We have completed 96% of the skin-graphics for Grades 2.0. I (Josh) have posted the first teaser screenshot of Grades 2.0.
It doesn’t reveal any new features (although 2.0 will have new features galore). But it will give you a sense of the new look.
Just go to: http://www.gradesapp.com/blog
Introducing Grades Blog
Hi, this is Josh Olson, Jeremy’s brother.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know that Jeremy has spent a lot of time thinking about how to market iPhones apps, with an emphasis on a strong launch.
It worked. But sales have slowed down since the launch. Instead of being depressed, I think this is a fantastic opportunity to discover the secrets to long-term iPhone marketing and profitability. To make Grades profitable in the long-term, in version 2.0 we will be experimenting with iAds and in-app purchases to generate more sustained income (see Jeremy’s post on iAds 1 cent per impression and $2 per click). Because we can’t afford a traditional marketing campaign, our marketing strategy will center around networking on Twitter and on my new Grades blog, where I will be sharing things I’ve learned from college to help students get good grades without excess sweat and stress.
My plan is to reach as many college students as possible through the blog; this will expose them to our app. This will open doors further networking and more exposure in the online college community.
So the story continues. I’ll be posting about what I learn as well as various thoughts on iPhone marketing and design as they come up.
In short: Grades has been prominently featured by Apple in their “New and Noteworthy” section!
A lot of people have been asking me how Grades has been going. My answer so far has been “pretty good for an indy app.” I didn’t want to give any hard numbers until I have more data. I was also waiting for last night because my final card had not yet been played.
Now it has. Apple noticed.
I have been obsessing over ways to get Apple’s attention. A big launch is part of it. Networking with employees on Twitter is another part. But I think the most important technique I found was to build respect in the iPhone developer community (via this blog and Twitter). I think this respect trickled down to Apple.
Grades has been blasting up the charts. At the time of writing Grades is #6 in Education. We’ll see if this is enough to break the top 100. I think it’s possible.
There is still a lot to learn and the journey has just begun but at this point I would like to thank all my friends and fellow developers for all that you have done to help me get to this point. Yeah!
If you’re new, Grades is the app I’ve been working on for a year now. It allows students to see the scores they need on their upcoming assignments, tests, and finals in order to hit the grade they want.
Chances are you’re not a student. If I were you, I would pick up a copy any way. I’ve done my best to practice what I preach so I hope you can draw some inspiration from the UI; I’m doing some things I haven’t seen done in other apps (the whole background scrolls like a drawer, for example).
Get it now for 99 cents (intro price, will discuss later): App Store Link.
And check out the new gradesapp.com.
Let the games begin!
@thetweetblaster put it well: “My @gradesapp senses are tingling, tomorrow is the big day!”
Yesterday I announced on Twitter that Apple has approved Grades and I will be launching it on Monday. The support from you my fellow developers, and some of my great friends in the Mac press (especially MacStories) has been phenomenal! I’ve had so many questions answered, so many RTs, so much buzz built up on Twitter. So big thanks to everyone!
Though I know I worked hard to make Grades attractive, I am still amazed at the kind of excitement people are showing. Here are a few samples:
@NullFear: “I am DYING for @gradesapp to come out!”
@simple_reviews: “We cannot wait to review @gradesapp!”
@viticci: “You guys in college should look forward to @gradesapp. It’s awesome.”
A lot more like that can be found on Twitter and in the comments for the MacStories preview.
I guess that was what I was going for all along. Its just kind of surprising to see that kind of buzz in real life.
But yeah, tomorrow is the day I have been anticipating for an entire year. I’ve got a bunch of sites lined up for coverage. Here goes nothing!
Update: by the way, the reasoning behind launching on a Monday is as follows: Apple’s rank algorithm is based on a 4-day period. I want students to be in their classes, taking tests, etc. during that full four day period (monday through thursday) so that students are thinking about their grades and show their classmates. I set the release date to Tuesday so that tomorrow morning (Eastern Time) I can set the release date back to Monday and have the app released all at the same time. This way the app will hopefully be high on the “release date” page when most folks are awake.
Peek at the Grades 1.0 website
I’ve been caught between two strong forces this entire year: one, trying to make the app the best it can possibly be, and two, wanting to call it a day and actually start making money from it. I have to say that the app is *not* perfect yet—there are still improvements and refinements I wish I could have implemented before launch but I think its going to be okay, you have to stop somewhere.
I do know that the reaction from beta testers has dramatically changed since I launched the beta program a few months ago. It went from “hey, thats cool, it will help me” to “Wow. AWESOME!” That wow is what I’ve been after all this time, it’s what motivates sharing. I’ve recently learned that word of mouth can drive an app into the top charts without the help of the press or Apple—more on that later but its from a very reputable source. This makes “share-ability” key, which means your app has go the extra mile to be remarkable.
We all cringed when we heard about Furbo’s release-date nightmare. Until recently, Apple allowed developers to choose the release date of their app (assuming it is approved in time). Great. The problem was that the app store’s sort by “release date” function, key in catching the eyes of casual app store shoppers, actually sorted by *approval date*. So to Furbo’s horror, when their app hit the app store (on the release date they set and a few days after it was approved), their app started out pages deep into the “release-date” section of their category. There were ways around this problem but they all meant that we developers had no control of when our apps were actually released.
Thankfully, it looks like that problem has been fixed. David Barnard of App Cubby told me his latest app was approved on Friday and then sorted appropriately when it was released on Monday. This is good news for everybody. It means we can actually plan on a release date and be able to tell the press when they can expect the app to come out (so they can have their reviews ready in time).
Another quick note: I’ve gotten anecdotal evidence from Twitter that the app review team does indeed work on the weekends.
Enough for now. This next week is going to be exciting.
So I’m nearing the home-stretch with the development of Grades, slowly but surely inching toward the finish line. I pushed my internal release date from late 2009 to January to early February and now, well, mid-March is the plan—soon after Spring Break ends for most major universities. Grades would have been a good app if I had released it a month ago but it wouldn’t have been too remarkable and there are still a few details I am working on to add that extra bit of awesomeness.
For the sake of mutual learning, I’ll be very transparent about my launch plan. Here goes:
This is important. Taking the steps that follow would not be nearly as profitable were it not for my previous marketing activity, here’s a summary:
I did other stuff too, like maintaining a Facebook page, designing a nice promo website with a mailing list, making a video for the App Star awards, gained a nice community of beta testers etc. etc. but I think the value of those efforts pale in comparison to the value I have gained from my social media efforts. Its not mainly the number of people who follow me or subscribe to my blog but the quality of people I’ve been able to talk to and connect with—people who I’ve always admired and who are influencers in the community. I feel gaining respect in the community may turn out to be the most profitable “marketing” I will ever do. Its hard, but I think its worth it.
So from there, lets take a look at my plan for the next few weeks:
I’ve prioritized my development tasks so that I finish design/polish tasks first and the other less obvious tasks later (i.e. localization, obscure bug fixes, and feature requests that don’t have a huge impact on the bottom line). This will allow me to have a very polished pre-release copy to show influential friends, press, and review websites.
With a full school/work schedule I haven’t had much time to blog recently. I do have some really interesting posts in the pipeline, some of which may garner some extra interest. For example, one of my upcoming posts contains some great insights from some correspondence I had with a developer you have probably heard of.
I have also been invited to guest blog for a website where my writing would be featured alongside articles by some of my favorite and most respected thinkers. If the first article goes over well it could really help build my personal brand, which always helps in getting press coverage and making connections. I also think I’ll learn a lot from the experience.
Once the “preview-able” version is ready, I’ll connect with some of the fine folks who run prominent blogs and app review sites and invite them to take my app for a spin with the hope that they would either preview the app to generate pre-launch buzz or post a review of the app the day it launches (giving them at least a week to write the review before launching so that all the reviews can come out at once). I’ll prepare for this by coming up with a great video, description, and press package. I’ll also try to engage these individuals on Twitter as much as possible before sending them an email. Cold calling can be fruitful but warm doors are much better.
It is crucial, especially for the big sites, to find out the individuals who would be most likely to find your app interesting and pitch them specifically (hint: it probably won’t be the top dog). I’ll also offer some of the bigger blogs some promo codes in case they would like to hold contests.
List of sites I plan to pitch to (please, let me know if I’m missing any crucial ones):
Update: some more (thanks Chris, Marco, and Fares!)
I’ve got some great connections with local press, which I hope to take full advantage of come launch time. I also plan to get buzz going at my campus. I started a few weeks ago with an email to all students in the Computer Science and SIS departments announcing the Grades beta (which was quite fruitful). I’m going to see if I can get another email out to the broader student population and I’m also going to post posters all over campus come launch day.
When the app gets approved, I’ll send an email to all the people who have written reviews letting them know its publish time. I’ll also push the news to Tapity.com, Twitter, and the mailing list (right now 65 people have asked to be notified but I hope to grow that significantly before launch). The key is to get as much buzz as possible in a 1-4 day window—enough buzz to put you on the charts or get noticed by Apple, starting the snowball effect.
And thats it. I had planned to do a extravagant contest/Facebook deal but I no longer have the time to follow up on that; gotta know my limits. I’ll be sure to post progress reports as I go—would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Here is a quickie. I’ve been busy finishing up Grades and wanted to show off a few details I’ve been working on recently, related to metaphor and realism. If done right, metaphor and realism can enhance an app’s personality and level of engagement, making your app worth talking about (people tend to share engaging experiences).
Go ahead and watch the short video above.
I’ve chosen a “drawer” metaphor, so when the app opens, the drawer opens up with some audio feedback. When the user scrolls, the wood background also scrolls (rather than just the paper on top, as most apps do). This gives the illusion that you are moving the actual drawer up and down. Finally, if you scroll too far down, you expose the drawer knob and the floor underneath it, just as you would expect.
Let me know what you think.
Update: the video is set to public now (used to be private, sorry!)
Sneak peak of one of the interactions I am designing
This is what I am focusing on now and I’m really happy with the progress. I am asking myself the question, how can I make interacting with the app fun? How can I give the app a personality of its own? Think Tapbots and TapTapTap’s apps. They go beyond the usable and into the realm of fun. These are the kind of apps people show their friends.
I am not saying that all apps need to be fun. Sometimes usable is good enough (i.e. serious apps like Documents to Go). But, if you can make a mundane task—calculating the grade you need on your next test—fun, that is remarkable. Its something to talk about, something to share.
You only have one chance to launch your app so it better be big. For this you need to build pre-launch buzz and a following who will buy the app on day one. That is the purpose of gradesapp.com.
I tried to make it very simple so that anybody who is slightly interested in the app will not hesitate to do what I want: give me their email. The results have been quite good so far.
Now the trick will be to drive lots of traffic to this page. I have some ideas.
One quick note: I designed this for the most part but I hired Matthew Miller, a very talented web developer still in highschool, to implement it. He also ended up helping designing some of the details that I was too lazy to do myself. It has been a great experience for both of us and he is currently working on implementing the second stage of the website. I’ll get to that later.
Speaking of marketing, if you like Grades I would sure appreciate your comments on my AppStar Awards entry (its a finalist).
