Home > Mobile > Follow-along Campaigns

---

First Mobile App (30)

---

Well, I had already since several month's the idea to go into the mobile app area and 2 weeks ago I had the first idea for some cool app. After reading day for day stuff about the app business, I choosed now to post a complete follow along thread to get backup of you guys so that my app won't run in the blackhole. So here it comes:

Budget: 100.000 $

Emergency / SOS App

The idea is simple. Notify your choosen contacts about a danger situation and your location. In fact you have after a one time setup of the app, a big fat red button. One touch on the button and the app start its work:

- Sending automaticly SMS to the choosen contacts with map location and permanent tracking
- Facebook Post with marks to the choosen persons with map location and permanent tracking
- E-Mail notifaction and also map and permanent tracking

Additional features:

- Permanent flash light
- Loud whistle
- First aid tips
- Emergency numbers in the country you are (like poison etc.)
- Location of near police and hospital stations (threw maps)

One big negative thing of the app:

- You need an internet connection (cause of extern SMS service) or at least GPS (but than you have double confirm that you want to send out the SMS cause of SIM restrictions)


My researches:

I found a lot of apps in that area. Only one of it had that automatic SMS feature but is completele shitty designed and had no marketing (1000 Downloads). Some indian guy published also a crappy designed app (for free) just 3 weeks ago for Android which has already over 60.000 Downloads. My developers told me that his app can only work with older android versions.

However, in fact the top 3 apps on keywords like "emergency, sos" etc. had mostly around 50.000 Downloads. No one of them has the features I have. 95% of them are free to download.

Interesting was the "First Aid" app with 5 Million Downloads (!). It has ONLY first aid tips and tutorials inside. This was also the reason why I added "First Aid" to my "to do" list of the app.


Costs:

I've got an offer from an agency who would develop that app within the next 4 - 5 weeks for iOS and Android in the following 3 - 4 weeks. Costs will be ~ 50.000 $.


Revenue model:

Start with 1,99 $ and if I get downloads than push it to 2,99 $. Problem at it all is that I have to pay for the SMS at my own, every user is limited to 5 - 10 SMS and can buy additional packages. Currently one SMS will cost me 0.13 $



Marketing:

I know for sure that the success of this app depends on marketing activitys. I don't expect huge volumes from the app stores it self. In my first thoughts I would upload that app to mostly every review site outside there and book some "app of the day" blog entries. Also I would start with Adwords and Admob and some general self serving networks like buzzcity etc to get some cheap clicks in countries like Mexico, India etc.


PS: Yeah, the app will be international from day one, translated to every language. My most hope depends on low costs countries like south africa etc.

---

For what it's worth, check freelancer and get quotes from there. 50k for that kinda app is insane in my opinion.
SMS costs: "true SMS cost" is about $0.01 depending on your provider.
Normally that comes with a monthly fee though that includes a package, but there *might* be more cost-effective solutions is what Im saying.
Marketing: not sure about buzzcity... But yeah you will need a ton of cheap clicks as always.

What I would do is find converting traffic on a really budget first, and the scale it as much as possible at exact day/week when you launch your other activities like blog posts and reviews to boost the app category ranking in a short period of time to get more attention and more downloads from the app store. Focus on few selected countries first, otherwise it will be hard to optimize your traffic unless you're an experienced mobile media buyer badass This sounds very exciting, good luck!!

---

Interesting post nefig, I'm also a bit confused about the 50k $ and feeling a bit like I'm getting ripped but I read a lot of posts that good apps in germany costs min. 40 - 50.000 $. Do you have already some experience with the creation process of apps?

---

Just a few thoughts:

1. This should cost nowhere near 50K to develop.

2. You don't need to pay for the user's SMS. You can use the user's phone/text plan to send the SMS but have the SMS also include a URL. The web service to which the URL points can have the details of the person's location either via GPS or by cell tower triangulation.

3. Assuming you spend 100K on development and marketing, in order for you to break even, you need to SELL 100,000 x (1/70%) / List price of the app. I am not saying it is easy or hard, but you should at least know what the breakeven point is before you undertake any investment.

4. FINALLY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY before you plunk down ANY money on this, PLEASE just whip up a wordpress landing page with your best mockup of the app and the suggested list price and a big fat BUY NOW FOR $2.99 (or whatever price) CALL TO ACTION BUTTON, and spend $100 driving some Google ads traffic to the landing page.

- Then just see if anyone actually clicks on that button, and how much that test conversion cost you.
- This $100 will most likely be the best investment you ever make.

---

Thanks cmdeal,

we have definitly to use an extern SMS service just of the reason that I don't want that the User has to confirm double if he "really wants to send out a SMS". This is some technical restriction from the regular SIM cards we all have.

I already just had a talk with some app marketing guy and he told me also to create right now a landing page and first test that stuff, this is what I gonna to do now. Just have no idea how to test on adwords cause they're gonna kick my ass for some "not working" landing page.

---

You will not have any problems with Adwords. After someone clicks on Buy Now, just give them a thank you page, telling them that the product is not yet ready in _Your Country_ but that if they want to be kept updated on when it arrives, they should sign up for the waitlist (include email capture form).

As for different SMS delivery model options,

1) These are things you can test on different landing page versions, and

2) You can even test qualitatively by reaching out to the people who signed up for the waitlist (free market research).

I am pretty sure that you will find that if the product's use case is dependent upon the person having Internet access, it will be a nonstarter, but you should test this out.

Please make sure you watch this, a great talk I saw at given at Google. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEvKo90qBns

---

This is a very interesting project. I like the idea of the emergency app, I am sure it has quite a market.

I dont' have much experience creating apps, but being a coder I think $50k is way too much to develop it.

Try getting a quote from 3-4 different agencies and compare them. Also maybe worth posting an ad on odesk too just to see how much it varies.

---

^What cmdeal said. as far as quotes - see freelancer.com: while their vendors may not be the top quality, you will quickly see what range you application may fall in just by browsing app development projects posted there.

Also, testing on Google or any other mobile network will quickly tell you what users really want by split testing different app features on your landing page. Create radically different versions emphasizing different benefits of the app and look at the data. You most probably will be surprised with results! Don't rush development, invest as much energy in planning and research proven by hard data. I do this myself before undertaking any serious moves. Keep us posted!

---

$50k is crazy - you can develop a high end game for that kind of money.

---

Definitely, definitely try a dry test as cmdeal suggests (landing page + google ads to test demand). It could save you a great deal of money!

---

Alright, will do

new plan:
- kick off the agency with the 50k $ offer
- create landing pages and test them threw some networks (will be done today)
- start with some sweet version from freelancer for max 20k $

---

Instead of making your own app, just find one similar and buy the source code. Than add things that you think will make it better.
With $100k you can make great portfolio of apps and than sell it.
Flipping apps is profitable business. It's on top of my to do list, but too bad I run out of cash.

---

So here comes the first check out:

I created quickly some landing page without any email form and optimisation and added it on facebook

Targeted: Women 25 - 35, no interests, iPhone 4S + User, Germany

landingpage:

I tracked only the click thru stuff so at the end... I have 200 clicks and a click thru rate of 15,5 %

Important note: The Call to Action button was just below the fat 2,99 € mark and I had like 4 times in the text the 2,99 € inside so I'm pretty sure, most of the users knew that this app costs really 2,99 €...


So what do you think guys about that first small test?

---

13ct for sending an SMS is crazy. Is it not possible to program the application to send the SMS from the handset?

---

nope! technical restrictions from the SIM card itself

---

Just to confirm what others have said. 50k is insane. You need to be very careful when getting apps made. I've been developing apps for 2 years and outsourcing it all.

If I was making an app like this, I'd probably pay 1-2k max for programming with one of my guys. Nothing you listed seems very complicated.

Take the time to check elance and odesk and weed out the bad workers. Just ask them a simple up front question like "How long would it take you to implement a 320x50 MoPub banner ad on the front page?" Even if you aren't using ads, it is a good method to weed out anyone who plans to take advantage of your lack of knowledge. I can probably do that myself in 20-30 min and I am not a programmer. But there are guys who will say 10 hours or a week even.

Then just hide/ignore anyone who quotes longer and talk with the guys who are under. At least then you can trust they might be a bit truthful with their quotes.

---

This is a good start.

But much more important is figuring out how much each "conversion" costs. (Not the clicks or clickthrough rate, but total marketing spend/number of people who clicked on the call to action at 2.99.) This is the important data point you need at this stage.

So put some sort of conversion tracking on your thank you page, and ideally capture people's emails of those who are interested and want to know when the app gets released. Seeing how many people actually click on the buy button and the people who actually sign up for the wait list will give you a pretty good indication of whether the current hypothesis is viable or not.

---

You decide on paid vs free?

It'll affect how you market the apps. For example you pretty much cannot do paid advertising for PAID apps, only for free apps. The ROI will be very very very low.

---

Personally I think the only way to go with this is making it a paid app.

This is something that people would use but it's something people wouldn't use often (it's rare your in a case of emergency). It would be something people would download for safety and wouldn't mind paying a few bucks for just to have it as a comfort zone. It would be very hard to make money with this as a free app because it would be extremely hard to upsell and would basically just sit on the phone of the user and gather dust until they're in a code red situation.

I also think marketing this app would be rough, as I couldn't really see it as a word of mouth, "OMG check this out" kind of app, it would basically be all manual marketing so the customer acquisition costs are likely to be greater then what people are willing to pay for the app.

But like everyone said, put it through a market test and calculate what it would cost per customer to hit that "buy now" button and see if it's feasible. And also I definitely wouldn't pay 50k on development in the initial stage, especially if you only have a budget of 100k. I don't think a marketing budget of 50k will get you anywhere at all, and I definitely don't think it would get you an ROI, 50k would burn out extremely fast.

Just my two cents!

---

Chris I just had a quick read on your lander (image is really small), the translation is done without mistakes but the tone of your lander in German isn't that great. Some phrases I personally would never use in there, some of them just sound strange and a bit 'school translated' if you get what I mean. Without offending you, this reminded me a bit about the Jack Lalanne Power Juicer TV ad running years ago. Hit me up on Skype might be able to help you out a bit in your German translation.

---

thanks for the responses guys

@fjk87 you made me laugh I'm german but I gonna add u on skype, pretty sure there are some parts crappy written down.

I've got some new updated, thanks to god that I posted that follow along here and you guys washed my brain about the developing costs. I submitted that app on freelancer and got several great offers for under 10k $. Finally I even found some indish guy who has already created that app exactly like I need just without facebook notification. Bought a copy of that app (only android) for just 700$ and currently just setting up some new design on it. Will be a great way to test that niche out before blasting money inside. Just scared about android users cause they regularry not "the great buyers" at it all.

Anyways I think also that the only way will be "paid" one cause like davescott said, this app will be installed, setted up and people will forget it. I could make every single feature as a paid one like "flashlight" or "whistle" function but than I would need to hope that people will buy that shit directly at the first start and I'm pretty sure they won't. So publishing it for 2,99 $ is the best way I see right now.

---

Yeah, i agree a lot with davescott. Such kind of "safety" app should be paid. Thats basically like selling of insurance - "buy once and wish not to use"
The idea of testing the price on landing pages before publishing is great. That should get the answer on pricing. Intuition tells that for making this App Venture be profitable, price need to be around $4.99 (think Safety Apps have low price elastic demand)

---

The $100 TEST is a great method of figuring out if people click, which is good. It's 1 part of market research, and its how lots of the big apps choose which icon to use etc... all based on CTR.

As for how much the app should cost you, it soley depends if you find someone from odesk for cheap or if you go with a developer who previous worked for a company like Rovio (angry birds) or similar high end app companies. These developers run into far less issues, there code is amazingly clean, easy to add updates, fix future errors, theyre available when you need them, have contacts within the industry which helps with press etc... BUT they cost a lot more. It all depends on what you're trying to do/what type of app you're making.

Spend $3k on an app made by a guy on Odesk 99% won't get any press, which really drives quality app sales. So you're going to need another marketing plan if you're going this route.

---

In terms of how to spend development cost, you should overspend on the user interface. The functionalities are pretty basic, so as long as the features work, it is the user interface, logo, etc, is what will set your apart. Once 1) you have validated that there is a market for this (once again, please carry out the landing page test with CVR), only then 2) start development. You will then need to solve 3) the (really big) discovery problem, but we can get to that after you have completed 1 and 2.

---

^^ updates?

---

Sorry guys, forgot to post here


Well, as I already mentioned I got that bare bone version from some indish fool for 700$. Design is crap. Function is slow. However I just wanted to have something to test in the app store. Sadfully it was only for android, not for iPhone and as we all know, android user are not the ones who buy a lot of apps in the store. I placed that app there for 4,99 $ and also one day at 2,99 $. I blasted shortly some facebook traffic (direct install) to that app and had at least from 800 $ spent just 5 installs at 4,99 $. At my short test day with 2,99 $ nobody installed that. This was an interesting point. Nobody cared about the price, it was more about the design. However, I still believe this app can work pretty well and make some pretty amount. I decided to stop the development till I got more money to play around. I think this app needs about 100.000 $ in general marketing actions like Facebook, probably old school papers, TV etc. before it can work, it doesn't make sense to run that app small and promote it like a usual IM offer and it MUST have some fantastic design, cool video description and great reviews.

---

I would actually recommend you don't spend any more money on this. There is nothing in the data that suggests that there is any meaningful demand for this product.

If you have a choice between pursuing your great idea and building a successful business, you should choose building a successful business.

---

i'd agree with cmdeal, i don't think this idea is a winner. people just won't pay for it.

---

Cool thread bro, interesting stuff!

---

i would rather burn 100 000 promoting adult than this emergency app.. it will take a shitload of work to breakeven let alone make a profit bro...

Best thing to do is make this app available for free without SMS function.

Let those people sign up first before configuring the app and monetize their e-mail by for example sending them once in a while pay per install offers.

---

Home > Mobile > Follow-along Campaigns