Windows 10 opens the widest spectrum of devices to run your apps on. This provides tremendous opportunities but at the same time presents challenges of exposing your app to a mix of different types of users and monetizing it in such a diverse universe of usage scenarios. In this talk we will look at the ways of tackling just that.

2. Alan Mendelevič
@ailon
The Business Side of
Windows 10 Apps

5. Who am I?
Alan Mendelevich
alan@adduplex.com
@ailon

6. Agenda
• What and why?
• Making money
• Getting users

7. Windows app ecosystem
• 4 indie developers made more
than $1,000,000
• Random Salad Games made more
than $1,000,000 from ads
• 1 indie game made more than
$9,000 per day from IAPs
• Game Insight made “millions of
dollars”
• 16 million+ downloads of apps
made by Rudy Huyn

8. App gold rush is over

9. Did you know…

10. WTH am I
trying to do?

11. Hobby?

13. Contracts?

14. Apps are my business

15. Developer’s Work Cycle
Task Deliverables Money
Employee/Contract developer
Task Deliverables Money
Entrepreneur developer
SALE
SALE

16. What do I build?

17. Getting ideas and inspiration
The Daily Practice
“Every day I write down ideas. I write down
so many ideas that it hurts my head to
come up with one more. Then I try to write
down five more.
…
The “idea muscle” atrophies within days
if you don’t use it. Just like walking. If you
don’t use your legs for a week, they atrophy.
You need to exercise the idea muscle. It
takes about 3-6 months to build up once it
atrophies. Trust me on this.”
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/

18. Original vs. “me-too”

19. “One of Jobs’s talents was
spotting markets that were
filled with second-rate
products.”

21. Top AppCampus alumni
From hobby to
Xbox Live
Music game #1, funding5 million
downloads
Megahit?

22. Atley Hunter
500+ apps

23. Release date is a feature!
“… this was quite important since it got a
lot of attention for being the first real
picture effects / photo filter app in the
market. The big blogs like Gizmodo,
Engadget and MSNBC covered a few of
the must have WP7 apps and Pictures
Lab got featured in all. I guess that
helped to jump start the app.”
René Schulte, PicturesLab

24. With every SDK/OS release
there’s a chance to be the first
to utilize some previously
unavailable capability

25. Getting return on your investment

26. Paid (Premium) Apps
• Set a competitive price
• Consider psychology
• Consider who and where
your customer is
• Set a price that makes
business sense
• Can’t try == won’t buy

27. Freemium/Trial
• Nobody buys paid apps anymore
• 10x+ more downloads

28. Free-to-play/In-app purchases
• The most popular monetization method
on all platforms
• Requires specific app/game design to be
successful
• Be careful

30. 3rd party payment services no
longer supported in new apps.
All apps starting June 2016.

31. In-app advertising
• Best suited for frequently
launched, long running apps
and games
• Not every ad network accepts
developers from every country
• Low revenue predictability

32. Fill rate

33. Mitigating low fill rate
Ad Provider 1
Ad Provider 2
Ad Provider N
Cross promotion or “house ad”

34. Ads in Mobile Apps and Games 101
Free ebook
http://adplx.co/eBookAds

35. What’s new in Windows 10
• Subscriptions
• Affiliate program
• Promo codes
• Discounts on IAPs
• New device types (Xbox, IoT,
HoloLens)

36. What’s new in 2016
• Managed consumables
• Downloadable content
• Bundles
• Pre-orders
• Scheduled price changes
• and more…
(watch sessions from Build 2016)

37. Crowdsource ideas
for new features
CrowdSource.CrowdFund.CrowdMarket
Let your loyal fans help you grow your business.
Crowdfund the
development of these ideas
Crowd-promote
their availability
A P P S T R E TC H . C O M

38. So, which model should I choose?
• Did I design the app with F2P/IAPs in mind?
• Can I “extract” any premium functions?
• Would people run my app often and stay in it
for prolonged periods of time?
• Am I solving a unique important problem in
some niche?

39. Survey stats

40. User Acquisition

41. Don’t monetize
your app from
day one!

42. Don’t monetize your app from day one
Giving your app away is
the cheapest and most
effective marketing
instrument you have.

43. App Store Optimization (ASO)
App’s name, rating, price and tile.
That is all users see.

44. ASO: keywords

45. Beta versions
Release betas. Beta-testers
will be your first evangelists.
Kudos to Domagoj for
wpbeta.me!

46. User feedback
Control the flow of
user feedback:
Good feedback
should go into the
store. Bad feedback –
into your mailbox.
Good feedback
Bad feedback

47. Localization
http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2015/04/15/windows-and-windows-phone-store-trends-april-2015-update/

48. Publication
Provide as many “optional”
materials as possible.
This improves your chances
of getting featured.

49. Don’t auto-publish
You want to be in
control of the moment
your app hits the Store.

50. Online presence
• Site
• Video

51. Free user acquisition

52. Blogs, forums, specialized sites
• WindowsCentral.com
• WMPowerUser.com
• 1800PocketPC.com
• OneTile.ru
• WindowsPhoneLovers.it

53. “We’re here to act as a liaison
between you and your
customers, if you ignore us
you’re not taking advantage
of your largest Windows
Phone resource and that is
just bad business.”
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief
WindowsCentral

54. Store featuring
• Be ready
• Get in front of the
right people

55. Word-of-mouth
The only realistic way to get
users at scale without
“scientific” approach to
monetization and paid user
acquisition.

56. Jump-starting word-of-mouth
• Integrate social networks into your apps
• Actively promote your app in social media
• Track and react to feedback
• Show your app to everyone everywhere

57. Demo: AppRaisin

58. Cross-promotion
• Don’t forget to advertise your
other apps in each of your apps
• Swap adds with other friendly
developers
• Participate in cross-promotion
networks

59. Empowering Windows
Phone and Windows
Store app and game
developers to help
each other grow.

60. Step 1:
Create an ad for your app
Step 2: Place a line of
code into it and start
advertising other apps
Step 3:
They promote yours in return

61. What’s the catch?
You show
You get

62. AdDuplex HERO Apps
http://adduplex.com/hero

63. Paid user acquisition

64. On the web
• Blogs
• Specialized sites
• BuySellAds.com
• AdWords, Bing Ads
• Facebook
• etc.

65. In apps
• Microsoft Dev Center
• AdDuplex
• AdMob
• Smaato
• vserv.mobi

66. In discovery/”app-of-the-day” apps
Apps advertising special
deals, temporarily free apps,
etc.
• myAppFree
• AppDeals
• AppRaisin

67. How much does it cost?

68. If you know Lifetime Value of your
average user, you know how much
you can spend on user acquisition.

69. To summarize…Product
• In demand
• Better than
competition
Businessmodel
• Appropriate
for the
product
• Logical
• Profitable
UA
• Effective
• Persistent
• Economically
sound

70. Thank you!
Alan Mendelevič
Founder & CEO
AdDuplex
alan@adduplex.com
@ailon
download the book at
http://adplx.co/eBookAds

71. Ne zaboravite ispuniti upitnike.
Čekaju vas vrijedne nagrade!