Selling Subscription
Apps through Apple
3 Case Study Examples,
Best Practices and
Step-by-Step Instructions
Table of Contents
 Why Sell Apps?
 3 Case Study Examples
 Apple’s Terms
 Best Practice: Sell through Your Website
 Selling through Apple: Step-by-Step
Instructions
 Trial Offers + Bonus Time
 More Resources
Why Sell Apps?
“On the one hand, information
wants to be expensive, because
it's so valuable. The right
information in the right place
just changes your life. On the
other hand, information wants
to be free, because the cost of
getting it out is getting lower
and lower all the time. So you
have these two fighting against
each other.”
Stewart Brand, creator of the
Whole Earth Catalog, to Steve
Wozniak at the original
Hackers' Conference in 1984.
Tablets and mobile apps put information in
customers’ hands at exactly the right time. And
consumers are willing to pay for this convenience.
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mobile Market
Majority of mobile
opens in iPhone
Other
7%
Tablet Market
iOS
80.34%
Andriod
41%
iOS
52%
Android
18.93%
Apple dominates 52% of
tablet market via iPad
(although this number decreased
from 82% in 2011)
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
One Third of U.S.
Adults Get News
by Phone or Tablet
On a scale of 1 to
10, iPad users
rated their overall
satisfaction, on
average, at an 8.8
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
$$$ - What You Can Expect to Make
The Guardian (despite poor
paywall practice and a
lengthy 3-month trial with a
2% conversion rate) is
estimated to make around
£118,830 per month, or
£1.4 million ($2.1 million)
per year from its iPad app.
According to app analytics firm
Distimo, the top 100 grossing
apps in that section of the iPad
Store are reaping about $70,000
a day, collectively.
See the ‘Future’
Case Study Example
for more revenue numbers
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
iPad Users Tend to Be:
 Male (52.9%)
 Have incomes over $100,000
(46.3%)
 Under the age of 35 (44.5%)
 iPad owners tend to buy based
on brand (while Kindle Fire
owners buy based on price).
Source: “People love tablets, iPads especially,” published by the Online Publishers Association:
http://www.online-publishers.org/index.php/opa_news/ir_standalone/people_love_tablets_ipads_especially
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
3 Case Study Examples
Case Study: Future Magazine
Future also launched three
new weekly tablet titles:
• Gathered, a spin-off of
its print monthly Mollie
Makes, a craft magazine.
• Photography Week, a
spin-off of its monthly
PhotoPlus magazine.
• CyclingNews HD, a spinoff from its CyclingNews
website and Cycling Plus
magazine
Future built an in-house production
software called FutureFolio to design its
interactive tablet magazines. It is now
licensing the software to other publishers
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Case Study: National Geographic
Over 1 million
downloads of its
World Atlas App,
priced at $1.99
468,000
downloads of
“7 Billion” App,
priced at $4.99
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sells apps
through your
Website!
More later on
why this is a
best practice
that will
increase your
revenues!
Case Study: Roadway Magazine
• UK publication is rated 7 out of 169 in the
automotive category of the Apple Newsstand
• Attributes success to two-week ad campaign on
Facebook that doubled downloads & purchases.
“[We] targeted English speaking nations, right hand drive markets
(some parts of Asia), the BRIC nations and most of Western Europe.
Targeting was iPad or iPhone users, who are small business owners,
plus anyone who has stated they work or are interested in Trucks,
Haulage, Logistics, Warehousing, etc…. Facebook gives you a massive
range of options. “
Peter Shakespeare
Head of Publications at Road Haulage Association
via the Specialist Media Show discussion group on LinkedIn
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Apple’s Terms
Apple’s Terms for Publishers
• Auto-renewal subs are for iOS content-based
apps in App store (i.e., through iTunes Connect)
• You can set the price and length of subscriptions
that you wish to make available (weekly, monthly,
bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly or yearly)
 Nothing over 1 year.
• Apple takes 30% of revenues
• Billed to customer’s card associated with iTunes
account
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Apple’s Terms for Publishers (cont’d)
• Apple will send welcome and renewal emails
about app. (See slide 30)
• You can offer a free trial
• Can offer “Marketing Opt-In,” which gets you
more customer data. In return, customer gets
“bonus free time” with app. (See slide 35)
• Customer can cancel through iTunes Customer
Support (not on their own).
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Best Practice:
Sell through Your Website!
To Keep 100% of Your Revenues…
1. You can sell digital subscriptions on your
website or provide free access to content
for existing subscribers. Apple will not take
30% of your revenues then.
2. HOWEVER: The same (or better)
subscription price must be offered inside the
app as on the website.
3. And you may not provide links in your apps
that allow the customer to purchase content
or subscriptions outside of the app.
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
4. Lastly, you must be
able to handle app
authorization and
customer tracking
on your own.
National Geographic sells
its iPhone/iPad apps on
its website. That allows
the site to collect 100% of
revenues and bundle the
offer with Kindle access
for one low price!
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Strategy+Business also uses this tactic, advertising
their digital package through a homepage overlay.
Selling through Apple
Step-by-Step Instructions
Apple’s Many Faces…
•
•
•
•
Publishers can sell apps for the iPhone or iPad.
iPhone apps are sold through the App Store.
iPad apps are sold through Apple’s Newsstand.
However, all apps eventually are sold through
iTunes Connect, Apple’s platform for customer
management.
Why?
When Apple launched iTunes, many customers linked a
credit card to it. As Apple allowed other content creators
to sell content, it continued to link sales to the iTunes
platform, now called iTunes Connect.
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Branding Your App
• The most important information you’ll enter is
the Display Name (aka “In-App Purchase
Display Name”) and the Publication Name.
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
If you do it right…
Proper display
name listed
when user buys
subscription
within app
Proper publication
name listed when
“Marketing OptIn” requests more
info.
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
If you do it wrong…
Wrong Display Name Entered
Wrong Publication Name Entered
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Also…
• Don’t put your subscription length in your
display or publication name
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
URLs for Privacy Policy and Support
If your Support
URL is a dead
link, your app
will be rejected
by Apple.
The Privacy
Policy URL is
required for
auto-renew
subscriptions.
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
But a Good URL Can Help You…
The Support URL provides a nice way to
get more customer information from app
subscribers.
See our Case Study on Strategy+Business
for more on this technique. (But don’t
copy their form page!)
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
WARNING
Apps are downloadable software. Therefore,
most subscription apps are listed as “free” in
the iTunes Store. Customers then buy the
subscription “through the app.”
This is a serious downfall in marketing your app,
and why we recommend selling your apps
through your own website, if you have the tech
support to do so (see slide 16).
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Pricing
• You can set pricing.
• You can change pricing.
• HOWEVER, if you change pricing, auto-renew will
be turned off for subscribers and they will have
to opt back-in to auto-renew.
Individual subscribers are alerted within 10 days of
their renewal date about the price change. There is no
email blast to all subscribers.
• You cannot have different pricing depending on
when subscribers were acquired.
• Price decreases do not trigger email.
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
How Apple Communicates with
Customers
1. Customers get welcome email with “Purchase
Confirmation” as subject line. This email
introduces the subscription, has privacy policy
info, and where subscriber can go to turn autorenew on or off.
2. Apple groups renewal reminders for all apps
expiring/renewing within the same timeframe
(e.g., renewal reminder for monthly subs for two
different companies are included in the same
email).
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Payment Processing
1. Within 10 days of expiration, Apple tries
credit card to make sure there are no
payment issues.
Apple sends an email if it looks like customer’s card is
about to expire, or if they tried to buy a song and card was
declined.
2. If a card fails 24 hours before expiration,
Apple will try it again, up to 6 times in an 8
hour window (but no definite practice).
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Payment Processing
3. After expiration date, Apple may try card
again, but not for long.
4. After expiration, customer alerted to
subscribe again when opening app. But s/he
will not be able to access content that was
released during gap (like news), unless its ondemand content, (like video).
Bottom Line: Apple’s expiration procedure will protect your paywall, but
likely tax your Customer Service department as expired subscribers call
asking for re-instatement and access to content they missed.
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Trial Offers + Bonus Time
Trial Offers
• You can offer FREE trials through your app
(sorry, no paid trials, which is a best practice).
• Only allowed for Newsstand/iPad apps
• Period configured by you in iTunes Connect
• Auto-renew by default and charged
automatically
Keep in Mind: Only a third of apps
are still used 90 days after download:
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Marketing Opt-In
In addition to a free trial, you can cue a
“Marketing Opt-In” to get more information
from your subscribers.
Customers choose to
give Apple permission
to share their name,
email address and zip
code with you.
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
“Bonus Time”
The reward for customers for opting to share
their info is free bonus time in your app without
paying.
Initial Purchase
Renewal
Renewal
Bonus Extension
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Expiration
Bonus Time
• You can set the “bonus time” limit
• If a customer agrees to share info at sign-up,
the bonus time is added before the first
charge, in addition to any free trial you have.
Free Trial
First Charge
Renewal
Bonus Extension
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.
Expiration
More Resources
More Resources
• CHECKLIST: Marketing and Selling iPad Apps
• ON-DEMAND: Subscription App Publishers Reveal Sales
Secrets
• HOW-TO: Optimizing Mobile Sites and Apps for Paid Content - 4 Options, 3 Steps and 10 Design Tips
• CASE STUDY: How Fastcase Beats Huge Competitors with an
iPhone App & Nimbler Search
• CASE STUDY: Strategy+Business Turns Free Web Content into
Revenue-Generating Apps
• ARTICLE DIGEST: Magazine iPad & iPhone App Pricing: Most
Under $5
© 2012, Subscription Site Insider, a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.