Launched my app, but it only has 10 users.
Hi Indie Hackers community!
Been lurking here for a while. But recently I decided to take the plunge and build an indie app. Created an app for learning Chinese https://www.chinesetones.app/ and launched it on the App Store.
Unfortunately, I haven't been very good at getting users for it... I only have ten people using my app now. Feeling a bit discouraged and not sure what I should be doing next. Do you guys have any recommendations?
10 users is definitely an achievement, congrats!
Great. As your app must be new after publishing you will need help reaching your target audience so you must list your app on a platform called @appshive and you can increase your app downloads by 43% with targeted users. Plus you can list your app on three segments: By profession, By location & By category
Here is the Platform check out in detail: http://bit.ly/3Fl2C6m
@EeKay You can also have a look
Thanks for sharing this @dustinmiller58. Unfortunately, my solution is a web-based SaaS, and appshive is a mobile app focused service.
Oops! Okay
Congratulations on launching your app! It can be tough to get traction in the beginning, but don't give up hope. Here are a few recommendations:
Focus on your target audience: Identify the people who would benefit the most from your app, and focus on reaching out to them. Are there online communities or forums where people are discussing learning Chinese? Are there Chinese language schools or study groups where you could promote your app?
Get feedback from users: Reach out to the ten people who are already using your app and ask them for feedback. Find out what they like about it and what they think could be improved. This information can help you refine and improve your app, and may also provide some ideas on how to reach more users.
Build an online presence: Building a website and social media profiles can help you establish a presence online and make it easier for people to find your app. Share regular updates and sneak peeks of upcoming features to keep people interested.
Consider incentivizing referrals: Offering a reward or incentive for users who refer friends to your app can help spread the word and increase your user base.
Reach out to influencers: Look for influencers or thought leaders in the language learning space and reach out to them. See if they would be willing to review your app or share it with their audience.
Remember that growing your user base takes time and effort. Stay focused on delivering value to your existing users, keep experimenting with different strategies, and don't be afraid to pivot if something isn't working. Good luck!
Very thorough and interesting reflection/next steps to take into account when first starting. It is definitely one of the most daunting tasks. I usually tell myself to just keep doing and follow a plan (copied from someone else!). Eventually, with some persistence and patience, things will start to move. I'm a believer in persistence as one of the main trait all founders share.
Bro that you got 10 sign-ups is already a step in the right direction! You got this!
I've built linqmeup.com, and have no (paying) users for now. So don't feel like you're that person not converting. It's common.
I am going to give myself 1 month to get paying users, else I'll sell my solution and make it generic and sell my source code and move on to another idea.
The whole MVP idea is spending the least possible amount of time and effort so you won't feel battered if things won't work out.
Your gains now are: you shipped (!), you've learned the entire cycle, you've picked up lessons learned.
I'd just start to get users by reaching out to the users who ARE using your app, finding possible users online, perhaps use some free creds using FB ads or something.
if you think they are out there, persist, but set a date to evaluate and either stop or continue. Don't go about without a date to prevent slumbering as you go infinitely :).
All the best!
How long did it take for you to get 10 users? On the first day with no marketing is actually really impressive.
We didn't have many users when Evoke first launched either. Just keep marketing and pushing and you'll get there.
Firstly, greatly enjoy the design of the app.
Where did you start looking for your initial users? It might help to go where they are, maybe start looking for groups that are learning Chinese, either around the place you live or just on the internet.
Another option would be making the app intrinsically “viral” meaning adding features like friends and competitions, this gives your current users an incentive to ask their friends to also get on the app.
Congrats on the release of your app!
Amazing ..... congratulations !
Congratulations on launching your app.
Hey, getting 10 users is a huge achievement! Don't downplay it . Would be great to analyse the metrics around the users you already have such as:
This way you can find more people like them and make customer acquisition faster.
I guess my point comes from focusing less on customer profile and more on situational segments. This is a great IH article that talks about situational segments that not many growth articles talk about https://www.indiehackers.com/post/how-to-avoid-creating-products-that-no-one-wants-5ba40e0805
How often do the 10 users use it? Only the first day? Or every day? If they love the app and they're addicted, that's very encouraging :) More people just need to know about it. If they don't use it, there's probably still work to be done. Best wishes
I 100% agree with you, having 10 users that are addicted is encouraging as it gives you the validation you need. Afterwards just see what these users have in common and start growing your audience from there. Two key things that I took to hear quite recently are: Max out the top of the funnel (burn leads!) and hussle.
If 10 people are using your app, then they are definitely more out there who would use it. Try different channels until you find one that sticks. Don't get discouraged by failures
@thecanteen Everyone goes through this stage.
During this stage, you learn a lot and try different things for growth, some of which work and some don't. Consistency is the key to success. I wish you the best of luck with the growth and success of your app.
One more thing, try redesigning your website or use a good template to improve it as soon as possible. With such marketing activities, you will be getting traffic on your website, but try to make it more attractive and industry-user friendly.
Initially, we also faced the same situation for our SaaS membership growth product Churnfree.com then we do a few things to get good results. You can put a few tasks in the queue which worked for us:
If you had android support, I would use it.
Rising and falling tone sound about the same to me, in spite of 18 Pimsleur lessons.
You've done half of what you set out to do, so tell more people about it.
https://dino-game.co
I feel your pain. I wrote a bit of freeware that fills a need that users in large subreddits complain about daily. I thought getting users would be fairly straight forward. The problem is reddit comes down hard on any form of self promotion. Completely on-topic and helpful replies get deleted. Finding a mountain top to shout from has been challenging. I'm slowly planting seeds where I can, hoping something takes root. Good luck!
You have been half successful, let more people know it!
I just launched my app as well - https://workdiary.app. It helps you keep track of your professional life so that you may use it for future career reviews and resume building! We currently have a bit less than 10 users but we are trying to identify marketing channels to spread it around!
Congrats. I also relaunched my app and got two users (aka downloads).
https://www.prontoinvoice.com/
Now you have to clarify between downloads and users. For me, I needed more downloads/free users so I could get meaningful analytics/usage patterns and feedback.
So instead of waiting and hoping, I purchased users - aka App Install Campaign.
Google offers $500 free credit if you spend $500, so that is what I used, and now I am at 429 app installs in a week. My budget is $20 per day, and I am getting quality insights into my app usage.
If you are like me, in that you launched a generic app, have no audience, and have no waiting list, then pay for the App Installs campaign; it's affordable. That will give you some initial traction.
10 users is already something.
YC says you should capitalize on those 10 users to hear their feedback, improve your product, launch again, get new users, hear feedback… and so on!
You are on the right track, keep going ;)
Chin up man getting even 10 users is no minor deal; sooner or later, these numbers will definitely increase if your product and marketing complement each other.
Im not an expert in product growth, but have you considered an option to look for competitors? I mean, there are tons of articles about "How Duolingo achieved their users" or whatever. Learn how they acquire customers, or other learning apps. Wish you luck pal.
Here is the example link: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth
Hi!
Be strong.
First of all, I think that you need to define your audience.
Then, you need to search for places where you can find your ideal customers. In this step, you don't need to sell yourself to them. You need to bring feedback, so put the accent on getting the right feedback from your potential customers.
After you have some feedback and you know what actions do your potential customers, you can grow very fast because you can target them very specifically.
Good luck!
We are building an edu app as well (different space though) and we don't really have an issue getting users to the app, so I want to share some practical advice of what could work for "hyper-casual learning"
Your app looks really fun so I think this could work.
We found that Instagram works quite well for this, so these are the steps in the next 30 days that I would undertake if I was you:
Setup an Instagram account with the goal to share bite-sized Chinese lessons daily. Prepare the content beforehand and schedule it to optimize your time.
Find similar profiles on Instagram that do the same, and start following people that follow those accounts (after you have some content out, a good timing would be the 7th day) - the reason why this should work is that you are signaling to the people that are already interested in the content that they can find there. It's like saying: "Hey, you can learn the same through my content"
After you have 100 or so followers who are genuinely interested in your content try running ads - usually automated audiences in this case could work, or try figuring out which communities (all around the world) have the need for learning Chinese - and use them to target your potential customers.
Our current cost per user registration with this is ~$0,15, which is not high at all. For us, the goal is to validate the learning experience, but you can optimize it any way you want.
Hope this helps!
Hey I created a chrome extension using ChatGPT that will generate email basis on subject and also generate reply to your emails in Gmail. I'm looking for feedback.
You can try that here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chatgpt-for-gmail/mllkpgcojiooenmengajhkailfjocond
Your app is really cool! Try to talk about it on some app or language learning subreddits
I liked this article very much and I have got good tips from here, by the way, I have seen that many people are searching when chat gpt release so to know, we have all such information on our platform and gpt on our website https://ingpt3.com/when-did-chat-gpt-release/ All related information will be available.
As a fellow Chinese learner I'll be sure to give this a look!
10 users is a huge achievement you should be proud of!
congratulations ! this is amazing
to increase visibility and sales, try inbound marketing with social media or cold calling to attract leads. Engage & answer their Qs, show how your product meets their needs & address objections. Keep the interaction flowing to close the deal & maintain the relationship post-sale.
We wrote an article about acquiring your first customers, but the strategy remains also available for a acquiring new clients. Just iterate the process ! The are also templates to cold reach your potential clients that you can use and adapt them according to your needs. Feel free to check it out here https://friendsofsaas.substack.com/p/how-to-get-your-first-10-customers
I see a Tiktok video format to create immediately. Go outside and ask strangers on the streets to pronounce. Can be viral easily. I believe.
Hi, I don’t have an advice but I like it. I plan to learn Chinese, though not soon. The app looks terrific, and the UI is very comfortable. Though I think the replay is not very obvious to be clickable. I miss the top text like: “listen to both sounds” very often.
I like the fast transitions and the feedback. It’s very Interactive and quite easy.
Have you read the book Traction? Give it a read. See what approach fits you and then keep doing it, even though you don't see results right away. Mostly it's about sticking with it.
Good luck!
Create personal account on twitter and start engaging with the people. Share your journey and add your app link in bio.
Congratulations on launching your app..It's understandable that you might feel discouraged with the limited number of users... Let me give you few suggestions to promote your app and increase visibility:
Improve your app's ranking in the App Store by generating positive reviews and ratings, and using relevant keywords in your app's metadata. Join online communities and forums related to Chinese learning and promote your app there. This might be helpful to generate more downloads.
Also, tracking plays a vital role to measure your performance... Use a best SEO tool to monitor accurate ranking in SERP...Analyze your competitor's activities and have an effective plan strategy on how to defeat them..
Website: https://bit.ly/3kA7IEq
Competitor tracker: http://bit.ly/3L1Sbbp
That's pretty cool. I'm looking to scale my SaaS https://askmax.xyz