TKD Results

So after the first few days of availability, I've averaged about 4-5 sales a day. Not the thousands per day I need to retire, but its nice to think anyone thought the app was worth $3.99 USD at all. Its a bit hard to tell how many of these were people who searched the app store specifically for taekwondo or just happened to find it as a newly released program. To really measure that I think I would have to leave sales go for another couple of weeks, so the app isn't really new anymore. But I don't want to leave it just hang at those sorts of sale levels.

The Google Analytics for the product page has been interesting to look at. Been a few hits from facebook checking me out (thanks friends!) but most hits seem to be direct links which would mean they have come from iTunes. At the same time, I know I have made sales in France and Norway and these don't show on analytics at all. So as a rough estimate I would think 40% of people who visited the products page bought the app. Would more have bought it if it was cheaper? Maybe. But at this stage, I don't see the need to decrease the price. I still think I have a quality product. Pity there is no way to measure how many people visited your app link in iStores (at least I don't think there is).

So what's next? Google Adwords, that's what. I've read articles that examined different ways to increase sales for your iPhone app. Adwords was actually towards the bottom of the list. I can see that being the case for a lot of apps, especially games. They really need to be reviewed, get on to featured lists, etc. In this case though, my app is targeted for people who are learning their taekwondo patterns. I know from personal experience that Google is a great place to look for examples and instructions. So I reckon that for my app, Adwords should achieve something. Anyway, I've set up some Adwords so we'll see what results I get.

First iPhone App

Well I got an email overnight to say that my first iPhone app is available for sale. So I am on my way to financial freedom as the hordes download my app :-).

Taekwondo ITF Patterns is an information app which describes how to perform the ten patterns you need to perform to get your black belt. Its got pictures of each step of the pattern and allows you to view them from four different angles. I think the interface works pretty well.

It will be interesting to see how this sells and what marketing I can do with it. Given that its more of an information app, its not really something I feel could be successfully reviewed on one of the many iphone app review sites around the place.

Price point will be interesting. I have priced at $3.99USD to start with. Since this is a specialised app with specific domain knowledge, I feel its justified having a higher price. I know I would easily have paid $3.99USD to have this info with me while I was going for my blackbelt. When I first got the idea for this, there were no comparable apps on iTunes. Just in the last week though I have noticed there is a patterns app, priced at $0.99USD. So already there is pressure to drive the app down in price. However, its content is simply a scan of pages that already exist on the web. It doesn't seek to make that content more accessible as I believe I have done. So at this stage I believe the $3.99USD price is still justifiable.

For the first week I will simply leave it be and see what sort of hits it gets from iTunes. I doubt this will achieve much but since this is my first app, its going to be a learning experience as to what makes sales, what works, etc. Next week I will start to try a few things and see what impact it has.