I know the title sounds kind of strange, and I'm not saying I don't want to provide updates to my apps.
But oftentimes, I read the standard advice to improve your apps and provide regular app updates. It struck me, however, that I'm not really sure what benefit providing updates actually has from a revenue perspective.
So, if I have x number of users of my version 1.0 app. Then, I provide a 1.1 update. All it would seem to do is give my users a free upgrade. Nothing wrong with that, but does it increase visibility at all? If so, then how?
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When people see your app in the updates list, it is a reminder about your app, and I've found that often fans of my apps will then blog about the new features. I think there are quite a few subtle positive effects that cumulate when you keep releasing decent updates.
Also, I've heard that Apple prefers apps that are updated regularly and therefore it increases your chances of getting featured in the App Store. Part of this may just be that each time you run it through the review process, you create another chance that the reviewer may recommend your app for an app store feature.
But actually a big reason I keep releasing updates is because I write music apps that I use for my own music, and as I use the apps over time I always think of new features that I wish that app had.
I guess both of your responses make sense, and those are the assumptions that I've been operating with. But other than anecdotal comments (which I'm not disagreeing with), can anyone share an experience or an update they did which resulted in a noticeable uptick in sales? Best if the uptick is sustained, but even it was a temporary surge, I'd be curious to know how that happened.
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It depends on the content really. If your update brings a new, much better UI, some cool new functionality, fixes a major bug or problem, then sure. But if it's just some minor changes or fixes, then you probably wont see any difference, but that doesn't mean it doesn't matter.
It all really depends on your app. For example, if your app isn't that good, and you have just figured out a new function or design that you want for your app, then the eaiest way to add in that feature is through an update.
I'm not talking about the technical aspects of coming up with updates and releasing them. I'm talking about the economics behind it.
For example, with a desktop software like Microsoft Word or AppViz, you buy a license and if you want to upgrade, you purchase it usually at a discount. This helps offset the cost of maintaining the code and developing new features.
With iOS apps, however, users pay usually $0.99 and developers provide updates and upgrades for no additional charge. So, my real question is, who pays for the cost of developing the new features? Does providing free updates -- which we don't have a choice with -- offer enough of an economic rationale to the extent that they more than cover the time/cost of developing those additional features?
(This is not just a rant on the economic imbalance caused by the so-called race to the bottom, but really an effort to think more objectively about the economics of this updating business.)
If it makes tangible economic sense, I'd love to hear some real-life experiences. Something like I spent x number of hours on my app update, and as a result, I saw x% increase in revenue.
I also recognize that it does depend on the app, but what I'm sort of on the fence about is the notion that updates are really beneficial to the developer as opposed to just being a cost of doing business on the app store, just because everyone else does it.
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If it makes tangible economic sense, I'd love to hear some real-life experiences. Something like I spent x number of hours on my app update, and as a result, I saw x% increase in revenue.
I think it's probably impossible to measure a direct correlation between an update and increased revenue. Revenue comes from new sales, and only your existing users care about updates. (With the exception being if someone is holding off on buying your app until you add a particular feature, which isn't terribly common in the iOS world.)
That said, I do think there are some indirect factors that might be worth considering:
- Major updates can get you press from news sites and blogs that will help drive sales.
- Satisfying users requests will help build loyalty and cause users to recommend your app to their friends.
I would say that both of these factors have improved sales of our apps quite a bit.
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I also recognize that it does depend on the app, but what I'm sort of on the fence about is the notion that updates are really beneficial to the developer as opposed to just being a cost of doing business on the app store, just because everyone else does it.
I do think it depends very heavily on the app. Simple entertainment or fun apps probably don't benefit much from frequent updates. Bigger, more complex, utilitarian apps typically can benefit from many updates (and once you release such an app, your users will bombard you with feature requests).
At the very least, you should probably issue enough updates to keep your apps compatible with the latest iOS release.
We've done several major updates since releasing Paprika in September of last year, and in my experience they've been very worthwhile.
If you don't continue improving your app with new features, your competition surely will, and sooner or later you'll cross the threshold where your competition is so far ahead that there's no reason to choose your app over theirs.
Then again, YMMV, as it highly depends on what kinds of apps you're writing.
Revenue comes from new sales, and only your existing users care about updates. (With the exception being if someone is holding off on buying your app until you add a particular feature, which isn't terribly common in the iOS world.)
Agreed, and that's kind of the angle I was coming from. At the common low price points, there is not much of "holding off" for particular features are added. In my own limited experience as an app buyer, I may have done some comparison shopping at a particular point in time, but if I really need an app, I just buy what I think is the best. I usually don't hold off for some additional features to be added. Knowing that I'm one of those that has to compare every little thing before committing to a purchase, this says a lot. In other words, most new app purchases are somewhat impulse purchases.
That's why it seemed odd that adding new features over time would do much, although everyone doles that out as something you must do.
Put another way, if I have a choice between putting out an app with 100 features in version 1.0, or putting one out with 80 features for v1.0 and adding 20 features for v2.0, I would see it as a toss-up.
On the one hand, you get two chances of getting noticed by media/app reviewers if you gradually add in features. But on the other hand, if you already know what 100 features you want to add, you might as well just add them all in at v1.0 and focus on something else. (Pros and cons to each exist, but there isn't a solid economic rationale for folding in additional features over time, unless you think of new ideas as you go along, or users ask you for requests.)
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We've done several major updates since releasing Paprika in September of last year, and in my experience they've been very worthwhile.
If you don't continue improving your app with new features, your competition surely will, and sooner or later you'll cross the threshold where your competition is so far ahead that there's no reason to choose your app over theirs.
This I definitely agree with. No arguments there. I'd consider this a cost of doing business on the App Store.
So, all in all, doing app updates seems to fall in a gray area of something one should do for competitive reasons and mindshare reasons, but not something that you can track ROI on.... So, it's more intangible than even investment in graphic design, since everyone knows that great icons and screenshots will drive sales and others in the forum have offered actual examples of how changing their graphics boosted their sales by x amount.
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Put another way, if I have a choice between putting out an app with 100 features in version 1.0, or putting one out with 80 features for v1.0 and adding 20 features for v2.0, I would see it as a toss-up.
Interesting, I would actually take the latter every single time.
In fact, I would go even further and ship 50 features for v1.0 and then ship the other 50 features for v2.0, v3.0, v4.0, etc.
There are two reasons for this:
1) The biggest risk you take when shipping a new app is that you have no idea whether there is a market for it. The sooner you get the initial app out there, the sooner you learn whether people are interested in it or not. The worst case scenario (to me) is spending a whole bunch of time getting out your perfect v1.0 only to find that there's no market for your product. Better to ship half as many features and find out in half the time - then based on interest you can decide whether to continue improving the app or cut your losses and move on.
2) As a developer you can only make educated guesses as to which features are important. You need real feedback to determine what features your users really want. The sooner you ship your app, the sooner you learn which features are important to your users and the less time you waste working on features that your users aren't interested in.
There's one big caveat to this though: don't cut so many features in your v1.0 that your app is incomplete. And don't skimp on polish and design in your v1.0. Instead, pick the features that you think are most important and polish the hell out of them, while cutting the ones that are less important. You can always add those back in later once your users demand it (and if you have users making such demands, you're in a good place!).
A good example of this is Apple waiting until iOS 3 to implement copy/paste tools.
Interesting, I would actually take the latter every single time.
In fact, I would go even further and ship 50 features for v1.0 and then ship the other 50 features for v2.0, v3.0, v4.0, etc.
*snip*
Great points, especially about using v1.0 to validate the market. In my day job, I work for an enterprise software company, so we deal with product roadmaps a lot. And of course, we charge for every upgrade. The fact that there is no direct financial incentive in the app store had me questioning this.
The way I was thinking as an indie iOS developer was that if I finish one app with 100 features, then I can concentrate on another app with another 100 features and so forth. But in thinking through this again, maybe the answer is to finish one app with 50 features, work on the second app with 50 features while gauging market feedback on app 1, and then putting in 20 features in app one, and so forth... in a cascading process.
(I was partly just annoyed by the fact that I was doing some app updates over the past week. And much of that was driven by the need to make my apps iOS 5 compatible and adding on additional features while I was at it. But as I spent so much time on it, I began muttering to myself that it was just a waste of time.)
Thanks for helping me think through this!
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Also when you release an update you get a surge of people updating the app and checking out the update. If you make money off ads this alone could make an update make economic sense. More people checking out your app also means more chances users will tell their friends, people will see them use the app, ect.
Also when you release an update you get a surge of people updating the app and checking out the update. If you make money off ads this alone could make an update make economic sense. More people checking out your app also means more chances users will tell their friends, people will see them use the app, ect.
As a corollary, then, it makes sense to update more often if your app is free and ad-supported. Interesting thought.
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As others have mentioned, it all depends on what the app is. Adding levels to a game? Great. Adding "iOS5 Functionality" to an app that barely does anything to being with? Not so good.
If revenue chasing is the prime motivation and not customer retention. Then it can make sense to release a new app instead of an update.
The main reason would be that new apps have a better chance of ranking higher in the charts increasing discoverability.
You could cross promote from your current app to the new one (there maybe some disgruntled people, and others who are not maybe happy to pay for this 'upgrade')
This means there is the potential to drive the app higher in the charts which increases the customer base for your 'new' app and drive more short term revenues.
I'm not saying you should do this, but it goes with the flow of the old style of software sales, in fact this model still works for seasonal software (sports, tax)
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1) It will review and refresh your app in the itunes.
2) Remind your current users about your application.
3) You will be able to have some new features added or improve the current features.
4) You can send your update to the review sites and telling them about the update about the application.
I like Hoista's answer a lot. Helps me think of both sides.
I especially concur with this:
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Originally Posted by Hoista
To flip the argument somewhat.
If revenue chasing is the prime motivation and not customer retention. Then it can make sense to release a new app instead of an update.
"Customer retention" sounds much more ominous than it is. After all, if a user doesn't like your app, he/she would have already deleted your app. In that case, an update doesn't really help. And if a user already likes your app as-is, you don't need to do anything to retain them. It's not like they're paying you a license maintenance or renewal or customer support fee.
Of course, if I release a new app instead of updating, I would want to ensure that the two apps are sufficiently different, if only for the reason of not causing confusion for potential new customers. But if it's sufficiently different, then existing users probably will not be angry that you released a new app. If you "market" it correctly, they may want to buy your new app too! I'm thinking of Angry Birds versus Angry Birds Seasons versus Angry Birds Rio. I don't think anyone who bought Angry Birds was angry that they didn't fold in the Seasons part into an update. So, as someone else has said, it really depends on what the app update contains...and also on how you package up (market) your app to your audience.
On the other hand, I'm not so sure about this response:
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Originally Posted by peterthomas
Exactly as my friends mentioned here!
1) It will review and refresh your app in the itunes.
How? It doesn't really refresh anything except the update date. Or am I missing something? What I'm saying is that publishing an update may have positive effects outside of the iTunes search engine indirectly, but nothing that I know of that happens directly inside iTunes that makes your app more visible.
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2) Remind your current users about your application.
I guess this is somewhat true, but my point was that this doesn't really seem to mean anything. If you need updates to remind your current users about your app that they already have installed, what does that say about the app?
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3) You will be able to have some new features added or improve the current features.
No argument there.
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4) You can send your update to the review sites and telling them about the update about the application.
Have you actually done this? Has anyone? I'm genuinely curious if review sites tend to do anything with "we've updated our app with x+y+z, please check it out!" kind of a request.
Hope I'm not coming across as too inquisitive. I'm genuinely curious... almost too curious sometimes, but I just want to understand as much of the dynamics of this whole thing as possible. The more we understand, the better it is for everyone I think. Thanks!
EDIT: I also had started a different thread about 'seo' on itunes. As a result of that, I actually submitted an update (gasp..ha ha) with more effective search terms. It's only been a couple days since the app update went live, but having better keywords definitely seem to help! Of course, in hindsight, it's only obvious, because unless your app is ranked in the top 200 in your category, usually the only sustainable way that your app will be discovered is through the search capability. So, if anything, an app update is useful for ensuring that your SEO terms can be tweaked.
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We make games. Some of the things you mention differ in the world of games. You retain users with content and features because your app isn't a tool or a utility. It ... entertains. Retention helps free games too where retention translates to more ads viewed by a specific user in the lifespan of using your app. The question then is if the ROI on the update and retention boost are aligned to net a positive effect.
if I have a choice between putting out an app with 100 features in version 1.0, or putting one out with 80 features for v1.0 and adding 20 features for v2.0, I would see it as a toss-up.
- It's not necessarily about new features, less is always better in this market. That being said, in app purchase is a good way to generate revenue from paid upgrades
- In App purchases makes customer retention pretty important. If you plan to add paid features on a regular basis, you must maintain a good customer base to generate that extra revenue
- If your initial app was reviewed by the media, blogs, etc... those people tend to mention when you come up with a new update, being a user of the app themselves, this generates revenue from new users
- Bringing new updates/features, means you can go on again with a new promotional cycle, PR, etc... that's a way to bring attention back to your app
- Brand recognition: No updates probably means the products aren't good for long. I have not seen many fabulous apps remain in version 1.0 without the need for bug fixes. Generate revenue from a 1,000 average quality apps may be a strategy, but going for quality, maintained products, is probably a better strategy long term to build some brand recognition
- etc, etc...
In short, if your question is "Will I see a spike in sales from correcting a couple of bugs, submitting it and wait for things to happen?", the answer is maybe/ maybe not, but that's probably not the right question.
Another way to look at updates is that if your app is feature complete at v 1.0, you A: released it to late, and B: have no idea how users will receive/use your app.
Instead, release it as early as possible with only core features, then get feedback and improve / add more stuff. You could possibly release your app 6 months earlier, and then pay close attention to what your users are saying, and fix those things. You will also get some money from this early periode.
When its finally done, you know that you only have the "right" features, and if nobody wants your app, you can abandon it much earlier. I think this is a much cheaper/safer way to get from No App to Final App.
If your app get no attention or low ratings since the 1.0 was lacking, release a whole new 2.0 when its finally done.
(And "release it as early as possible" does not mean with lots of bugs ;-) )
....If it makes tangible economic sense, I'd love to hear some real-life experiences. Something like I spent x number of hours on my app update, and as a result, I saw x% increase in revenue.
Real-life experience - When I first released my app it had single digit downloads.
In the 1st update I made the app Universal (will work on the iPod, iPhone & iPad), the sales doubled almost immediately.
In the 2nd update I added 13 language localization, the sales again doubled!
Now in the 3rd update I am planning on changing the Icon of the app and doing a minor bug fix, and I expect the sales to double again! :P
Real-life experience - When I first released my app it had single digit downloads.
In the 1st update I made the app Universal (will work on the iPod, iPhone & iPad), the sales doubled almost immediately.
In the 2nd update I added 13 language localization, the sales again doubled!
Now in the 3rd update I am planning on changing the Icon of the app and doing a minor bug fix, and I expect the sales to double again! :P
Hope this "real-life experience" helped.
Yes, I'd love to hear back how the icon change and minor bug fix does.
But based on your logic, here is what I gather.
Case 1:
Your first app had between 1-9 downloads a day.
Your update got you doubling that to 2-18 downloads a day.
Your 2nd update got you doubling that to 4-36 downloads a day.
So, hopefully your doubling will lead to 8-72 downloads a day...?
Case 2:
(taking the statement that your first version had "single digit downloads" to be exclusive and that your subsequent updates were all in double digits)
Your first app had between 5-9 downloads a day.
Your update got you doubling that to 10-18 downloads a day.
Your 2nd update got you doubling that to 20-36 downloads a day.
So, your next update will lead to 40-72 downloads a day...?
Only if life were this predictable!
Good luck!
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Yes, I'd love to hear back how the icon change and minor bug fix does.
But based on your logic, here is what I gather.
Case 1:
Your first app had between 1-9 downloads a day.
Your update got you doubling that to 2-18 downloads a day.
Your 2nd update got you doubling that to 4-36 downloads a day.
So, hopefully your doubling will lead to 8-72 downloads a day...?
Case 2:
(taking the statement that your first version had "single digit downloads" to be exclusive and that your subsequent updates were all in double digits)
Your first app had between 5-9 downloads a day.
Your update got you doubling that to 10-18 downloads a day.
Your 2nd update got you doubling that to 20-36 downloads a day.
So, your next update will lead to 40-72 downloads a day...?
Only if life were this predictable!
Good luck!
Wow! Your Case 2 is quite accurate I must say!
And I'll surely let you know about the results once the 3rd update is live on the App Store. Keeping my fingers crossed.
What's the point of updating an app?
Well...
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