This will be my first #idevblogaday post, so I’ll just briefly introduce myself and then get on with my post. Follow me on Twitter: @runmad, by the way :)

I’m writing this on a flight from Toronto to Copenhagen on an iPad so hopefully it’ll turn out alright. I was afraid my turn for #idevblogaday was going to be exactly when I was going away on vacation, and sure enough @mysterycoconut tweeted @ me the day I was leaving that I’m up, so here we go.

I’ve done development for about 1.5 years now, Objective-C is the only programming language I know. I have a degree in marketing and management communication and years of experience in graphic design. I love experience marketing and sensory branding. I got into iOS development because I loved how (then) iPhone OS brought to life an amazing UX through great hardware, UI and functionality. A great iPhone app is a mix of marketing, design, experiences, sensory triggers and of course, code. So I started learning the coding part and have found that knowing all the rest really does help and benefit you!

I work for online retailer and I have built an iPhone app that allows you to browse our products, purchase them, check orders, etc. You can check it out here.

They’re not “users,” they’re your customers
In developing apps (games included) for iOS devices there’s always a question of doing updates. You’ve released a rock solid 1.0 and then comes the mandatory point update(s) with nasty bug fixes.

Your app sold a few hundred copies (or thousands, congrats) after first releasing it and has since then steadily not sold very well. Should you care to do actively pursue further development and thereby bring more features and goodness to your customers who already paid for your app? Let me try and convince you to do just that.

I’ve read a bunch of posts on IAP and how this has revitalized sales for a game. Noel Llopis’ (@snappytouch) Games From Within blog to read a few posts on his experiences with using IAP to boost sales for his game Flower Garden. IAPs are definitely awesome, and I guess this post will be more of a idea that would compliment IAP in certain instances (depending on what kind of app you have).

I had no Internet connection while writing this, so I have no links for facts and figures but go by general knowledge and my perception of scenarios. Trust me, it’ll be awesome anyway, facts are hugely overrated, right?! You might not agree with me, but feel free to leave a comment and we’ll talk ;)

Joking aside, let’s have a look at why I think you should create and submit meaningful app updates, somewhat regularly.

We all know that App Store customers are greedy. You give them a free app, they want an arm. You sell your game for less than a buck and they complain about there only being 150 levels which meant they finished it in a day because it’s so good (telling you they’ll reward the last, fifth star when you release an update with a billion levels).

Let’s stick with that dollar. How much are you as a developer, as the seller, willing to put into your work after it’s out of the door and the first point updates are released to fix those nasty bugs? I know developers generally hate when customers complain about a one dollar app in a review, but look it this way: They paid you money. They bought something from with their money. They feel entitled as your customers. I bet many indie developers didn’t expect to have to deal with customers when they started iOS development, and are unfortunately surprised by it. It might just be a buck, but this dollar can lead to much more money if you take care of your customers. Give them more than what they came for and they’ll help your sales grow by spreading the love through word of mouth.

The dilemma you have is whether, once a customer has paid for an app, should they receive more? Sure, you can sell level bundles or other objects related to a game with IAP, but perhaps you could also just give this to your customers for free… Or if you have a non-game app, it’s not easy to sell app features as IAP, and I’ve never personally been a fan of apps that have a “Pro” version.

Spreading the love
When was the last time you told your friends not to miss out on a dinner at that restaurant where the waiter treated you like shit? And how many times have you been back to that awesome bar where they tend to free-pour rather generously?

Let’s look at free-pouring. Angry Birds. I would say it’s probably the most popular app ever. It rival sales numbers (not profits mind you) of major console franchises and why wouldn’t it, it’s a buck! Buying this game is a no-brainer for most people, even the greedy ones. You get so many levels it’ll take you days if not weeks to finish. Once you’ve finished they throw more free levels at you in a free update for that one dollar you spent two months ago. They’re clearly insane, right?!

In my opinion (even if this isn’t their intention) it’s a quite clever marketing move. Every single time Rovio releases an update to Angry Birds you’ll tap open that game while riding the subway with hundreds of other people seeing you play this game. You’ll remember how much you love that game and be sure to tell your friends with iPhones (and now other platforms) to download it. You haven’t left a review yet, but feel that now is the time to do so. You’ve had so much fun playing this game – and still do with new levels! – that they deserve that quick 5 star review.

App update sales multiplier
Let’s say Angry Birds has sold 1,000,000 copies (it’s sold a lot more but let’s stick with a nice, huge, round number). Of this 1m downloads, 95% still have it installed and have played it within the last two months. (It’s my belief that a paid app actually stays on a users home screen way more permanently than a free app. It’s like throwing out a dollar and it doesn’t take up any physical space in your life even if you don’t use it. Apps that stay on the device (not just iTunes) are way more likely to receive attention when updated in the App Store.) Angry Birds gets an update with fixes but, more importantly, a new world and 30 new levels or so. Of these 950,000 active customers, let’s say most will update at some point. 10% of these people will tell their friends. On average these 10% tell two friends about the game. Of these 190k people who now know about Angry Birds, just over half will go to the App Store and download Angry Birds for a dollar (it’s a no-brainer price).

So now, from a free update, Angry Birds just made another $100,000 (before a 30% cut) on top of that 1 million copies already sold. Of course I was using the highest grossing game, but I still believe it this ripple effect holds true for your apps. If you reward your customers and exceed their expectations, trust me, they will reward you back by word of mouth, which lead to more sales.

You’ll always have those vocal, annoying customers with horrible reviews and ridiculous expectations, but don’t forget the people who often are the least vocal to you are often really vocal about your app/game to their friends. Who do you trust most for advice on awesome apps, people who are clearly idiots from app reviews or your real life friends or people you follow on Twitter? My guess is the latter two. Just like the restaurant example earlier. You’re probably more likely to visit a restaurant based on a great review from a friend who recently went there compared to a review in a newspaper.

Active development
You may not be selling millions of copies of your app like above, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue active development if your app has something going for it. Updates will remind your customers about your app. They’ll revisit the app and it’ll be first in their mind been their friends asks what new stuff they’re using on their iPhone, or which apps they should get within X category.

I know this comparison may sound insane, but it’s rather valid: Coca-Cola technically doesn’t need to advertise. It’s not like we don’t know what it is, where to buy, how it tastes and how it makes you feel, right? True, but when Coca-Cola spends millions and millions of dollars to advertise, they’re reminding you of the brand over and over and over. If you hadn’t just read the first part of this paragraph, I would bet money that you would have said “Coca-Cola” if I asked you to name a soda brand. This is because you have seen so many Coca-Cola advertisements and heard the brand name so many times over the years that it’s imprinted in your brain!

Same goes for your app. Remind customers about your app and be the first thing to come to mind when they think of awesome apps within your apps category/core functionality.

With all this said, don’t just release meaningless “bug fix” updates. People will see straight through this after several of seemingly pointless updates and only get annoyed that your app apparently is full of bugs. As @Jury said in a tweet the other day:

“… Compiled software is not the web. Don’t push every minor issue you fix immediately to your users. Plan discrete releases.”

Obviously, if you have a severe bug in your app, get it fixed asap, so your customers won’t grow resentful of the fact your app doesn’t work as expected.

So in review:
- Free updates help increase awareness about app.
- Awareness leads to re-discovery which helps keep your app “immediate” for users.
- Think of users as customers. You’re not doing them a favour by releasing an app. They’re doing you one by giving you money in return.
- Give your customers more than they expect and they’ll return the favour with a review or other kinds of word of mouth.
- Updates help provide value and helps your app exceed your customers expectations, regardless of the cost of your app.

Note:
- “Bug fixes” are not directly seen as value for your customers. Sure you fixed bugs, but what value does this bring other than just fix something that should have been working in the first place?
- In my opinion, too many “bug fix”-only updates that talk about “improvements,” etc. just become annoying and doesn’t show customers that you (the developer; or seller) is focused on building new features.

I hope you enjoyed my first #idevblogaday post. I hope it was insightful and invoked some thoughts as to what you could do with your app, even if I didn’t provide a single line of code :)

I do hope I surprised some people with how marketing blends in with being an iOS developer and provided some insight into what kind of relationship you have with the users of your apps.

Thanks for reading, sharing and please do leave a comment!

Have a wonderful Monday!

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I have received some feedback regarding this post that I thought I would share:

One developer implemented this feature in a UIAlertView pop-up, asking users nicely if they’re enjoying the app and whether they would like to be taken to the App Store to review the app. This UIAlertView happens after the 10th app launch, so you’re already dealing with people who have used your app enough that they must be liking it. It’s a $0.99 app by the way.

In just two short hours after implementing this, he had received 6 new app store reviews, all with positive feedback along with 4 or 5 stars, nothing less!

What can we learn from this?

1. People are, by nature, lazy. Consider the steps required to actually reviews an app that you like: You have to actively find it again in the App Store, scroll down and go to the review page. Then tap the button to submit your own review, login, etc. Unless someone’s super excited or very pissed off about your app, you will only see a small percentage of people taking their time to go through all those steps to review and rate your app. By asking users, who’ve been using your app more than just a few times nicely for a review, then linking *directly* to the App Store, they’re already skipping many of the above steps and rating and reviewing your app becomes a quick activity related to an app they’re enjoying.

2. Reviews are generally positive. Ratings on the other hand tend to be more black and white. Either people hate your app, delete it and quickly give it 1 star. I doubt a lot of people give apps 4-5 stars when they delete an app. They’re deleting it for a reason; either they didn’t like it, or it just wasn’t what they needed/expected. If they like the app, chances are they’d never delete it, and you wouldn’t be getting those great 4-5 star ratings (refer to #1). I have seen reviews that have pointed out several wrongs about apps, but they’re still adding a 4-5 star rating with the review. It may seem there’s a difference in people’s mind about a review and a rating. I think a lot of users think of reviews as a way of communicating to the developer that there’s an issue with the app, or they want this or that added, but they still use and love the app regardless (giving it a high rating).

3. You’re asking the right users. When deleting an app, Apple has implemented a horrible UIAlertView asking the same people who just got rid of your app to rate it. I think we all agree this is ridiculous (refer to #2). With a UIAlertView inside your app for 10+ launches linking into the reviews of your app in the App Store, you can pretty much assume these people are enjoying the app, especially if they agree to review it. If they’re don’t like it that much or don’t have time, it’s just a simple tap to dismiss the UIAlertView.

Today @coffeeandiphone we briefly discussed ratings/reviews for apps, and one person mentioned he’d like to show some of the users who have used his app more than X amount of times an alert where he’d ask them to review his app in the app store.

So here’s a link that will take people directly to the review section of your app in the App Store. Note, though, they won’t be able to go “Back” to the actual page for your app in the App Store (when on a device), so they can’t really see that they’re on the review page for your app. Therefore, you probably want to make it veryclear where your linking to and before sending them out of your app, into the App Store.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=341136260&pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=1&type=Purple+Software&mt=8

See where is says “?id=341136260″ ? That’s the only thing you need to change. Just insert your own app ID there and you’re good to go. Don’t get confused by “type=Purple+Software&mt=8″, because if you change that, it won’t work for some reason. I am not quite sure why it has to say Purple Software, but I don’t really care as long as it works :)

Combine it with something like this (“Fighting Back Against The App Store’s Negative Rating Bias”) and you’re good to go!

Edit: I can’t remember where I got this info from, but credit goes to whoever/wherever, of course.

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