops is to drop some money in the tip jar before opening... When people see the money in the tip jar, they are more likely to leave a tip.. Same goes for apps in the app store... people are more likely to download a product that has several ratings on them already ( they dont even have to be all 5 star ratings ).... because that gives your app some "social proof".....

the_stig · September 2012

harshathlete said:
Here's my 2 cents..... Your Notedown! app is $1.99..with no ratings whatsoever... app users are frugal ( cheap ) and are really resistant to pull the trigger when buying an app..and with a "higher" price point that most apps ( free or $0.99) and NO ratings or reviews whatsoever, you are giving them no incentive to make the purchase....

Before you shell out any money on promotions...I would say give out promo codes to folks who can review it in return OR buy some paid reviews... Then come back and post your results here...

Also consider making your App free for a day, it might help boost the reviews a little.

unruhschuh · September 2012

harshathlete said:

Before you shell out any money on promotions...I would say give out promo codes to folks who can review it in return OR buy some paid reviews... Then come back and post your results here...

I guess the only way to get reviews for a paid app are paid reviews, since promo codes don't allow reviews.

Will the reviews I might get if I make it free for a day remain if I make it paid again?

harshathlete · September 2012

Yup....they should definitely remain in the app store...That's a great idea.. what you can also do it get your friends and family to download the app and review it... I know its not the best way to move forward but like I said.. "You need to salt the tip jar"...

unruhschuh · September 2012

Here's what I'm going to do: I'm making Notedown! free over the coming weekend. I'll let you know if it helped boosting sales.

unruhschuh · September 2012

Ok guys, the download figures for the first day are in:

September 28
Notedown! 526 downloads, 2 new reviews
Play@Sight 227 downloads , 0 new reviews
Total: 753 downloads

I'm not sure if I should keep it free until sunday. What do you think?

How many Ratings/Reviews do I need before it gets displayed as an average rating? I have two 5 star and one 4 star review for Notedown! and in the App Store it still says 'no ratings'.

raymng · September 2012

unruhschuh said:

harshathlete said:

Before you shell out any money on promotions...I would say give out promo codes to folks who can review it in return OR buy some paid reviews... Then come back and post your results here...
I guess the only way to get reviews for a paid app are paid reviews, since promo codes don't allow reviews.

Will the reviews I might get if I make it free for a day remain if I make it paid again?

Actually you can exchange review to devs here, my app is $0.99, if your app is $0.99 too, we can have a deal. PM me.
Also search a thread "Paid Review Exchange" on this forum.

btw, you need 5 rating per store before average rating appear.

unruhschuh · September 2012

hi

new download figures came in:
September 29
Notedown! 308 downloads
Play@Sight 121 downloads

I got some very nice reviews for Notedown!

Awesome! ★★★★★
by prasad10 - Version 2.0 - Sep 29, 2012

Fantastic tool to help you learn to play by ear. Works just as expected. Love the loop feature. Thanks for an awesome app.

finally!!!! ★★★★★
by Guilloelqmataenlvln - Version 1.0 - Sep 9, 2012

you guys hit the spot!

Solid app, no problems ★★★★
by wackachaka - Version 1.0 - Sep 25, 2012

Solid app, been using quite a bit with no problems. One suggestion though, would be nice to be able to slow down by smaller amount - 3/4 speed is actually quite a lot slower, 5%, 10% slower would be good....Or have speed on a slider so everything from 100% to say 50%...

Wahnsinns Transkriptions App ★★★★
by Lezrock - Version 2.0 - Sep 29, 2012

Die konkurrierenden bezahlapps können sich warm anziehen. Tolle Alternative für das doch recht featurearme und teure capo. Verbesserung würde ich mir für die Auswahl (bzw. Loopauswahl) wünschen bzw. Für das cursorverschieben(Spulen). Es kommt vor, dass man versehentlich zoomt statt zu spulen oder auch versehentlich die loopauswahl verändert. Unbedingt weiterentwickeln und unbedingt Laden.

Suggestion ★★★★★
by Coldplero - Version 2.0 - Sep 27, 2012

Nice app, works good! Now here's my suggestion: Why not adding feature to play 2 songs simultaneously? You have a good app I guess you can make it work! Salutes and keep up good work.

unruhschuh · October 2012

Download numbers are going down. I wonder how sales will be this week. I'll report.

September 30
Notedown! 114 downloads
Play@Sight 47 downloads

unruhschuh · October 2012

I'm getting some hits on this thread so I assume some people are interessted in the results. Anyway here are my sales figures for

October 01
Notedown! 3 sales
Play@Sight 2 sales

This is not much but it's the best since the launch of Notedown!. Let's see what the coming days will look like. I'll checkout the review exchange as soon as I can find the time.

unruhschuh · October 2012

October 02
Notedown! 3 sales
Play@Sight 1 sales

unruhschuh · October 2012

I was thinking about adding appirater in the next update to generate some ratings. What do you think? Does apple have some rules about these kind of things. I sure don't want to nag people.

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