BSSA #58 - Build A Successful Shopify App 🚀

Heeey founders!

Quick question before starting: What tool do you use to collect information from your users in-app? (for example to know how they found your app)

Reply to this email with what you use! And if you don’t use anything, let me know too!

Let’s go!

We were getting many requests from our users to make some custom changes to the app design.

Changes that could be made with CSS code.

And we had some downsides to that:

• It creates new support tickets

• It takes time to satisfy the user

But also upsides:

• We get more obvious because we go the extra mile for the users

And recently we started to add some customizations directly to the app. The goal was to reduce the number of CSS requests.

And the problem happened immediately: We got fewer reviews 😵‍💫

That’s the problem. A perfect working app means fewer support tickets and thus, fewer support tickets.

But the upside is that it will improve your app and you’ll grow even more.

Shopify App Event

Special announcement!

I’ll be in London on Tuesday 27 for an exclusive talk on how to grow your Shopify App.

The event is totally free and it’s the perfect time to meet many Shopify App founders, create partnerships or get motivation.

I met my co-founders for my 1st Shopify App at an event. I’ve met one of my best affiliates at another event.

And I always get so much motivation from these events that I just can’t wait to be there 🔥

So if you didn’t take your ticket yet, you can do it right here: https://www.meetup.com/london-shopify-meetup-group/events/293905599/

2,000 members in the Shopify App Founders Group

We did it! Last year we launched the Shopify App Founders community.

A community where all Shopify App Founders can learn how to grow their Shopify App.

And we just crossed the 2,000 members! So thank you everyone! Let’s create great things together!

If you’re not part of the community yet you can do it here: https://facebook.com/groups/shopifyappfounders

Free vs Paid: What is the best model for your Shopify App?

I’ve received this question many times. Should you put your Shopify App for free or add plans immediately?

When should you add a free plan?

Let’s start with this question first, when shouldn’t you add a free plan?

Adding a free plan isn’t the best solution if:

• You have many support tickets (a free plan will just kill you)

• You’re growing like crazy (doesn’t make sense to add a free plan)

• You think people won’t pay cause it’s not perfect enough.

A free plan should be part of a strategy. It’s only the beginning of something.

Cases where you can add a free plan:

• People need time to get value from your app and sometimes it takes 10 days, sometimes 20 days, etc…

• You need to go to page 1 of the Shopify App Store quickly (easier to get reviews)

• You are VC funded so you want to grow fast and don’t care about revenue

• You want to get more customer support tickets (can be useful to get feedback or reviews)

• You are targeting very small merchants and they can grow with you

Whenever I have to add a free plan I ask myself: Can I add a free trial instead?

And I think you should ask yourself this question too. Adding a free plan just to add one doesn't make sense.

Let’s review 2 Shopify Apps pricing plans:

Loox

Loox doesn’t have a free plan, they start at $9.99 and instead have a free trial. This is a smart choice considering Loox is a pioneer with a lot of growth. They probably have many support tickets and adding a free plan would kill their support. Loox also didn’t raise money (if I’m not mistaken), so they don’t need to grow even more, they can control it. They also have an expensive plan for bigger businesses.

Judge.me

Another review app but with a different strategy. Judge me has a free plan and a small plan. If I’m not mistaken again, I think Judge me makes less revenue than Loox. Their strategy is probably to become the number one reviews app on the platform. And a good way to do it is to go mass market before increasing your prices. If this is their strategy, then it makes sense. Yet I still think they would benefit from a strategy like Loox considering they launched at the same time.

That’s it for today’s email!

I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to share my newsletter with someone else: https://news.matdesousa.com/

And let me know what you want me to talk about in the next email!

See you next week,

Mat 😁