Sobhan Eskandari
Indie developer of the Penman notes and speech-to-text app
Where to hear and read about Sobhan Eskandari1 episode or test
Sobhan Eskandari is the indie developer behind Penman, a notes and speech-to-text app. He lifted revenue from about $250 to $1,000 a month with only about 15 downloads a day by fixing what happens after install, which shows that post-install conversion can beat chasing more downloads.
I found all these small insights implementing Firebase events.
$250 to $1,000 a Month with Just 15 Downloads
Sobhan Eskandari: the story and the lessons
1Sobhan Eskandari and the Penman revenue slump
Penman's revenue stayed flat for two years, then hit a low. Revenue sat at $400 to $500 a month for about 2 years, then reached an all-time low of $270 with almost 500 downloads.
Downloads stayed high while revenue fell, which told him the problem was after the install, not in acquisition.
Eskandari used Firebase events to find where buyers dropped off. Events showed users skipping some pages, opening the paywall without tapping purchase, and hitting internet errors at the moment of purchase so they could not pay.
His takeaway: "I found all these small insights implementing Firebase events."
The slump pushed him to study post-install work and change three things. After the slump he started watching the App Masters channel and changed onboarding screens, the paywall and the pricing plans. Revenue rose from about $250 to $1,000 a month at about 15 downloads a day.
He emailed his results to the channel as a community member, which is how the case came to light.
2How Eskandari rebuilt the Penman paywall
Eskandari bet on a short paywall and lost. He assumed people would not scroll, so he built a short page with a few premium features and two buttons to grab users fast. It did not convert.
In his words: "Just showing in a short premium page with no much testimonials or features tables, that just didn't work."
He replaced it with a long page that follows a known app's layout. The new page opens with a headline claim, then packages with the new lifetime option, a premium feature list, social proof, and a basic versus premium table. He had heard long premium pages raise conversion, so he tried one.
Revenue started to climb around July and August, even in a month with fewer downloads.
He borrowed a Stanford finding when he had no social proof. The header says speech to text is three times faster than typing, taken from Stanford research and placed as a testimonial.
The host used the same trick with a pink noise app that cited research on improving memory.
He put Apple, download counts and press on the paywall as proof. A block under the premium features points to around 50,000 downloads, a feature by Apple and mentions on websites. User reviews appear further down the page.
He added a free versus premium table so users see what they get. The table sits after the features and social proof and lays out what basic and premium include.
His reasoning: "People want to understand what can I get for free and what are the premium features as well."
He tested the new paywall against the old one. The old short design (A) ran against the long design (B) instead of being swapped on a guess. B replaced A once it showed better results.
The lift began around July to August.
3Eskandari's pricing, free tier and onboarding choices
He dropped the monthly plan and sold only yearly and lifetime. He removed monthly in June as a test. Adding lifetime in June was not enough alone; the jump came with the new page in July and August.
August had fewer downloads than before but more revenue, and most buyers took lifetime.
He added a countdown timer to push buyers to decide. The paywall shows a 15 minute countdown and a "deal ends" note, and the price returns to a higher one, such as $49, afterward.
The host says it works because it is not overbearing. Eskandari: "I just want to give people that feelings that this deal might end soon."
He loosened the free tier to protect the app's rating. Early limits drew negative App Store reviews, so basic now gives unlimited notes and notebooks, and free speech to text was offered for a period.
"It was hurting us so we decided to give people a bit more free features."
His onboarding slides tell a short story that leads to the paywall. The slides run: keep your thoughts together, speak them, stay in notebooks, sync everywhere. The last slide says Start writing.
4What Eskandari learned about paying for installs
He sets his ad budget from revenue per download. Dividing proceeds by downloads, after Apple's cut, shows what an install is worth. That sets a cost per install target, for example up to $1.
This gives paid acquisition a goal instead of buying any traffic.
His earlier Apple Search Ads test failed because the product was not ready. The ads brought impressions but no results. Once the paywall converted, paying for installs became affordable even at about 15 downloads a day.
"When the product isn't ready, those impressions not converted really."
$250 to $1,000 a Month with Just 15 Downloads
An indie app went from a low of $270 a month to about $1,000 a month with only about 15 downloads a day by fixing what happens after install: event tracking, a longer paywall and simpler plans. The lesson is that fixing post-install conversion can beat chasing more downloads.
Penman's revenue stayed flat for two years, then hit a low. Revenue sat at $400 to $500 a month for about 2 years, then reached an all-time low of $270 with almost 500 downloads.
Downloads stayed high while revenue fell, which told him the problem was after the install, not in acquisition.
Eskandari used Firebase events to find where buyers dropped off. Events showed users skipping some pages, opening the paywall without tapping purchase, and hitting internet errors at the moment of purchase so they could not pay.
His takeaway: "I found all these small insights implementing Firebase events."
The slump pushed him to study post-install work and change three things. After the slump he started watching the App Masters channel and changed onboarding screens, the paywall and the pricing plans. Revenue rose from about $250 to $1,000 a month at about 15 downloads a day.
He emailed his results to the channel as a community member, which is how the case came to light.
Eskandari bet on a short paywall and lost. He assumed people would not scroll, so he built a short page with a few premium features and two buttons to grab users fast. It did not convert.
In his words: "Just showing in a short premium page with no much testimonials or features tables, that just didn't work."
He replaced it with a long page that follows a known app's layout. The new page opens with a headline claim, then packages with the new lifetime option, a premium feature list, social proof, and a basic versus premium table. He had heard long premium pages raise conversion, so he tried one.
Revenue started to climb around July and August, even in a month with fewer downloads.
He borrowed a Stanford finding when he had no social proof. The header says speech to text is three times faster than typing, taken from Stanford research and placed as a testimonial.
The host used the same trick with a pink noise app that cited research on improving memory.
He put Apple, download counts and press on the paywall as proof. A block under the premium features points to around 50,000 downloads, a feature by Apple and mentions on websites. User reviews appear further down the page.
He added a free versus premium table so users see what they get. The table sits after the features and social proof and lays out what basic and premium include.
His reasoning: "People want to understand what can I get for free and what are the premium features as well."
He tested the new paywall against the old one. The old short design (A) ran against the long design (B) instead of being swapped on a guess. B replaced A once it showed better results.
The lift began around July to August.
He dropped the monthly plan and sold only yearly and lifetime. He removed monthly in June as a test. Adding lifetime in June was not enough alone; the jump came with the new page in July and August.
August had fewer downloads than before but more revenue, and most buyers took lifetime.
He added a countdown timer to push buyers to decide. The paywall shows a 15 minute countdown and a "deal ends" note, and the price returns to a higher one, such as $49, afterward.
The host says it works because it is not overbearing. Eskandari: "I just want to give people that feelings that this deal might end soon."
He loosened the free tier to protect the app's rating. Early limits drew negative App Store reviews, so basic now gives unlimited notes and notebooks, and free speech to text was offered for a period.
"It was hurting us so we decided to give people a bit more free features."
His onboarding slides tell a short story that leads to the paywall. The slides run: keep your thoughts together, speak them, stay in notebooks, sync everywhere. The last slide says Start writing.
He sets his ad budget from revenue per download. Dividing proceeds by downloads, after Apple's cut, shows what an install is worth. That sets a cost per install target, for example up to $1.
This gives paid acquisition a goal instead of buying any traffic.
His earlier Apple Search Ads test failed because the product was not ready. The ads brought impressions but no results. Once the paywall converted, paying for installs became affordable even at about 15 downloads a day.
"When the product isn't ready, those impressions not converted really."