

Ask HN: Apple is featuring one of my apps. Should I drop the price to $0.99? - albertogh

Apple has posted a review of one of my apps in the App Store's official Facebook page. Its price is $2.99 and it's currently ranking 27th on iPhone and 16th on iPad in its category (News).<p>I'm thinking in lowering the price to $0.99 for the weekend, but I see both upsides and downsides:<p>Upsides:
- More sales
- More exposure, since it will climb the rankings higher<p>Downsides:
- I might make less money
- Some users who bought the app might be annoyed when they see I dropped to price to $0.99 just after they bought it (this one specially worries me)<p>So, dear HN, what would you do?<p>App Store's official FB page: http://www.facebook.com/AppStore<p>Printful (my app) http://itunes.apple.com/app/printful/id385487729?mt=8
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nickythegreek
You could split the difference, with $1.99. People who already paid wont be so
irk'ed, and others will be more likely to find value in your app at the new
pricepoint.

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bretpiatt
Users that paid $2.99 shouldn't be upset. When making a purchase decision they
decided it was worth that to them. The future lower price could have saved
them $2.00 but it isn't a reason to get upset. If you spend time all of your
life being bitter by the fact you could have gotten a better deal if you just
waited... well this is how bubbles happen.

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nickythegreek
When an app is more then 99 cents, one of the key things I look for in the
Description field is upcoming features. It makes me find more value in the
app, because I believe the developers are actively working on updates and I
will be more likely to purchase the app knowing that its feature set will be
increasing.

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kingofspain
I had in my mind that this kind of thing was grounds for rejection by app
reviewers. Though I admittedly haven't read the guidelines in many months so I
may very well be wrong.

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brudgers
Why not double the price?

[http://jacquesmattheij.com/Double+your+price+(and+no,+Im+not...](http://jacquesmattheij.com/Double+your+price+\(and+no,+Im+not+kidding\))

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albertogh
Very interesting article, but I don't think that would apply to the App Store.
Selling more copies increases your rankings, which in turn helps you get more
exposure and more sales. That's not applicable to the website which offers a
service for a monthly fee.

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brudgers
Are you in it for rankings or revenue? Cutting your price to a third may not
triple your sales - $2.99 is still nominally free.

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sambeau
So I see you did it. How did it go? Did it make a difference?

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rick_2047
Hey people bought it for 2.99 right? What makes you think that more people
won't pay that price? It has a nice ranking and all, why not just take
nickythegreek's advice and add a upcoming features list.

You may also put a lite version out there which will cost .99. Just saying,
not an experienced person here.

~~~
albertogh
That's a good point. I already have a $0.99 iPhone-only version. The "full"
version which is priced a $2.99 supports both iPhone and iPad. However, the
$0.99 version sells really badly. Around 5% of the full version. I'd say it's
because reviewers have only focused in the universal app and users are not
finding the iPhone only version.

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nika
I'm experienced with the appstore, including having an app that sells for the
same price and leveraging short term exposure by lowering the price.

Absolutely lower your price to $0.99. The goal here is not to maximize revenue
for the short period apple is featureing you, but to maximize momentum for the
next week or two.

If you have viral features, such as sharing, etc, then you have a chance of
sparking a lot of further growth by having new people introduced who then
share it.

Never once had anyone complain about the price being lowered.

