Need some growth hacking advice here :)

[lilysun]

Hi all,

I'm Mehdi, 26yo, software engineer and I've spent all my spare time during the past year to build Meli, a Monument scanner & Digital travel guide app, now available on Android and iOS

The objective was to help travelers explore their destinations freely without having to prepare anything ahead.

Meli works as the "Shazam" of Monument, just point any monument, landmark or historical building on the spot and Meli will recognize it and provide you with an audio guide divided in chapters in your own language (10 languages currently supported).

Main screens of the app

Meli officially launched 6 weeks ago

Since launch, I tried to get some traction and feedback from many different channels:

- Reddit on two different subs ( r/SideProject and r/androidapps) where people actually showed a lot of interest in the app. (see here and here).

- Post on private Facebook groups asking for test and feedback (travelers oriented)

- Personal network via Facebook and Instragram.

- Official instagram page (see here)

- Indie hacker post (see here)

- Local partnership with bike rentals agency in Amsterdam (the city I'm based in), see medium post about it.

In a bit more than a month, I managed to get roughly 700 natural downloads. I've tried facebook ads but the cost per download was just way too high (24h of test gave me a cost per download of 4EUR).

Same goes for Google ad sense...

I have made a special video for the ads which looks quiet "cool" according to the feedback I received (see video here) and also have built a dedicated website for the app.

I wanted to have your honest feedback on the app itself and the way I am handling the marketing and communication. Any tips for me to grow the user base faster with limited budget is appreciated.

I thank you all in advance for your time

Cheers,

Mehdi

https://preview.redd.it/dihq5rs75ck...bp&s=f88318d146ed06ec5268cdc7568ccba1f75ea619

 

[ybounasre]

@lilysun nice app, i don't have a lot of experience with this but i would also definitely send out some press releases if you didn't already. I know it's old-school but it still does the trick. Best of luck!

 

[lilysun]

@ybounasre Thanks a lot @ybounasre for your comment I indeed sent press releases to newspaper in the Netherlands and also to tech and travel blogs. I hope to be featured in a few of them asap.

 

[dcwalker]

@lilysun Hello there! Nice app

I think people are more motivated by the fear of missing out something than motivated by gaining something. I would appeal to that feeling of missing some important information about the place you were traveling too. Imagine you pass by some historical monument and u didn’t even knew about it?

But I honestly think that this approach is limited.

I believe that the consistent way to grow it is on the spot, next to tourist attractions. Growth hacks doesnt need to be digital. It can be physical.

Next, I would maybe considering in partnering with cities that are interested in developing their cultural and historical tourist attractions.

By the way, I always fear of not seeing something cool during any travel. Imagine if you could proactively track the user movement and provide him with tips from other tourists and also with. Cultural tips

Good luck

 

[lilysun]

@dcwalker

Need some growth hacking advice here

Thanks @dcwalker for this great comment !

I agree with you on the fact that growth hacks can be physical as well as digital and it looks like this would be a perfect approach for this app which is meant to be used on the field

Talking about suggesting things to user on the spot, I'm planning to add bunch of new features in the coming months, stay posted