suesabelle
New member
I launched an app called Stryde on iOS that lets you earn screen time based on your step count.
Has been such a great experience & have gotten some really positive feedback as well as some really constructive feedback.
For any app devs out there it uses the Family Controls framework & HealthKit framework & am happy to chat about those if you want. They're super niche & very limited documentation / community support so always happy to help a fellow dev.
What I learned.
Marketing is somehow both very hard & super easy. Coming up with copy for advertisements has been such a PITA.
So far I've had the best success with Reddit just posting to relevant communities. If you read through some of my post history you can see examples. Just being straight & up front with the community seems to be the best approach & I think people respect that. I'll be sprinkling the app name into relevant comment sections going forward as well, but am pretty much wrapping up my initial posting at least.
I tried TikTok - so far no luck, but it's one of those platforms that if you get lucky & something goes viral it can lead to thousands of downloads so I'm going to keep trying until the algo loves me. Low effort content on there does not seem to work at all. You'll just get capped at 200 views. It was originally verrry difficult to talk to the camera but I bit the bullet, and now its kinda easier. I suspect this will get easier over time.
LinkedIn - made a post on there that reached 448 people. Could see through my analytics platform that people were actually downloading it there & probably 10 downloads just from 448 views. Only 1-2 are probably users who are actually wanting to use the app & the rest I suspect are old coworkers being curious.
Tried posting on ProductHunt - The platform seems to be geared towards mostly other developers & startups. I suspect this could have gone better if I planned better, but my product didn't feel like a great fit anyway so didn't put too much effort into it. Got 6 upvotes & suspect 0 downloads out of it.
Books I read
The SaaS playbook - If you're working on a Startup or a side project that you want to actually promote, I cannot recommend this enough. Actually gives play by play on what to do during launch, iterations, etc. Its geared towards bootstrappers, not VC startups, so the advice was really relevant. First book I've ever bookmarked pages to actually go back to later.
Hacking growth - More focused on corporate level growth hacks & building a 'growth team', but a lot of really relevant information for startups. A lot of focus on analytics & product iterations. Interesting info. Would read again (maybe)
Hook point - Mostly covers brand building & how to create copy that makes you stand out (think Nike Just do It). Was a super easy read, would read again
Results
Am a week out of launch now & have gotten ~250 downloads on iOS. Which is not great, but what I'm super excited about is having a ~40% retention rate from day 1 users. Users seem to actually be enjoying the application, using it, & incorporating it into their lives.
I'm hoping this leads to some word of mouth, & it's funny because on Firebase Analytics every once in a while I'll see a first use pop up in an area, & then 10 minutes later see two more pop up in a similar area. So Word of Mouth seems to be happening naturally.
Wish I had great success so I could be more helpful but if anyone has any questions on my experience so far would be happy to answer any questions.
(Also check out Stryde on iOS - cmon you knew I had to throw that in)
Thanks,
John - founder Stryde
Has been such a great experience & have gotten some really positive feedback as well as some really constructive feedback.
For any app devs out there it uses the Family Controls framework & HealthKit framework & am happy to chat about those if you want. They're super niche & very limited documentation / community support so always happy to help a fellow dev.
What I learned.
Marketing is somehow both very hard & super easy. Coming up with copy for advertisements has been such a PITA.
So far I've had the best success with Reddit just posting to relevant communities. If you read through some of my post history you can see examples. Just being straight & up front with the community seems to be the best approach & I think people respect that. I'll be sprinkling the app name into relevant comment sections going forward as well, but am pretty much wrapping up my initial posting at least.
I tried TikTok - so far no luck, but it's one of those platforms that if you get lucky & something goes viral it can lead to thousands of downloads so I'm going to keep trying until the algo loves me. Low effort content on there does not seem to work at all. You'll just get capped at 200 views. It was originally verrry difficult to talk to the camera but I bit the bullet, and now its kinda easier. I suspect this will get easier over time.
LinkedIn - made a post on there that reached 448 people. Could see through my analytics platform that people were actually downloading it there & probably 10 downloads just from 448 views. Only 1-2 are probably users who are actually wanting to use the app & the rest I suspect are old coworkers being curious.
Tried posting on ProductHunt - The platform seems to be geared towards mostly other developers & startups. I suspect this could have gone better if I planned better, but my product didn't feel like a great fit anyway so didn't put too much effort into it. Got 6 upvotes & suspect 0 downloads out of it.
Books I read
The SaaS playbook - If you're working on a Startup or a side project that you want to actually promote, I cannot recommend this enough. Actually gives play by play on what to do during launch, iterations, etc. Its geared towards bootstrappers, not VC startups, so the advice was really relevant. First book I've ever bookmarked pages to actually go back to later.
Hacking growth - More focused on corporate level growth hacks & building a 'growth team', but a lot of really relevant information for startups. A lot of focus on analytics & product iterations. Interesting info. Would read again (maybe)
Hook point - Mostly covers brand building & how to create copy that makes you stand out (think Nike Just do It). Was a super easy read, would read again
Results
Am a week out of launch now & have gotten ~250 downloads on iOS. Which is not great, but what I'm super excited about is having a ~40% retention rate from day 1 users. Users seem to actually be enjoying the application, using it, & incorporating it into their lives.
I'm hoping this leads to some word of mouth, & it's funny because on Firebase Analytics every once in a while I'll see a first use pop up in an area, & then 10 minutes later see two more pop up in a similar area. So Word of Mouth seems to be happening naturally.
Wish I had great success so I could be more helpful but if anyone has any questions on my experience so far would be happy to answer any questions.
(Also check out Stryde on iOS - cmon you knew I had to throw that in)
Thanks,
John - founder Stryde