Free App a Day (FAAD) Chronicles: Part 1

Getting exposure on the iTunes App Store is probably the single hardest thing to do as an indie developer.

Generally it comes down to who you know, rather than the quality of your application. If you have a publisher, friends in the press, or venture capital funding, then you are much more likely to get some coverage in a mainstream news outlet, and as a result, featured in iTunes. If not, well too bad so sad, better hope you get lucky!

So for the rest of us there aren’t many options, but one of the few that is out there, and does seem to be working, is Free App a Day (http://www.freeappaday.com).

How does it work?

The concept is pretty simple, you pay them a fee, and then they will promote your app as “Free App of the Day” to their 7million+ subscribers and feature your app on the site. Meanwhile you take your paid app, and make it free temporarily.

Hopefully, your app will receive a massive boost in rankings, shooting you up to the top of your category, and netting you many positive reviews. Then when you restore the pricing, hopefully your app will begin a slow descent down the rankings, collecting additional revenues along the way.

It’s up to you how long you’d like to keep your app free, though they recommend 4-7 days, in order to built up an “army” of user’s to promote your product.

Let’s do it!

I’ve decided to take the FAAD plunge with one of my apps “PicShop HD”.

PicShop HD sold well out of the gate, but it’s sales are now starting to decline.

As of May 7, 2012, PicShop HD has the following metrics:
* iPhone Rank (USA > Photography > Gross): 128
* iPad Rank (USA > Photography > Gross): 94
* Avg Daily Revenue: $147

The total cost I was quoted for the FAAD service was $3000 USD (after $500 discount for a first time user), and the app is scheduled to go live Thursday, May 17th.

Since Sunday/Monday are huge sales days, I’ve decided to keep my App free for only 3 days, it will go free Thursday morning, and remain so until Saturday night. Sunday morning I will flip the switch and set it back to paid, hoping to cash in on two extremely lucrative days Sunday/Monday.

Stay tuned for the followup post where I go over the results and see if this pays off!

[UPDATE] The results are in!

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3 Comments to “Free App a Day (FAAD) Chronicles: Part 1”

  1. Amanda Webster says:

    Your app Photo Touch up pro

    Shows a picture on itunes with beams in the sky however, I can find no way to re-create this using your app.

    Please explain.

    Regards

  2. Joshua says:

    What were the results? Worth it?

  3. Kannan M says:

    Hello
    I came across your article regarding app promotion. Just wanted to check in with you and see what other marketing technique or companies you contacted that promote your app apart from FAAD?

    If you have sometime please give me your insight. Any help is greatly appreciated

    Thanks!
    Kannan

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