Unsure of next steps to take with app. Unclear path to profitability.
A little backstory. Me and my cofounder have been working on our app, Curated for almost 2 years. It's a content-discovery app with social features where you get and share content suggestions with others. We've invested significant amount of time and resources boot
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I think the best fit for your product would be a freemium model with an optional paid subscription. Call it whatever best fits your branding, its often referred as "Gold" or "Premium" or "Plus".
Whoever pays gets additional benefits (a badge next to the name, exclusive forums, special features, dark mode, ...) but the regular version is always free. Maybe even add a curated section like the Apple App Store app. In that curated section you guys are taking the best/most interesting content of the community, edit it and present it beautifully within the app — only available for paying users.
Another idea (on top of the Plus subscription): you could still go freemium, but people can only join with an invitation. Every user has like 5 invitations — check out Dribbble on an awesome execution on this strategy. It makes the whole experience feel more exklusive, even though it's free.
Lastly (with the caveat that I didn't test the app, since I only have iOS) I think your platform needs something unique. After checking out your landing page, I wasn't convinced why I should consider investing in yet another platform. Why is Curated better than just following ppl with shared interests on like Twitter? The main difference is, I guess, is that on Curated there is less noise. It's highly focussed on the content, without any of the personal or marketing stuff.
Two thoughts. First: in your marketing communication, go all in on the message "leave the noise behind, discover awesome stuff you'll like" (not the wording, but the core idea). Put the "save" and "share" part in a feature-list (because that feels like work), and focus mostly on the discovery part (here's your biggest value!). People are fed up by all the noise they have to scroll through in their timelines – talk to this specific pain point and offer your app as a fantastic solution.
Second: realize that people will never move to your platform and only use it. Most users are active on many platforms at the same time. If I emphasize with this situation, I think it could help your growth to add a feature where they post something on Curated and it is shared automatically on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Also offer an API, so that users can add content to Curated via Buffer or no-code tools.
Final suggestion: read the book "Hacking Growth" by Morgan Brown and Sean Ellis. This will give you a framework that enables you to iteratively implement and measure ideas to grow your user base.
Actually one more thing: talk to your current users and listen. Understand why they are using your app and how. What do they like. Don't ask how you could improve or what is lacking. Nope: only ask what they like about it and for what are they using it. Then go 200% into those areas and make them better/easier to discover/put it into your marketing.
Thanks for the detailed reply! The marketing communication (and overall positioning) definitely needs revisiting.
Your ideas on creating a "Curated plus" and focusing on "discover" in the messaging have got me thinking - many thanks for that!
Sure, anytime! If you add Curated as your product here on IH, people can stay up to date on your continued journey. :)
Hello Valentin...So I looked at the landing page..several things stood out to me
so this is a general
1st Save share discover tagline was good..3 powerful memorable words
However , I felt..in my humble opinion it should read
Discover . Save . Share.....Because your users have to Discover something 1st...save it..and then think it worthy enough to share it .
2nd.. Interested? Register for updates! is in the way of seeing the app graphics..It looks like your trying to hide something...On the page it says scroll the feed...would have been really cool to scroll the demo feed on the phone graphic to see a sample .
3 Sign up now and stay up to date on the development of Curated
This is confusing me...so does this thing work..or not..?
I HATE SIGNUPS
4 Whats your special sauce..why should I spend money with you guys every month ?
..I have sites I go to for podcasts , videos , articles etc...so I didn't see this as a site for which I would pay for...I pay for alot of stuff every month ...netflix..hulu , hbo..all kinds of stuff
Why cant i just book mark a site instead of using you guys ?
Whats so special about you..actually..now that i think about it..it seems like your trying to pander to all the demographics and be NONoffensively generic .
as for generating income you could try