Secrets behind the Most Successful App Launches

When launching a mobile app, ensure your idea meets the current market demands, and consider these secrets from the most successful app launches like Instagram and Snapchat. 

Some people believe success is a result of hard work, while some think it comes from luck. Interestingly, none of them holds any water regarding launching a successful app that will drive good revenue. To successful launch an app, you require something more than hard work and luck. It would help if you had an edge to make your project stand out from the rest in the market. 

The first secret is creating an app that has a high market demand and can be helpful to users. You will discover whether you have achieved this after you launch a beta version and allow people to test it. From their feedback, you will know what works and what doesn’t. However, that is not enough for your app to skyrocket.

Below is a detailed analysis of the most successful app launches. Read them careful to establish what helped these start-ups penetrate every smartphone market quickly. 

Instagram: Invited Influencers

Kevin Systrom, the founder of Instagram, has one of the most successful app launches. He let the company’s Minimum Viable Product to be reviewed by tech influencers, like Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey. Once Jack started using the app, he began sharing pictures with his Twitter followers. It took a short time for a word-of-mouth to spread about the revolutionary app. 

There were 25,000 Instagram users within the first 24 hours of the launch, 300,000 within three weeks, and the number kept on swelling till there were tens of millions of users. The timing of the group to release the app immediately after the iPhone 4 launch was another positive catalyst. iPhone 4 had a super camera and large screen, becoming a perfect combination with Instagram. 

Another secret that helped Instagram was how they made their application capable of sending photos to popular social media websites, such as Twitter and Facebook. This implied the pictures were not locked into the app. The founders also ensured that images start uploading immediately after they are taken.  

Snapchat: Created Excitement in their Target Audience

The Snapchat launch is one of “the most successful app launches in history.” The founders of Snapchat first drew attention to their project at Stanford University, where they familiarized the app with their college colleagues. However, it did not gain much popularity until high school students began using the app. Within one year, the Snapchat became a popular messaging app amongst teenagers.

Some analysts attributed the stable growth of Snapchat to its group messaging feature. Instead of sending a single message to every person, a user can send a “snap” to many people at once. It is like sending messages to a group of people simultaneously. The major difference is that snaps ignite personal feelings in the recipients that cannot be realized via regular group messaging apps.  

Evernote: Attracted Attention from the Press

When Phil Libin was asked to explain the exponential growth of Evernote, he credited the first press coverage of their closed beta app as the fuel behind it. The company proceeded to attract millions of users in subsequent years. 

The closed beta was definitely what caused the growth. A few days from its initial press coverage, thousands of users signed up for Evernote’s own beta version. The first group of users told their families and friends about it, giving the closed beta a high word-of-mouth traffic. 

Evernote used a unique marketing strategy during its infancy stage, which entailed availing their app to every platform and gadget in the market. For example, if a new smartphone was invented, Evernote would prepare an app compatible with it. This gave Evernote a strong competitive edge over its competitors. 

Clear: Kept it Simple & Unique

The Clear App was designed very uniquely, drawing a mark of distinction from its competitors. The app has no buttons since it was meant to have a simple user interface. Compare that with other to-do-list apps that contain multiple buttons and other complex functions that are difficult to use. Since the Clear App was easy to figure out and use, the masses quickly began to love it. 

The founders of Clear exploited a marketing strategy that involved getting coverage from tech blogs. They released teaser videos and previews of the project before its launch. They also invited some members of the press to test the beta version of the app and give their feedback, attracting more attention. 

Clear was first released in January 2012 during the MacWorld conference. The founders uploaded a video demo of their project into Vimeo, and it had more than 814,000 views. This helped create a lot of gossip and interest in the app before its February 2012 launch date.  

Camera+: Used Social Media Aggressively

The Camera+ founders announced the launch of their product through popular social media sites that are compatible with the app. For instance, if a user used Camera+ to take a photo, they could email or share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr. By then, no other application had a sharing feature like Camera+. Besides, the founders advertised the release by conducting a contest that awarded potential customers with camera devices worth $10,000. They also spread the message about their app on their mailing list that had more than 70,000 subscribers. 

Another secret that the founders used was exploiting the international market from the start. They acknowledged that the rest of the world did not have an app like theirs. They launched it to the global market and received a quick response in the Apple Store. It even emerged as the App of the Week in the Apple Store at one point. 

Conclusion

Creating an app that has a high market demand and helpful to people is not the only success factor. Inviting influencers, creating excitement in your target audience, attracting attention from the press, keeping your app simple and unique, and using social media aggressively are some of the catalysts for a successful app launch.