Slopes 2.0 Business Model Experiment
My original napkin math for 2.0 included “if I can just get 1% of my downloaders to become subscribers”, but that goal changed a little with 2.1. If you don’t remember: originally my 2.0 business model was centered around acquiring yearly subscribers. My one month IAP existed as a trial where you’d lose all premium features if you didn’t upgrade. With 2.1, Slopes started following more of a consumable model where buying a one month pass just to cover your big once-a-year trip to Colorado now made sense since the data for that trip wouldn’t expire.
The easiest time I’ve had getting press coverage for Slopes was being a well-designed Watch app launching day one along side the Apple Watch. It was easier for me to stand out because Slopes was an example of an app that actually made sense to have on your wrist, not some “why do I need that on my wrist?” gimmick. Slopes also fit the fitness narrative Apple was already pushing with the Watch.
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They had to write those articles, readers expected it looking for reasons to look forward to the Watch, so I was helping them when I pointed them to my app. And it worked: I was a part of dozens of those articles and I got healthy traffic from them.
The biggest problem with the way developers of all sizes contact journalists is that they buy lists, and spam people. I don’t use that term lightly; most of the pitches I get are spam. The people sending them know nothing about me or my website, and they don’t know what types of apps I cover, either here at Kirkville, or at Macworld, where I am senior contributor.
Previously: What No Indie Developer Wants to Hear About the App Store.
