How do you know if your launch is "good" or you are way off? And where do you advertise?
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How do you know if your app launch is going well or if it is bad? I mean, obviously, if you have zero downloads, I would assume bad, but also, is it? I know there are a bajillion apps in the app store so how are people going to find yours?
I launched my app 7 days ago, and in true founder fashion, I am super impatient, looking every single day at how many downloads, how many paid downloads, etc. So far in 7 days, I have 10 downloads. So here I am thinking, is it a flop?
Where are you all advertising? Thank you for any advice in advance. Jennifer
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Hedy AI
One thing that really helps id talking to every early user. Even a handful of real conversations can tell you more than the download count along.
@kate_sleeman How do you know who the users are to reach out to them? Or are you finding people you know to test it out? I am really super green on how this side of things works. Thank you!
Me watching daily numbers would probably feel furstrating too. Early launches are often about learning instead of scalling. Have you asked every downloader wht they installed and what almost stopped them from trying it.
@hana_salazars I can see that. In the week since I launched I have 4 updates already!
Serand
Seven days feels way too early to call it a success or a failure. I'd pay more attention to whether people come back and use the app again than just the first download numbers.
Hey Jennifer! First off, 10 downloads in week one is definitely not a flop, it's just the very start of the process.
I don't know what your business model is, but I can share how I've been looking at this with my own app, since I'm in a similar boat right now trying to figure out marketing.
My app has a low, one-time price tag with no subscription. And looking at paid ads, the math just doesn't work at all: the cost to get a single user through ads is way higher than what the app actually costs.
Looking at my own unit economics, here's the picture I see: a cheap impulse-buy app kind of needs two things:
Some initial momentum for virality. The idea is that people see others using it, get an emotional reaction, and just buy it on the spot. But on small numbers, that viral engine takes a really long time to warm up. You kind of need a decent chunk of eyes on it first for that math to start moving.
Organic content as a volume game. Since paid traffic is out, I'm basically focusing on posting short videos and testing different angles to see what hits the algorithm.
It feels a lot like a patience game. For context, I had one video recently reach about 35k views, and that brought in 30 sales. Not millions of views by any means, but it gave me a hunch that it's just a matter of time and trying enough attempts until a video really lands 🙌
@mike_kosenkov Thank you Mike! This is great information. I decided today that I will look at the progress once a week so I don't get too obsessed. Ironically, my app is a journal app for founders so they can see how far they have come and not be frustrated by the lack of progress they frequently feel. SO.... I should just journal and let my journal help me...
I did a video on my personal FB, on my TikTok. I have a YouTube and podcast (very new though) so I figure I will utilize those too. I appreciate the info you shared!
10 downloads in week one does not automatically mean the launch is bad.
I’m in a similar stage with a new product right now. We are not running paid ads yet. We are using our existing products to identify relevant users and invite them to try it, but the growth and usage are still small, often single digits per day. So I understand the impatience very well.
The hard part is separating “distribution is weak” from “the product is not working.” They can look the same in the numbers, but the fixes are different.
A few signals matter more early on:
- where the users came from
- whether they completed the first meaningful action
- whether anyone came back
- whether anyone replied, complained, or asked a question
If there is no traffic, it may be discovery. If people arrive but do not activate, it may be positioning or onboarding. If they activate but do not return, it may be the value loop.
I’d be cautious with ads before that is clear. Early conversations in founder communities, niche forums, LinkedIn, and direct outreach may teach more than paid traffic because you can hear the objections directly.
Happy to compare notes with others going through the same early growth stage.
I shipped @vocalai with one feature on day 1. Since then I've added 7+ more based purely on what real users asked for or what friction I could see in the trial data. The scope creep temptation is real but the question I keep asking is: does this make the core use case faster or better? If not, it waits.