5 Lessons From Month One Of A Shopify Apps SAAS Business
As the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. With seven years of experience designing, building and marketing mobile apps on iOS and Android, I thought I knew well how to do the same thing in the Shopify App Store. You know, things like create content videos, reach out to people in the Shopify ecosystem, promote on social media, do email marketing, gets tons of reviews and of improve SEO.
I released Translate Pro, my first Shopify app, several weeks ago intending to dominate the store with my solid plan to achieve success. It turns out, marketing on different platforms requires different strategies. I learned quickly I needed to adapt or risk failing hard.
I’ve spent about three to four hours on my original plan in the last three weeks, with abut 60 so far retooling my strategy — learning from others and making the necessary improvements. I know this latter time will not be wasted long term and will definitely grow my business, but I sure wish I had a handy guide to flatten that learning curve a little before launching.
Following are five fundamental lessons I learned that I hope can help other first-time Shopify app creators.
Lesson 1 — Prioritize customer support
On Day 1 of launching, we were flooded with customers reaching out, asking questions, and looking for support. Our app is intended to help merchants — the have their own business to look out for afterall. They want prompt, informative answers and quick resolutions to any issues they may have.
Customer service is taking up two to three hours of time each day, time and resources we did not plan for at that level. As with any business, customer satisfaction if a huge part of success. As a result, we are adding a Customer Support SuperHero to our team.
Lesson 2 — Understanding merchants’ behaviour
Very early, I noticed that merchants would install Translate Pro and then a few minutes later uninstall — clearly I wanted to know why. Was it because of defect in our app? Is this the market in general? Merchants did not respond to our inquiries (I understand, they’re busy too!) on why they installing and quickly uninstalling so I reached out to an app development community to ask for suggestions on what to do. It was recommended that I add software to help understand merchants’ behaviours better. So that’s what I did — installing the very cool and powerful LuckyOrange, which has helped track user behaviours which allows me to get a better understanding.
I had no plans to use a tracking software or have a customer service system implemented this soon, however, as I’ve learned, it’s key to starting things off right.
Lesson 3 — Only 20% of the way there
Getting Translate Pro live on the app store was only the beginning — we have a long way to go. When the app went live, I thought we had a solid base and that in time, of course, we would need to make changes to improve the app. But I soon realized the app was only essentially 20 per cent done and it would be dramatically different than when we launched.
For example, I created an onboarding experience which had detailed write ups and indepth explanations that showed off the app’s features. Merchants don’t have time for this — as they same, time is money and they didn’t want to waste theirs wading through text to figure out how to use an app. I went back to the drawing board, stripping away most of the tactics that would work in other markets. As a result, I am looking at having a two-tier approach. First, have a simple version that works and address the reason they are downloading Translate Pro, then have all the features and customization features available for them when they are ready.
We also tried to make the look and feel generic hoping it would work for everyone’s store, but merchants told us how they needed the app to work for their store in different ways — from adjusting size, no floating pop-ups etc. Because of this feedback, we have added several customization features that have made merchants happy.
It is critical to connect with store owners and let them tell you how to make your app better. This means listening to how they want to use it and making it user friendly for as many people as possible. This also means preparing yourself to think about how the app is always a work in progress.
Lesson 4 — Reviews matter, but don’t happen on Day 1
Reviews matter but they will not come easy. I thought asking store owners nicely to review Translate Pro, would be a no brainer to getting a lot of good reviews. I learned you cannot ask someone who has used your app for a day to give you a review and expect them to say yes. It is like proposing on the first date.
I asked a fellow developer whose apps had thousands of reviews how to efficiently get merchants to review you. The answer: good customer support.
And here is why Lesson 1 is important. When a merchant receives great customer service and are satisfied with your app, you can ask them to review you (don’t say five star review — that’s just against the rules). Good customer service = good reviews. Bonus: the merchants also then share your app and their experience with others. They become your evangelist with others in their community and that has a viral effect.
Remember: it’s a long game.
Lesson 5 — No one cares
I learned quickly as an entrepreneur that no cares about your brand when you’re starting out — they care about how you or your product or app can help them solve a problem or make their life easier. This is 10 times true in the Shopify app business, so you need to hustle, find things out on your own, and be persistent.
I contacted 20 store owners twice before I got three responses regarding why they uninstalled Translate Pro. A store owner commented recently, “You have been quite persistent to find out why I did not use your app on Shopify!” Yes, it’s the only way to improve.
I cannot expect store owners to proactively tell me what issues they have with my app. I need to be the one proactively seeking feedback and opportunities to create something better. This is a big part of the job and another reason I am bringing on a Customer Service Superhero.
And of course, if store owners do talk to you, respect their time.
I wrote this because I had to do a lot of my own research from multiple sources about how to successfully launch a Shopify app. The resources at Shopify does a great job in helping developers, however until the app goes live, there’s only so much you can do. When Translate Pro was launched, I faced a new set of challenges, including the ones above.
Everyone starting out will always have challenges, but I hope these lessons are useful in making the leap from development to launch a little easier.
Connect with me online if you have any questions or feedback:
Shopify App Store Translate Pro
