Switched the app to a freemium model
by allenuI'm excited to announce that the app is now free to download. It's been a bit of a journey to get to this stage.
Since its release, Fresh Cards has been pay-to-download. This has allowed me to gradually improve the app with a great core of dedicated users.
This smaller group of users has been active in my Discord server (and my emails) and have provided great feedback that has shaped the app thus far.
I've avoided going to a free model for various reasons, one of them fear that free users would require more support and many would never pay anyway. Another reason was fear of low ratings in the App Store from free users who were unhappy that the app required payment to fully utilize.
Well, the last few weeks has seen purchases of the app drop off significantly. I definitely should be doing more marketing, but I'm finding it can only go so far.
Many users will hit the App Store, check out the screenshots, and may be curious about the app, but unwilling to fork over money just to try it.
One major hurdle for my app is that there are dozens of other flashcard apps there. I think mine is fantastic (of course, I'm biased), but that doesn't matter if other apps are free to download. Most users will see mine and move on to another option. Those other options may be good enough for them, or they forget about the whole thing and never return to the App Store to give mine a try.
I've been considering going freemium to combat this, but have been putting it off. Finally, two weeks ago I decided to do the work to update the app to offer a free trial and then offer in-app purchase to upgrade to the full version.
Today the updated free version is in the App Store and I await the results!
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Quick update: in the last 24h, I've received over 100 new user downloads of the app. That's the power of "free".
In contrast, I was down to about 1 paid download a week before the conversion, with probably around 600-700 total paid users over the last 1.5 years. (Not all active, of course.)
I have to keep in mind, however, that most of these new users won't convert to paid. But, I am starting to see the benefits of "carrying" free users along. I'm beginning to think of other strategies to help convert them once they are using the app regularly.
It certainly gives me some more optionality for growth.
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Do you have any advice on onboarding? Did you craft a flow to try and drive the new free users towards an AHA moment when they are willing to subscribe?
I am currently working through plans for onboarding users on a study app. We want them to realise value ASAP to avoid incurring the costs associated with carrying lots of unpaid users - any tips would be appreciated 👊
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In my case, the earlier versions of the app had a tutorial, but it was difficult to maintain since I was changing the lesson UI quite frequently due to user feedback. Having to update the tutorial was slowing me down, so eventually I removed it. The active users I had never really complained that the app was confusing.
I chose not to make my app subscription-based. My target market is price-conscious (students) and the app does not incur monthly server costs, so I couldn't find a way to justify the subscription model.
The app is pretty straightforward, so I'm hoping most users will see the aha moment as soon as they start creating flashcards and hit the PLAY button to get started. So far, from all the other flashcard apps I've tried, it's by far the simplest to understand and get started with. Many of my competitors have confusing UIs and take several steps to actually get to reviewing the cards.
On the whole, my strategy is to simply have a better product at a fair price that requires little work on my end to maintain.
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Thanks, that makes sense - if your interface is intuitive enough then no need to bog users down with a tutorial. Good luck with your free trial converting those new users into
subscriberscustomers!
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Thank you for sharing this with us. I am excited to hear how this experience goes. One of the members of WBE Space has a similar product but for desktop and he is thinking on selling pre-made flash cards. Could this be an option too?
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Yes, I was considering a flashcard store could be an option. They aren't so hard to create from sources online, but I can see some users wanting the convenience of just searching for them in the app. Other options I've considered are things like custom themes and new review modes.
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That's amazing. with the free trial model, users have the option to explore the app without spending and if it's adding value and fits the bill they will convert. We did a stupid mistake of not asking for credit cards upfront for a free trial and now we have 50k active users and barely a few hundred paying up for subscriptions. Kind of in a deep shit figuring out to push existing users from the free tier to the paid.
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Wow, having 50k active users with only a few paying is tough. Best of luck with that! That's one thing I was concerned about, too. It's nice to have additional users, but even if they're not bringing a ton of revenue, you're stuck dealing with maintaining them.
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This is great - I've been looking for something like this recently to refresh my language learning. Will definitely give it a try!
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Thank you. I hope you like it!
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