Building my first app from an air mattress. Med school dropout Former Market Finance bro Loading MRR... 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜️ $55 / $1,000
Joined September 2024
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Your app is probably losing paying users after the paywall, in 3 places your paywall stats will never show.
Each one, with my real numbers and the Apple setting that fixes it:
CHECK THIS SETTING IN APP STORE CONNECT TODAY. IT COST ME A PAYING USER 💀
billing grace period was OFF :
- his free trial ended, his card failed on the first payment
- he lost access the same second and never came back
turn it on, pick "all renewals". takes 2 minutes
the 2 other leaks I found after my paywall are in the article 👇
MY COST PER FREE TRIAL ON APPLE ADS WENT FROM €17.4 TO €7.8 IN ONE WEEK 👀
week 3 :
- 6 campaigns running
- €157 spent, 9 free trials
- €17.4 per trial
week 4 :
- paused 4 campaigns on oct 24, kept my best 2
- €78 spent, 10 free trials
- €7.8 per trial
but 2 things changed that same week :
- the pause
- my new onboarding. since oct 22, people who see my paywall and start a trial went from 4.1% to 10.2%
so which one did it ?? how do you tell them apart ??
THINKING OF KILLING MY 7-DAY FREE TRIAL 😬 HAS ANYONE A/B TESTED THIS ??
my app has a hard paywall, nothing is free :
- yearly with a 7-day free trial (most people pick this one)
- weekly, no trial
my numbers :
- 6.5% of people who see the paywall start a trial
- 7 of my 33 finished trials paid (21%)
- my last 15 finished trials : only 1 paid 😭
- last weekend 3 trials converted and all 3 payments failed 💀
the test I want to run :
- A : yearly with 7 days free, like today
- B : same yearly, no trial, pay on day 1
if you A/B tested trial vs no trial on a hard paywall : which one made more money after 30 days ?? and how many users did you need before you trusted it ??
APPLE'S CANCEL PAGE KEPT 2 OF MY USERS. MY OWN RESCUE SCREEN KEPT 0 💀
a week ago apple approved my retention message. first results :
apple's cancel page (my message + a "keep subscription" button) :
- 7 people opened it
- 2 kept their subscription (28.6%)
my rescue screen in the app, with a $24.99 offer :
- 4 people saw it
- 2 closed it at the first question
- 1 picked "too expensive", saw the $24.99, tapped "no thanks"
- 0 kept
meanwhile the guy who found $24.99 in his iphone settings is still subscribed 🤡
tiny numbers I know. but is an in-app rescue screen even worth it ??
2 OF MY FREE TRIALS JUST CONVERTED... AND BOTH PAYMENTS FAILED 😭
egypt and denmark, both yearly, 90 min apart. neither of them cancelled, renewal was on, the payment just didn't go through
what I learned :
- 2 weeks ago a UK user used my app 3 days in a row, then his payment failed
- "billing grace period" was OFF in app store connect
- so he got locked out right away 💀
what I did :
- turned it on, 3 days
- these 2 keep full access while apple retries their card
apple lets you pick 3, 16 or 28 days. is 3 enough or am I losing people ??
MONTH 2 GOALS. 8 OF THEM, AND HALF ARE ABOUT CONVERSION 🎯
you said track conversion, track who comes back, and set scarier goals. so here's month 2, deadline nov 23 :
results :
- paying subs : 10 → 25 (stretch 40)
- MRR : €55 → €90 (stretch €140)
- revenue since launch : €300 → €750 (stretch €1,200)
- downloads : 951 → 2,300 (stretch 3,000)
conversion :
- new user → free trial : 4.3% → 6% (stretch 8%)
- trial → paid : 24% → 30% (stretch 40%)
- cost per trial : €20 → €15 (stretch €10)
- daily users doing the core action : 7 → 12 (stretch 20)
checkpoint every week 📍
thanks @kwernapp @YouFollowDenis @cupseycode for the push
too soft or too scary ??
MONTH 1 IS OVER. 4 OUT OF 4 GOALS ✅
app went live on sept 23.
goals I set on oct 7, deadline today :
✅ €250 in revenue : €300
✅ 450 downloads : 894
✅ 10 ratings : 54
✅ 10 paying subs : 10. the 10th came in this afternoon 😅
stretch goals were €500, 700 downloads, 15 ratings, 15 subs. got 2 out of 4
13 free trials still running 👀
what would you aim for in month 2 ??
Zak retweeted
this is the most useful kind of build in public post, because the numbers disagree with each other.
meta says 1 install. the onboarding survey says 97 people came from facebook or instagram. then 2 of those 97 started a free trial.
here's what i'd do in week two:
1. treat both numbers as partly true. the ads dashboard only counts installs it can match back to an ad, and on ios a lot of those matches never happen. a "where did you hear about us" question catches people the tracking missed, but it also catches people who saw a friend's post or an old reel. the real answer sits somewhere in between, and the size of the gap is worth tracking week to week.
2. make sure the app is sending its events to meta before judging the ads. if installs and trial starts never reach meta, the only thing it can optimize for is clicks, and clicks are what showed up: 422 of them at €0.46 each.
3. move the goal deeper once you can. optimizing for clicks finds clickers. optimizing for trial starts finds people who start trials, but it needs enough of them to learn from, so a cheaper event right before the trial, like finishing onboarding, can be the bridge.
4. fix the leak that's fully yours first. 2 out of 97 is the number that matters most here, and it lives inside the app. reworking onboarding is the right call. i'd also hold the ad up next to the first few screens. if the ad sells one thing and onboarding opens with something else, people leave.
5. keep the creative test running. 32 ads and €196 over 7 days is a small sample, and the best ad already hit 2.5% ctr. i'd keep the top few live and rotate new hooks in against them.
6. pick one number to watch. at this stage i'd use cost per trial start, worked out from your own data, not the ads dashboard. it's the closest thing to the truth before people actually pay.
the honest part of this post is the best part. plenty of people would have seen "1 install" and quit meta on day 7.
DAY 7 OF MY FIRST META ADS. VERDICT : NONE OF MY 32 ADS HIT MY GOAL 😭
€196 spent
30.3K impressions
422 link clicks, €0.46 each
1.4% link CTR overall
best ad : 2.5% (my goal was 3%)
installs : meta says 1 💀
my onboarding says 97 people came from facebook or instagram (1 the week before). about €2 per install
but only 2 of those 97 started a free trial. meta brought people, my onboarding didn't convert them
so I reworked my onboarding. live since today, waiting to see the numbers 🤞
what's your install → trial rate ??
SOMEONE FOUND MY SECRET CHEAPER PRICE IN THEIR IPHONE SETTINGS 💀
my app has 2 yearly prices :
- $49.99 with a 7 day free trial, the one on my paywall
- $24.99, a rescue offer for people who cancel their trial
what I didn't know :
- both are in the same subscription group
- so iOS shows both in iphone settings > subscriptions
- anyone can pick the cheap one there, no paywall needed
someone on a free trial already did 🥲
how do you guys hide a win-back price from iOS settings ??
MONTH 1 IS OVER. 4 OUT OF 4 GOALS ✅
app went live on sept 23.
goals I set on oct 7, deadline today :
✅ €250 in revenue : €300
✅ 450 downloads : 894
✅ 10 ratings : 54
✅ 10 paying subs : 10. the 10th came in this afternoon 😅
stretch goals were €500, 700 downloads, 15 ratings, 15 subs. got 2 out of 4
13 free trials still running 👀
what would you aim for in month 2 ??
DAY 7 OF MY FIRST META ADS. VERDICT : NONE OF MY 32 ADS HIT MY GOAL 😭
€196 spent
30.3K impressions
422 link clicks, €0.46 each
1.4% link CTR overall
best ad : 2.5% (my goal was 3%)
installs : meta says 1 💀
my onboarding says 97 people came from facebook or instagram (1 the week before). about €2 per install
but only 2 of those 97 started a free trial. meta brought people, my onboarding didn't convert them
so I reworked my onboarding. live since today, waiting to see the numbers 🤞
what's your install → trial rate ??
DAY 6 OF MY FIRST META ADS AND I'M THE ONLY ONE ADVERTISING IN MY NICHE 👀
€117 spent
32 ads
16 of them under 100 impressions
best one : 2.5% link CTR (my goal is 3%)
installs meta gives me credit for : 1 💀
then I checked meta's ad library. in the US, every active ad on my niche's main keyword is mine. nobody else is even trying
verdict tomorrow, day 7
empty niche on meta : opportunity or a sign nobody makes money there ??
HOW MY APP GOT 50 APP STORE RATINGS IN 4 WEEKS (MY GOAL WAS 10) ⭐
you asked yesterday, here is everything :
where :
- the rating prompt is the LAST screen of my onboarding, right before the paywall
- people just answered questions about themselves and saw a short demo. it's their most excited moment
the screen :
- title "your rating helps us grow"
- 5 stars as decoration only, you can't tap them
- apple's real rating popup opens by itself
the change that helped :
- the popup used to open after 3.5 sec. tap continue before that and you never see it
- oct 6 I moved it to 1 sec
- before : ~5 ratings for 62 people who saw the screen
- after : 45 ratings for ~440 people, about 1 in 10
where I copied it : a pregnancy app with ~50K reviews does the exact same thing before its paywall 👀
apple's rules :
- only apple's popup, no custom stars that collect the rating
- never ask for 5 stars
- apple decides if the popup shows, 3 times a year max per person
- it never shows in testflight
the downside : I tracked 5 of my 1 star ratings. none of them ever subscribed. they rate an onboarding, not the app 🥲
would you keep it before the paywall or move it after the first real use ??
MY APP JUMPED FROM 35 TO 45 APP STORE RATINGS IN 24H 👀
my goal for month 1 was 10 ratings
at 2 weeks I had 5 🥲
now 45, 4.3 ⭐, for 738 downloads (all countries added up, the app store only shows the rating of your own country)
funny part : only ~32 people ever started a free trial. so more people rated my app than tried it 💀
5 of them are 1 star. I tracked them : none of the 5 ever subscribed
that's +800% in 2 weeks. I'll share how in a post soon if interested
For anyone telling me that I'll get banned and that I'm breaking guidelines or whatever :
teapawt.net/zakisbuilding/status/2…
This quoted post is unavailable.
Zak retweeted
users never rate my app. all my ratings came from harassing my friends. i need to try this!
HOW MY APP GOT 50 APP STORE RATINGS IN 4 WEEKS (MY GOAL WAS 10) ⭐
you asked yesterday, here is everything :
where :
- the rating prompt is the LAST screen of my onboarding, right before the paywall
- people just answered questions about themselves and saw a short demo. it's their most excited moment
the screen :
- title "your rating helps us grow"
- 5 stars as decoration only, you can't tap them
- apple's real rating popup opens by itself
the change that helped :
- the popup used to open after 3.5 sec. tap continue before that and you never see it
- oct 6 I moved it to 1 sec
- before : ~5 ratings for 62 people who saw the screen
- after : 45 ratings for ~440 people, about 1 in 10
where I copied it : a pregnancy app with ~50K reviews does the exact same thing before its paywall 👀
apple's rules :
- only apple's popup, no custom stars that collect the rating
- never ask for 5 stars
- apple decides if the popup shows, 3 times a year max per person
- it never shows in testflight
the downside : I tracked 5 of my 1 star ratings. none of them ever subscribed. they rate an onboarding, not the app 🥲
would you keep it before the paywall or move it after the first real use ??
DAY 6 OF MY FIRST META ADS AND I'M THE ONLY ONE ADVERTISING IN MY NICHE 👀
€117 spent
32 ads
16 of them under 100 impressions
best one : 2.5% link CTR (my goal is 3%)
installs meta gives me credit for : 1 💀
then I checked meta's ad library. in the US, every active ad on my niche's main keyword is mine. nobody else is even trying
verdict tomorrow, day 7
empty niche on meta : opportunity or a sign nobody makes money there ??
DAY 4 OF MY FIRST META ADS AND META PUTS 57% OF MY MONEY WHERE CLICKS COST 4X MORE 😭
what I learned :
- facebook feed : €43 for 72 link clicks, €0.61 each
- instagram reels : €12 for 78 link clicks, €0.15 each
- 49 users told my onboarding they came from facebook or instagram. 34 saw my paywall, 17 opened apple's payment sheet, 1 started a free trial. today, finally 🥲
- my onboarding isn't the leak : 72% of them finish it. they close apple's payment sheet after ~5 sec
what I did :
- broke my results down by placement and by source
- checked my onboarding before reworking it (I almost did)
€76 spent so far, verdict on day 7
should I force reels only now, or let meta learn until day 7 ??
missed day 5 ? here 👇
teapawt.net/zakisbuilding/status/2…
DAY 5 OF MY FIRST META ADS AND META PUTS 71% OF MY MONEY ON FACEBOOK, WHERE CLICKS COST 2.6X MORE 😭
where my €96 went :
facebook → €68, 114 link clicks (€0.60 each)
instagram → €28, 118 link clicks (€0.23 each)
more clicks for 2.4x less money on instagram 💀
and it gets worse after the click. cost per person who reaches my paywall :
facebook → €3.42
instagram → €1.04 (incl. organic)
meta keeps spending on facebook anyway. verdict on day 7
force instagram only on the next campaign, or let meta keep learning ??
Zak retweeted
Apple vient de mettre noir sur blanc un truc que beaucoup prenaient à la légère 💀
Mais j'suis là pour tout vous détailler :
Nouvelle règle 2.5.19 dans les App Review Guidelines (16 octobre) :
pas de features cachées, dormantes ou non documentées dans ton app.
Et si t'essaies de les cacher dans le binaire (comme tout le monde fait ptdr) c'est suppression de l'app ET de ton compte dev
Apple dit que c'est pas nouveau, ça clarifie une règle qui était déjà dans la 2.3.1.
Mais là c'est clairement pour les gens qui montrent une app à la review et qui changent tout une fois validée
Souvenez vous de Prayer Lock qui modifiait son onboarding et son paywall en remote sans repasser par la review… Bah ils se sont fait ban
Concrètement avant de soumettre :
- tout ce qui est dans le build doit être accessible au reviewer, sinon tu le sors du build
- aucun flag remote qui ACTIVE une feature après validation, tu passes par une màj
- tu décris tes nouvelles features et tes flags dans les notes de review
Jouez pas avec le feu, Apple surveille et ils sont pas là pour blaguer en ce moment