When you first began this journey, I asked you to do your best to quantify your app by thinking about your app’s goals and potential (its addressable market). By the time you’ve done a couple of updates and your app has been in the store for three to four weeks, you should start to have enough data to consider how your app is doing relative to those initial goals and estimates.
It’s possible that you might be shocked—in a good or a bad way—when you take a step back and compare your initial analysis with the reality of the data you now have. Depending on this comparison over time, you may soon be at a crossroads where you need to determine whether your app is a worthwhile investment or a lost cause. Regardless of what becomes apparent, do not be discouraged; even the top apps in the App Store don’t stay on top forever.
Determining the health of an app can vary drastically from app to app, but there are some broader warning signals that indicate your app is on a path to its demise. Although this list is not exhaustive, it should help you to recognize patterns that indicate your app is headed for trouble within its first two weeks of launching.
- No downloads or sales
Yes, it’s a “duh” signal, but worth mentioning. If your app has been out for several weeks and has no or very few downloads or sales, that’s a problem. Although I am tempted to ask that you keep trying for press and media attention, it’s likely that there’s a more systematic problem with your app. Reach out to customers and advocates and find out if there are any issues with your app. Ask why they did or did not download your app.
- No App Store reviews
If you have no App Store reviews, it’s a sign that your customers aren’t very engaged with your application. That’s especially true if you specifically requested reviews. It’s possible that your customers are busy, but it’s also possible that they just don’t find your application interesting or useful enough to take the time to review it. Find out if that’s the case and ask how you can change that.
- Mostly negative App Store reviews
Although not common, some apps receive hundreds or thousands of downloads when they are first released, but then receive an excessive number of negative reviews. Typically, this occurs because customers feel deceived about what the app is about or the app has major bugs and performance issues. A developer who doesn’t recognize the problems and fails to quickly address them directly (e.g., through the App Store listing) is destined for failure.
- Low frequency of use
Your analytics will tell you how often your customers are using your application. The general trend on the App Store is that many apps will be used less and less over the first 30 days. But if your app’s frequency of use seems to be dropping at an alarming rate, it may be perceived as a gimmick (of course, that’s OK if you have a “gimmick” or “seasonal” app) or as something that lacks long-term value.
- Low number of active users
Remember, there’s a difference between new users and active users. If your app is being downloaded consistently but its analytics show that most customers using your app are new users, your app is clearly not delivering on the feature set or experience you’ve described in the App Store.
- Low number of In App Purchases
If your business model is to entice customers to buy features, credits, or virtual goods, you’ll want to see a good conversion rate of free to In App Purchase. A low number could mean you have not implemented In App Purchases in an intuitive manner or that you did not compellingly break down the free and paid features of your app.
- Low amount of customer interaction
If you are receiving a very low number of customer inquiries through Twitter, email, and other channels, it’s unlikely that this is happening because your app is perfect. Instead, customers probably aren’t using your app frequently or simply don’t care enough to send you any ideas to improve or fix it.
- Low number of updates
You will be able to track how many customers update your application. If you’ve shipped two or three updates to Apple and you’ve noticed that there’s a low number of updates compared to the total number of users for your application, customers may be not using your app or are not finding your updates worth installing.
- No media reviews
I’m a little hesitant to suggest that no media reviews is problematic, because it is hard to get a review today. Still, if you followed my previous advice, you should be getting some kind of attention, even if from smaller outlets such as a customer’s blog. Receiving no reviews can indicate that people consider your app boring or uninteresting.
As you look through my recommendations about early warning signals, keep in mind that one of these indicators alone doesn’t mean it’s time to shut down your app. In fact, catching these problems early enough may allow you to quickly recover or even discover an improved or new vision for your app.
If your app has been out for a couple of months or more, however, and you’ve tried some of the post-launch promotional techniques in Chapter 8 (see the Additional Promotion section in that chapter), yet you feel like the early warning signals are now permanent attributes of your app, you are going to need to take a closer look at what you are doing. You know the opportunity cost for continuing to maintain this app. So, if you find that your app has no hints of life, is not achieving any of your goals, and is costing you considerably more time, money, and effort than it’s worth, you should consider severing ties with it or at least putting it on the back burner while you explore other opportunities.
This advice shouldn’t come as a surprise. In Chapter 1, I made it clear that pursuing an app is risky, especially under the wrong motivations, and that even following all of the principles I outlined for you wouldn’t guarantee a favorable outcome on the App Store, but would only improve your chances for that to occur.
You also should recall that being successful on the App Store is often about a portfolio of apps and not a single app. One particular app may be what you become known for, but that’s often not the first or even second app. Ultimately even a “failed” app is part of a larger mobile strategy because it will provide you with intangible experience, as well as tangible creative and code assets. By making a hard but prudent decision to stop subsequent development of an app that shows no life earlier in its existence, you’ll be positioning yourself to more quickly find the right opportunity. Only this time, you’ll be much more experienced and prepared for the challenges of the App Store.
Even if your app is doing well or is a critical part of a longer-term strategy (e.g., it’s a companion to an existing product or service), it will likely experience some of these warning signals throughout its existence. All apps have ebbs and flows, often resulting from updates you release, reviews you receive, changes in the App Store, new operating systems and devices released by Apple, and many other factors that will likely be out of your control. That’s why it is so important to stay disciplined and follow through on what is under your control—discovering ways to innovate in the App Store, working with customers to validate ideas, rigorously testing your app and its updates before they go into the App Store, and continuing to marry your marketing and development cycles together.
Essentially, you should make sure that each app update follows the principles described in this book on a smaller scale. By being methodical and staying customer-focused, you will constantly be increasing your chances of being competitive in Apple’s always-growing and ever-changing App Store.
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