3 years of ABCKit, lessons learned
Our adventure on the App Store
On August of 2011, I began one of the most exciting journeys of my profession.
The path of what I like to dedicate my career on the next following years.
The funny thing is that I wasn’t aware of that. As most of the important things that happen you in life it just appeared quietly, in silence.
3 years ago we released on the App Store our 1st app for kids, ABCKit.
Although they say that an adventure actually starts from the day it’s planned, so technically, it began in March, on a train; like almost all the beautiful and romantic stories… but in this case it was a faulty train, without Internet, and the perfect storm was pouring outside.
When the train started running again, the first email I sent was to my team, telling them of an idea called ABCKit.
The 1st of August, 2011 we launched the app.
Much has happened since then.
It’s been three years of surprises and satisfactions, years of hard work, moments of indecision, and some others, so willing to drop it all.
To date, we’ve had over 12 thousand downloads.
Spain, Mexico and USA lead the countries where it is used.
We were featured as App of the week in Spain, Apple ranked us as the 3rd best app for iPad on iTunes Rewind on 2011 (we didn’t even know this award existed), we won a Golden Laus in the category of mobile phones and tablets (The Laus awards are the most relevant design awards in Spain); Apple selected us as one of its demo apps, being installed by default on all its official partners stores; we were interviewed in Entrepreneur magazine, we were mentioned in El món a RAC1 (Catalonia’s most listened-to radio show), ABCKit was recommended in the newspapers such as El País, La Vanguardia and the Mexican journal El Norte (among others).
The other part of the story is that we have also been sued (that’s a tale for another time); we have received proposals from competitors to copy us, we have been copied; we have had the app removed by “mistake” from the App Store; we have received emails from angry parents because it is not available for Android; we’ve been told that the sound does not work and then they have apologized because their iPad was in silent mode; we have had some successes, we have made mistakes and have learned from them.
This is the summary of some lessons learned during this time.
The first version must be perfect
…and the second, and the third.
Not worth throwing a mediocre version of an app (…or those so called “betas”, also known as false MVP- to justify the lack of quality), has to be perfect in every way. Especially if you’re designing for children.
Our small users, those wonderful creatures, seldom forgive an error, and tend to instantly classify if something is boring, something that doesn’t work as they thought or dislike it.
For us, the launch of ABCKit in the App Store was just the beginning of a race. A good product designed efficiently, easily allows you to quickly grow and invest in new capabilities to reach other markets.
In our case, only two months after launching the app, we made an update on ABCKit in order to introduce a new language: English; and thus achieving to reach English speaking countries.
In these years, we have made three major updates, each targeted to improve the experience of our users.
- The first was the introduction of English, that in addition to reach a new market, it allowed parents and teachers already using ABCKit to see it into a new paradigm: not only to teach phonemes and letters, but as a method of introducing children to a new language.
- The second was about removing unnecessary design elements. As good rookie on designing for kids, we incorporate some items that at the beginning we thought would be useful, as the logo of the app in each screens or the arrows to move into screens. We have to admit that it has been totally useless to children.
- The third was the incorporation of new word packs so that the kids will enjoy the app for a longer period of time, and if they have it in oblivion, they could recover the interest.
An app is not going to give you money in the short term
While there are some -few- apps that are making money with Apple, the vast majority of companies that have developed apps, opt for visibility and presence in the App Store as an alternative strategy to deflect into some other projects that are more profitable or that provide them real benefits.
What is disappointing about this model is the vast market of garbage-useless apps for children (not to mention the ones addressed for grown-ups).
This strategy is based on the creation of cheap apps; and by this I don’t mean free or inexpensive ones; but “cheap” in terms of their low (or null) usage, without a specific purpose, worthless.
Disposable Apps: to throw away.
The App Store is a market where large companies get most of the downloads (and profits). The small studios and indie developers are getting poor incomes, which does not even cover the expenses.
The sad thing about this case is that many of them have gotten into this business just for the money (and that’s a good thing), but also because they thought it would be something easy to sell. Certainly is not.
The very few companies that are betting on a long-term model, they’re (we’re) facing the tough challenge of succeeding slowly.
On ABCKit we have it very clear that our model has to allows us create a sustainable business, and that implies go beyond simply charging our users for downloading an application.
As Jeremy Olson already said: “We need to stop making apps and start making businesses”.
Invest on Marketing
Making a high quality app is only half the way. The other equally important part is the effort and money invested in marketing.
In this area we have made almost no investment, and indeed, have lived in the paradox that Apple has treated us with love, especially during the beginning of ABCKit.
This has been tremendously good on one hand, since the best campaign that any app can get is to be featured in the App Store, but, as a spoiled and self-centered child, also, for a while, we thought that being good and having recognition for the well job done was the only thing that mattered, that we did not needed to do anything else.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Undoubtedly, one of the good lessons in this time (the ones learned ‘cause of failure) has been that we should have invested well in this area. A good product makes your users initially talk about you, they get to use and recommend it, but this does not guarantee good results in sales.
It is also important, getting a good network of prescribers to recommend your app. People who genuinely believe in your product, have used it, and sell it -almost- as better than you.
Your delighted users will be your best promoters.
We have been fortunate to have some people, especially pedagogues and teachers of kids with special educational needs that have made ABCKit an app of reference for use in classrooms.
Communicate well
Just like marketing is a fundamental part of the road, the other one is to have a extremely good communication with your users.
Be able to explain your app in a transparent and simple way is esencial.
It is common knowledge that most people are terribly lazy when it comes to read, particularly if you’re trying to sell them something.
A nice thing we did in Arquinauta with the help of Vostok Studio, was to create a promotional video of ABCKit.
And even though the video was initially made to present ABCKit into a Startup event, afterwards it allowed us to approach parents and teachers to explain in an extremely simple way what’s the app about and how it will help their kids.
All new features or noticeable improvements in your product also require a good story.
Almost all updates are upgraded without the users noticing any major benefits; and it is wrong and bad for your business not to explain why you’ve made that improvement, how these changes will enhance the product and what’s the benefit for them.
In the initial stage of ABCKit, we made the mistake of assuming that certain information about the Montessori Method was a common knowledge.
Issues such as the pronunciation of the letters (based on the phonetics) and the trace of the letters have been controversial and subject to bad critics by customers who purchased the app, making comments like “that’s not how the C is called” or “that is misspelled”.
We assumed that those who will buy ABCKit would know what Montessori philosophy is about; clearly we were wrong to assume that it’s a popular teaching practice, and we didn’t explain in detail the benefits and the reasons for choosing as the main methodology for our app.
Narrative is one of the the most important design tools, as much as a clean, simple, good design.
Use it, use it all the time
ABCKit was born because it is a personal project, because I wanted to do something useful so my children could go into the world of letters in a simple manner.
I hated what I was seeing at the time and that was the beginning of the idea.
I am convinced that a great formula for creating good products that you use all the time; is having a problem and living it at firsthand. This allows you to design with real bases, with all the research and data passing in front of your eyes.
This point has been one of the main enhancers in ABCKit’s story.
In fact, the creation of our second app, ABCKit for 5, was born as the result of keeping the attention of my own kids in a new product more according to their age.
One of the things we have done a lot is to use exhaustively the app.
We’ve use in different contexts; with children on the beach, in the pool, children eating ice-cream; children on schools, technology inexperienced children, and super expert kids.
We’ve done a lot of observation. We have seen how they play and how they interact with some features that in some other way we couldn’t even imagine they will use it like that way.
This constant observation has allowed us to incorporate some features to improve their experience, like the inspirational quotes or more intuitive interactions such as drag and drop letters.
I think all designers should live with the products and services they create; best things could be made.
Making it Scalable
When ABCKit was born, we knew it could be the beginning of a series of updates on which we would have to act very quickly and under minimum cost.
We took a lot of time to think of a simple, easy and scalable design that would allow us to grow modularly, reuse components and lay the foundation to create a clear and easily identifiable brand.
The original ABCKit design has changed very little since its inception, in fact it the basis for ABCKit for 5 and of the subsequents projects that are being derived from the brand.
These design decisions have allowed us to make changes and updates in a very efficient manner without having to rethink how a create a new screen. Having a design that will endure for some years, it has also allowed us to free ourselves from the pressure of constantly redesign the app to look more attractive, or newer.
While this design decisions requires a high initial investment on thinking and imagining how your app will be in a few years, it is a good bet. Creating a good product requires to investigate, hear and think, especially to think well, and this comes with a cost.
Break a mold
When designing ABCKit we were quite sure that we would not follow any kind of predefined stereotype on what some people believe design for children should be.
Refusing those marked trends, rejecting the abundance of colors, saying no to useless interactions on-screen (among others design decisions), has allowed us to break some molds.
When disassociate ourselves from a design line that was too childish, we have been able to design for a much wider range of age where children regardless of their age, may perceive that the app has been created for them. The only thing that we change in each case, are the illustrations shown in the apps, each, according to their age.
Breaking the mold is a cliché if taken as what’s new is better, and in no case should be used unless it is to create better experiences.
It’s been 3 years so far.
ABCKit was the first app, and therefore, will be the dearest. It may not be the best, it may not be the most successful, but it has been the one that has allowed me get started in one of the best adventures of my life.
Thanks :_)
Originally published in Spanish on Arquinauta.
