We’ve finished our marathon of submitting Microsoft Store apps to Product Hunt. I’ll be honest: I thought every submission would flop. It really felt like the wrong neighborhood for anything but Mac stuff.
But out of the ten apps we submitted:
- 6 of the Store apps were featured on the front page (!)
- 3 of them earned more than 100 upvotes
- 6 Store developers got their Product Hunt ‘maker’ designations
What we learned
Since the majority of our submissions reached the front page, it’s fair to say that Product Hunt’s users have an appetite for Microsoft Store apps. They may never be as popular as macOS apps, but there are clearly Windows users on Product Hunt who are hunting for new apps to try.
It’s clear, too, that even Mac users want to see submissions for cool new Windows apps, if only to leave a comment wondering where the Mac version is.
Here’s what you should do next:
Fix your old metadata!
Because we were creating unsolicited Product Hunt submissions for a bunch of apps that aren’t ours, we borrowed heavily from the apps’ Store pages and their metadata. Some of it was definitely a bit dusty.
Make sure you update your metadata regularly, even if you don’t update your app:
- Use the latest screenshot formats. A few apps had SVGA-sized screenshots when the Store lets you upload 4K PNGs — we had to get creative with these ones.
- And upload new Store icons — your icons should be 1440x2160 pixels if you’re using the new-style PDP. Ditch those blue-and-white 300px icons with 150px of padding that Microsoft used to make you use.
Submit your apps regularly
Whenever you do a major version bump or launch a new app, take the time to post it on Product Hunt.
Make a nice animated icon for it, use full-size screenshots, and provide a YouTube video if you have one.
Follow the official guide for submitting — don’t believe the rumours elsewhere about how to game Product Hunt’s process.
Let us know when you submit
Finally, make sure you ping us when you submit — we can help you get the word out, and we can add your app to our Microsoft Store Apps collection.
Thanks to everyone who followed and supported the marathon, and to the developers who let us submit their apps without complaint. We’re looking forward to seeing many more Windows-tagged submissions on Product Hunt.
User Camp is the place for Microsoft Store developers. You should follow us on Twitter.
