CaddieThe bottom line
Soft launch your app with a cheap prototype before the worldwide release, so you gain early users and learn what works. Marketing, not development, is the hardest part, so money and effort belong there.
Key takeaways
- Marketing is the biggest challenge for app publishers, not development. 2:42
- In the Business Insider and Mobi study, 43% named marketing and only 17% named development.
- One founder spent tens of thousands on building and had $1,000 left to launch.
- A soft launch needs only a cheap prototype, not a finished app. 4:34
- InVision makes a clickable prototype that someone can try on your phone. Keynote or PowerPoint slides linked by buttons also work.
- The Color Switch creator built a working prototype in a couple of hours to test his idea.
- Content made before launch builds an early audience. 7:13
- A Medium post titled "Hey Apple, I just fixed your camera app" brought 100+ email signups before launch.
- That pre-launch buzz also earned press on The Next Web and strong sales of a paid app.
- Watching real reactions shows which features matter. 9:32
- Testers said "cool" to tap-to-shoot, but the shake-to-flip camera won the big reaction, so it became the lead pitch.
- A TouchArcade forum user asked for single-player offline mode in a social game, which the creator had not planned.
- Watching someone use your app shows whether they understand it. 12:19
- Hand your phone to a newcomer and watch where they tap and where their eyes go.
- You know your app too well to see its confusing parts yourself.
I don't even talk about making it because I feel like that's the easy part.
Steve Young, App Masters
Chapter summaries
0:00 A soft launch balances speed and care
Moving fast matters, but a soft launch works only if you also slow down enough to test the idea.
- Going too fast or too slow both break a launch. 1:40
- Too fast sets you up for failure. Too slow and you chase perfection and never launch.
- Steve Young calls himself all about speed, but wants a balance.
- His biggest fear with any new idea is nobody wants this. He treats that paranoia as the push to talk to people and gauge interest first.
2:42 Creators put their effort in the wrong place
Most creators spend their mind share on development, when the real challenge lies in marketing and design.
- Creators' priorities are the reverse of where the challenge is. 3:14
- Their focus runs from development first, to design, to marketing last.
- Many people tell him I made this app and then ask for help launching it.
- He argues the focus should be more on marketing and design, and less on development.
4:34 Test the idea without writing code
You can get early users with a cheap, code-free prototype before paying a developer.
- A prototype lets people react to the app on their own phone. 5:06
- It acts like a real app when you hand over your phone.
- It does not work for games.
- Watch where people push, and what they say about the designs.
- If you lack design skills, templates exist.
- Content apps can be built from an existing WordPress site. 6:45
- iPresser plugs into your WordPress site and turns it into an app.
- It suits magazine-style, content-driven or ecommerce ideas.
- It costs a few hundred dollars.
7:23 A viral post turns a launch into an audience
A bold, personal headline and a real complaint about a famous app drew readers in before the product existed.
- Big names in the headline grab attention fast. 7:35
- Naming Apple and Steve Jobs made the story personal and made readers curious.
- The post included screenshots to back the claim.
- Its argument: the flash and the selfie flip sit far from the shutter button, though everyone was taking selfies.
- He ends by inviting doubters to check his website or email him.
- A sloppy sign-up form is enough to capture the audience. 8:44
- The form simply emailed him each address, with no MailChimp.
- A virtual assistant in India copied the addresses into a spreadsheet.
- He was "pretty lazy" and only wanted to see if it worked.
- He says the strategy still works today.
9:32 Reactions and forum feedback show which features are true
An idea feels right until real people react, so test features out in the wild.
- Telling people your idea and watching their face is a quick test. 9:36
- A polite "oh that's cool" means little. A big reaction means something.
- Handing over the phone and letting the flip happen on them gave the real "woah".
- He then led every pitch with that feature.
- A forum post can expose what you got wrong about your own plan. 10:48
- His client Jonas posted on TouchArcade, still online from 2016, and offered $700 in prizes.
- Jonas had skipped single-player so friends would play each other, since it is a social game.
- The requester loved the app but still wanted that mode.
12:19 Usability means seeing if users get it
Only an outsider using the app can show whether it is understandable.
- Let people use the app instead of explaining it to them. 12:32
- His pet peeve is founders who walk him through the steps. He asks for the phone instead.
- Founders know the app too well to judge it.
- The question is whether a stranger really understands how to play.
- Shy founders or those far from testers can use affordable remote methods.
In the growth library
Steve P. Young, Founder of App Masters. Explains five reasons to soft launch an app: get early users without building anything, test features, check usability, gauge reactions and find out if anyone wants it. The proof is Steve's own pre-launch blog post that brought 100+ emails and press coverage on The Next Web for a paid camera app.
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