Hey! this is Overpass insights my name is Eric and I make apps now today
I want to talk about why we should be using subscriptions instead of in-app purchases
all right so good morning I am in the middle well I'm in the middle of a seven mile run
so okay last year I tried to do like a three-day fast i wanted to see whether or not i could do it
i made it like two and a half days until I was just grumpy and angry
this time I'm trying to do it again this week and I'm like a day and a quarter into it and I
feel really good I woke up this morning feeling actually no I don't feel that bad I think I'll
go for a run I'll go for my normal seven-mile run and then after five miles, I was just like nope I'm
walking I'm walking number mile number five and when I get to mile six I'll start running again
anyway, best-laid plans are usually this seven-mile run you know over the last couple of years I've been able
to do it but anyway that's not what I want to talk about today I want to talk about subscriptions
so last week I got an email from somebody a user of ear spy saying hey I got a new phone I went
to the play store and it's not there I want my money-back right and I was like well can you send
I was like geez okay well first of all that app hasn't been published for like two years at least
right so it's like and I didn't remove it google play removed it but I'm like okay fine you know
it's like it was whatever 199 299 something like that so I was like okay send me the google play
receipt and I'll refund it and they were like you know I can't find it I'm like well there's nothing
really much i could do if i started thinking about it it's like dude is this gonna happen for like
the rest of my life yeah first of all part of me was glad that somebody was still using it like
even though it has been published for a while it's still on people's phones it's something
they still care enough about to ask you know why hey how come I can't find this anymore
that was kind of cool but then there's the other part which is like dude it's like
you know it was 2 pound 99 like three years ago whatever four years ago whenever they bought it
and you know I'm still kind of on the hook to support this thing which got me thinking a lot
more about subscriptions right we talked about this yesterday on the live stream about uh you
know a couple and also a lot on the on our discord channel people been talking about it you
know going to subscriptions and how much better it is for them not just having the recurring
revenue but having that feeling of support if somebody pays for something for a year and after a
year they decide they don't need it anymore they don't come back and say hey I want my money back
you know it's one of those weird kinds of things I mean my whole thing with the refunds on
the in-app purchases have always been like yeah sure I don't care I'm just going to give it back
I used to work at Sears in Hawaii when I was like 22 years old just as I got out of the army I got
a job as a stock like a stock person at a Sears in Pearl Harbor Pearl City Hawaii
at the mall and um and they had this policy that if anybody comes in for a refund you don't
give them a hard time you just give them the refund it's not worth it you know so that's what
I've always been with the refunds on the apps it's like I'm not going to argue about first
it's not worth arguing about 2.99 and if it's that important to them you know I'll refund it if I can
but the nice thing about subscriptions is that you don't have to do that now with my own applications
I haven't gone down that route yet but I have some clients who have and they're really really happy
with it and it's something I think about a lot so you know it seems to be everything seems to be
moving that direction it's like a big shift in the way the App Store and App revenue is running right
we're moving away from ads and we're moving into subscription-based applications which is amazing
and it's something I'm definitely you know I'm working on a few projects now of my own projects
which I'm gonna you know implement those in and I'll let you know how it goes but what I'd like
to ask you guys is how many of you guys are using subscriptions and how are they working for you are
you enjoying them I mean do they you know it's like I said I have one client I see his revenue
come in it's about he's making about 80 pounds a month which is not bad it could be a lot better
but that's more of an advertising thing but anyway I want to know you guys thoughts on that
I hope you're having a great day have a great week that is it for today I'll talk to you next time