Thread by @adamlyttleapps

How I revived a dead app: 💀

A story 👇

In August 2021 I built Intermittent Fasting+ Tracker –

As the name suggests… it's an intermittent fasting app

But 12 months after release it was only producing $3.26 MRR on Google Play 😭

I had spent a lot of time researching the app and adding a lot of valuable information for the user:

– BMI calculation
– track weight loss
– track each stage of the fasting process
– set daily reminders & notifications
– track each stage of the intermittent fasting process

Competing apps were racking up *millions* of downloads and charging upwards of $34.99 for the same functionality 🤷‍♂️

So what was the problem with mine?

When I first built Intermittent Fasting+ Tracker I was young and naive–

Oh, those were the days 👴

I'll admit…

I had no clue about marketing at the time

Let alone App Store Optimisation (ASO)…

But it's a skill I've learned with experience and you can too:

My first mistake:

I was targeting keywords that were *too* competitive

The keyword "intermittent fasting tracker" is ranked 82 / 100 for competitiveness by @appfigures with a low popularity rank of 15 / 100

Even if I ranked for this keyword it would be limited in downloads 😭

The keyword "intermittent fasting" has a similar competitiveness (81/100) but a higher popularity (56/100) according to @appfigures

This keyword would get a sizeable amount of downloads if I ranked well

But it's still too competitive 😭

My next mistake:

The freemium functionality was only targeting power users

The majority of users would never use the advanced timers or functionality…

In fact… to be prompted to upgrade they would need to select a harder intermittent fasting routine

Talk about barriers:

My solution:

Instead of rebuilding the app (or adding new features). I decided to focus on user acquisition over revenue…

Nearly a year after it was released I made the app free

In August 2022 I rebranded as "Fast Tracker & Timer"

To target the keyword "Fast Tracker"

The objective was simple:

By targeting an easier keyword I was building up user reviews and the apps history on Google Play

The result so far:

Now ranking #2 for "fast tracker" 🥳

Downloads:
From ~50 downloads/month
To 861 downloads in June 2023

A 1,622% increase 😳

Since implementing this change the keyword competitiveness of the "fast tracker" keyword has increased substantially

It was in the low 20's in 2022

Now it's 93…

In a few months I'll pivot again and target the keyword "fasting tracker"…

It's a comparative keyword with double the popularity

Currently the app ranks #25 for this keyword and with more reviews and history I think we can break the top 10…

Watch this space