Growth Gems

Growth Gems experts

Steve P. Young

App Masters · LinkedIn

5 insights on App Store Optimization, Monetization and Paid UA from 3 talks and podcasts, each with the quote and a link to the moment it was said.

Is this you? Suggest an edit

App Store Optimization

App Store Optimization

Requesting reviews during onboarding can yield a 1% conversion rate from downloads to reviews. Combined with proper ASO and a free lifetime offer promoted on deal sites, this strategy can drive significant organic growth by spiking downloads enough to trigger algorithmic ranking improvements.

"I know 1% of all the downloads will leave you a review if you ask for it during the onboarding process. I'm going to get to number one anyways. This could be deemed a gray hat strategy. Number two, do some proper ASO. All right, check out the YouTube channel. You'll discover a lot of ASO strategies. Create a lifetime offer, make it for free and then promote it on different services."

Growth hack or black hat? Questionable app growth strategies | App Growth Annual 2025 at 9:15 · Featured in Growth Gems #134

Sylvain's take:

Many apps do this beyond Cal AI. Here is an example by Clue where they ask right after the intro pitch.

Here is another example by Moongate where there is a bit more shared before.

If/When you can figure it out, it’s best to provide an actually valuable (mini-)experience to users first, then ask for the “primed” review. Easier said then done, but given most developers will never ask for review during onboarding, it might be a competitive advantage.

App Store Optimization

App Store keyword rankings are directly influenced by in-app purchase revenue. When a client switched from Apple IAP to Stripe, their revenue visible to Apple dropped 90% and their keyword rankings immediately plummeted, proving that revenue is a major ranking factor.

"One of our clients a few years ago, pre-pandemic, we were we were able to get them number one for a keyword, one of the high converting keywords, right? And they ended up going from in-app purchases to Stripe. And guess what happened to that keyword? Like, literally on that day, it went from 100,000 App Store Connect to about 10,000 legacy revenues and our keyword rankings just dropped."

Growth hack or black hat? Questionable app growth strategies | App Growth Annual 2025 at 23:02 · Featured in Growth Gems #134

Monetization

Monetization

Replace free trials with low-cost introductory offers that convert to annual subscriptions. A $2.99-3.99 first month that renews at the full annual price can outperform traditional free trials by immediately generating revenue while still lowering the barrier to entry.

"We've seen other apps where they'll do a 7-day yearly and a let's say 299, 3.99 for the first month, no trial, that renews at the yearly. And I think that's a more interesting strategy to start to try to test out like, hey, if you believe in the long term, like this is an app that you're going to use over a year, then maybe start off with an introductory offer instead of a trial."

Growth hack or black hat? Questionable app growth strategies | App Growth Annual 2025 at 28:10 · Featured in Growth Gems #134

Sylvain's take:

Lots of things to take into account here, like can you afford to wait 1 month vs. 1 week (in addition to Apple’s payout delay) before getting the revenue from yearly? But more on why moving away from trials can make sense (DO read the comments too).

More experts on the same topics

All experts, A to Z · The leaderboard