App Store Sales
FinishTheCode
Member Posts: 57
I am most likely in the same boat as the rest of you, but I am really struggling with sales in the app store. First day I got around 12 sales, then it just dropped off and is now at 1 per day. I had a period of 3 days where I let the app go for free and it did quite well. I am starting to wonder why 69p/99c is so much?
Comments
Your 3 day free test may show good numbers because its still being pushed around the price drop sites/twitter/facebook and so on.
If you would like a clearer test on how your Icon, Screenshots and Description are working, leave it free for a week or more and watch the downloads, Ive had a paid app turn free and get 6.5k over a week and then bang down to 10 or less once its off the price drop sites.
Maybe you should make it free permanently, and then add iAds/ or Playhaven Ads (or upcoming new monetization options from GameSalad Pro) and/or In-App Purchases that you think people would want to buy.
Hope this helps
Chakku
The icon looks good however unless people are directly searching for "Dear Zombie" your game will probably be a long way down the list of other zombie games this is something that is effecting your sales but not much you can do about that now but something to think about for next time when coming up with a name.
Although this game looks like fun I would not buy it as there are many other 0.69p games that offer more (Although I would be more likely to download it if it was free). I too would suggest making this a free app with iads and maybe an iap for a better gun or other wepons??
Your screen shots could do with some work take a look at other big name games and see what they do with theres.
NEVER release a game in December!!! most of the triple A games go on sale in December and dominate the app store.
You could try and boost sales by going direct to the buyer on forums like touch arcade.
Make some more games then add links within your game to your other games. Cross promo is still the best marketing for apps.
Hope the above helps :-)
But a few years ago there was a resurgence of indie sellers on ebay finding these small niche markets that they could sell to. And all of a sudden, they were making money hand over fist again.
Same thing applies here.
If you want to actually make money on the app store then you have to look at it from a different perspective. My partner and I chose to make games for the Education Market. Specifically the age group of 2-5 year old kids. Not because that's an exciting kind of game that we were both longing to create, but because we saw that in comparison, there were hardly any games being created for that market.
I agree with everything that everyone has said about presenting a professional looking package to the viewer (i.e. - Slick Icon, Good Description, etc.) but if you are creating games for a market that is already way too saturated, then you will find your self at the bottom of a very big hill.
My advice is this...If you just want to make games for fun then make the games that you want to make, and if you make any money with them, then consider that icing on the cake. But if you want to make a living out of this, then find where the niches are, and create games specifically for that.
My partner and I only have a handful of games on the ios market, android market (Google Play, Amazon, etc), but at the moment we are earning close to $3500/month each. By the end of this year we plan to have that up to close to $8k/month.
Lots of research, good game design aimed at your target audience, carefully selected keywords, and a very slick presentation will go a lot farther than you can imagine.
Just my 2 cents. :-)
very interesting your 2 cents
Thanks for your suggestions.
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Awesome post!
But I have questions...
1. I didn't know the Age 2-5 Year old market was big. They don't know how to use the App Store, so any apps purchased are by there parents. Is it really big enough to make even meager profit, without being a huge Disney/Nickelodeon-type company?
2. Can you post links to your games? I'd love to see them!
Chakku
Really?
Do you have any apps there?- I'd love to see them!
And BTW, who buys Indie apps from there? I haven't heard of any huge Education games by Indies before.
Chakku
@Chakku From my experience, when you're in the Edutainment industry, for the most part you market to the parents not the kids. It also pays to be COPPA compliant with everything!
For anyone looking for help with icon development, this guy has the best template and advice IMO. http://www.pixelresort.com/
And Tapjoy type agencies are your friend!
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If you ask about any apps - I can assure you that each, and every Line Cook, and Sous Chef has published apps
Tizzy Veterinarian is by far our biggest seller, however in my humble opinion :-) , Tizzy Seasons is a much better game.
And I agree with JDuaneJ. The key is have the kids love it, but make sure the Parents Like it enough to buy it.
I don't think the child's market is as big as the gamers market of Males age 18-24. Not even close. But the 2-5 year old market is relatively untapped. It's big enough to make decent money in my opinion. Plus you have some bigger companies like Toca Boca and Bamba drawing more and more attention to kid games which only helps the little guys like us.
And let me say this...I am not an expert at all. I am learning day by day. I just saw someone's post at the top of this page and thought I would throw in some helpful advice. :-)