MARTIN OMANDER: Hello.
My name is Martin Omander, and I welcome you
to "Google Root Access," the show featuring
actionable startup advice.
My guest today is Philip Bergqvist
from the startup Unified Intents.
Philip, tell us a bit about Unified Intents.
PHILIP BERGQVIST: So we're a Swedish startup company.
We've developed an app called Unified Remote, which today
is actually one of the top-rated apps on the Android Play Store.
Essentially what it does is it turns your smartphone
into a universal remote control for your Mac, Windows or Linux
computer.
And what makes it super easy is that you
get different remote controls in one
app for different applications.
So if you want to control Spotify, or VLC, or iTunes,
or even mouse or keyboard, you can do all of this
from one app, rather than having to use, say,
50 different apps for all of this.
Most of our users will maybe use their computer connected up
to their TV in their living room,
and then be able to sit back in their sofa
and control it using their smartphone.
MARTIN OMANDER: All right.
So I went to the Play Store and downloaded the app
and saw that it was free.
Yet, you do have revenue.
So tell me about how you were thinking about revenue
and how you got to that point?
PHILIP BERGQVIST: So basically, when we first released the app,
this was a couple years ago.
And we didn't really think hey, let's
make a startup out of this, and let's earn lots of money.
MARTIN OMANDER: That's the best way
to start a startup, by the way.
PHILIP BERGQVIST: It was just us, two guys, hobby project.
And we just wanted to solve our own use case.
And so we started off by releasing
a free version of the app.
And then just from the traction and the response
that we got early on, we said maybe
we can start monetizing as well.
So then we decided to release a paid version as well.
And now we've just been going on from there
and adding new features here and there.
MARTIN OMANDER: So you have two applications.
One is free and one you pay for.
And some features are only in the paid version.
What features are only in the paid version?
And could you tell us a bit about what
thinking went into that?
Why did you put only those in the paid version?
PHILIP BERGQVIST: So one of the problems
that we notice right now is that our free version is maybe
a bit too good.
And that's because when we first created it,
we just added all the features that we wanted and released it
for free.
Whereas now when we think back, we notice that,
maybe we put in too many free things in that version.
But now as time goes on, all the new features that we add
go into the paid version.
So when we start adding voice control or widgets
or quick actions, all these features
go into the full version instead.
And the biggest difference between the two
is the number of remote controls that you can use.
So in the free version, you only get access
to 13 different remote controls, whereas in the full version,
you have access to 70 plus programs that you can control.
And all the new remote controls that we add always
go into the full version instead.
MARTIN OMANDER: I see.
So there are many ways to charge premium customers,
and many startups use the freemium model like you do.
You have picked the approach of having
two applications, a free and a paid one.
Why did you choose that approach?
PHILIP BERGQVIST: So actually when we started out,
there wasn't in-app purchases for Android.
So this was really the best approach for us.
We released the free version and then a separate app,
which is the paid version.
We have in-app purchases on iPhone,
and we've seen that's been really successful so far.
So that's definitely something that we're
looking into adding for the Android version as well.
MARTIN OMANDER: So you see that in-app purchases
are successful.
You mean that there's a greater conversion rate,
or in what way are they successful?
PHILIP BERGQVIST: Yeah.
So we actually see a greater conversion rate.
I don't know if that is specifically
due to in-app purchases, or it may
be differences in the different platforms.
But at the end of the day, it makes
it easier for our users to take the step of upgrading.
And obviously, that's what we should be doing, make
it easier for our users to find what features they can buy,
and if they want them, to easily do it.
MARTIN OMANDER: Right.
Because if you have to exit the app,
go and find the app again, download it, pay,
you lose context that you want to guide the user through.
So how much do you charge for the paid app?
And why did you pick that particular price?
PHILIP BERGQVIST: So the paid app is $3.99.
We just looked around at the App Store or the Play Store,
and had a look.
The category that we want to be in, that's Tools.
We looked at maybe similarly complex apps.
And then we found $3.99, that probably works.
And we've gone with that, and it's worked well for us so far.
MARTIN OMANDER: Have you experimented
with higher or lower pricing?
PHILIP BERGQVIST: Yeah.
So from time to time, we'll do a campaign, maybe at a one year
or second year anniversary of the app.
We'll do a campaign where we discount the app to just $1.00.
And then, we see massive boosts during a short period of time.
I don't think that would be very profitable in the long run.
I think it's good that we have our $4.00 price point.
But it is interesting to experiment and see
what happens when we change the price, which
is super easy to do through the developer console.
MARTIN OMANDER: So you see a massive boost
when you lower the price to $0.99.
Why don't you keep the price down there all the time
and get the boost all the time?
PHILIP BERGQVIST: So what we see is when we lower the price,
there's a lot of media recognition.
So there are sites that just scrape the Play Store
and look for apps that change their prices.
So when we lower the price, there's a big buzz around it.
But then eventually, after a couple days maybe,
it starts to die off a bit.
And I think in the long run, I don't
think we'd be as profitable with a lower price.
But it's super difficult to know.
MARTIN OMANDER: So by doing that, lowering the price
repeatedly and then taking it back up,
you can get that media hit several times.
PHILIP BERGQVIST: We try not to put it
into too much of a system.
We don't think it's a good way of maybe marketing our app.
But from time to time, it's fun to give our fans
a bit of a treat from time to time.
MARTIN OMANDER: Right.
Very good.
So many startups, perhaps even most today,
try to do the freemium model.
What advice would you give to them?
What would you have done differently,
and what has been successful for you?
PHILIP BERGQVIST: So I think it's a very good technique when
starting out to have a free version of an app.
Obviously, it's maybe easier to get new users,
get traction early on with a free app versus a paid app,
where maybe you don't have a lot of reviews.
Maybe people don't really know about you yet.
So that's worked really well for us.
We built up a relatively big user base on our free version
before we even launched our paid app.
It was about one year difference there.
But also as I mentioned before, a bit
of a problem we're seeing now is that our free version is maybe
a bit too good.
So if you are a startup and you're
thinking that you might want to monetize in the future,
maybe think a bit about what features
do we want to have in the free app right now?
MARTIN OMANDER: Right.
Well, great.
Thank you very much for sharing experiences with us, Philip.
PHILIP BERGQVIST: Yeah.
Thanks.
MARTIN OMANDER: Hopefully, you found something useful here
that you can apply in your startup.
If you have comments, please enter them in the YouTube
comments section.
We read everything you write.
And finally, if you're a high-tech entrepreneur,
go to developers.google.com/startups
to find out how Google can help you.
That's it.
See you next time.
All right. [SPEAKING SWEDISH]
PHILIP BERGQVIST: [SPEAKING SWEDISH]