
Ask HN: Why my app marketing approach is not working? [videos included] - GeorgeAAsadi
Hi Hackernews,<p>As I was struggling with phone addiction, I decided to create an app to help me control my addiction while enjoying the benefits of social media and smart-phones.<p><i></i> What does &quot;No Notification Hour&quot; do?
It disables notifications for an hour and at the end of the hour will let you receive all the notifications that you have missed.<p><i></i> what have I done up to this point?
I have created 4 sets of ads for Facebook up to this point, spending nearly 20 GBP, and getting 4 installs through them.
The ads contained 2 videos, one for young students in the UK and USA, and the other for young persons who live in Latin America and like meditating.<p>I don&#x27;t know what another group of people I should promote it to that would give me a better result than the ones I have received.<p>I have created the following videos and used them for my facebook ads.<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=s5OR2K6JgZY<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=bj9mJNV49G0<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=XFu41abtPIA<p>None  of my approaches to bring more people to use my app  does not seem to  be working. Can anyone help me find out what&#x27;s wrong  with bringing more  people to use it.<p>Is there any way for me to improve on the marketing aspects? or is my product just not fit for the market?<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;play.google.com&#x2F;store&#x2F;apps&#x2F;details?id=com.asadiltd.notificationmanager<p>Many thanks,
George
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rahimnathwani
A few thoughts:

1\. The sample is likely too small to draw strong conclusions.

2\. What happened after those 4 people installed your app is a good place to
start looking for answers. Did they open the app? Did they look around the
app's screens? Did the enable it?

3\. From reading the play store listing, it's unclear why I would want to use
this app. How is it different from my phone's built-in 'Do Not Disturb'
feature, which can be enabled in just a couple of taps?

4\. Your UI seems a bit complex. For example, your second screenshot on Play
shows an entirely blank screen, with _all_ functionality hidden in a menu
activated after tapping on three dots.

5\. It looks like a pre-release beta, which might put some people off. e.g. in
your first screenshot on Play, the header says NoNotificationHour. It's very
unusual for UI text to use camel case, so I guess it wasn't a deliberate
choice.

6\. Have a friend try out the app. Uninstall the app from your phone, open
your app's page in the Play app, and hand the phone to your friend. Tell them
you made the app and want them to install and try it. But _don 't_ say
anything else. Just observe them and listen to what they say without
responding.

------
PaulHoule
I think you are underestimating the scale of the work required.

What you are paying per app install is typical. In any real business, 5 pounds
to acquire a customer is OK.

~~~
GeorgeAAsadi
thanks for your comment. What else can I work on?

My problem is that it would be alright to be paying 5 pounds if I was selling
something, but right now I have put the app for free on the play store to
reach some users initially before selling it. Should I try out making a paid
version of the app for 5 pounds and advertise it?

~~~
PaulHoule
Back when I was a physics graduate student there was an old guy who ran the
stockroom who sold candy bars for half of what they cost in the vending
machine. This meant he was buying them for 40 cents and selling them for 30
cents on the honor system.

One day he saw there was less money in the till than he expected and I told
him that he should have expected to lose money and he said "I expected to lose
money, I didn't expect to lose that much money!"

Unless you have a profitable business plan there is no "cost to acquire a
customer" which is low enough. This is particularly true when it comes to
internet advertising where you are competing against app installs where people
expect to make money (either in terms of the cost of the app or in-app
purchases) and also where it is scalable. (You could spend 200, 2000, 20000 or
more pounds advertising it.)

Here is my crazy idea, which the app store probably won't let you do.

One way to make people stick to a commitment (say not smoking) would be that
if you screw up you have to make a donation to some organization you hate. How
about some app that charges you for breaking your commitments?

