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RocketSim: An Essential Developer Tool
as recommended by Apple

Issue 202
Jan 16, 2024

How I increased my Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) by 40%
Last week, I told you how I went from 47 to 58 daily average new installs. This week, I want to tell you what I did to increase conversions and MRR.

Email drip campaign
I’ve been collecting emails in-app for a while to ensure I can keep users updated on new releases. In Q4, I also added an email drip campaign to increase visibility. Part of the campaign ensures users find out what RocketSim can do and where they can find the documentation (also newly built in Q4).

Increase Install-to-side-window conversion
This is a custom metric for RocketSim: how many of the users that install RocketSim actually see the Simulator Side window?
You can see this as a key event for my app. It’s important to know this metric for your app to verify that your onboarding works well. I’ve increased the value from 65 to 76%, meaning more users experience the real value of RocketSim, likely leading to higher conversions.

Win-back campaign using promo offers
I wrote about this in detail in my article Promotional offers: Increase App Revenue using discounts.

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These initiatives have been a key driver of growth. Altogether, MRR grew 40%, and I’m getting closer to the 5K.

Feel free to reply with any follow-up questions since I might be answering these in the question of the week.

Enjoy this week’s SwiftLee Weekly!

THIS WEEK'S BLOG POST

I'm actively preparing the WeTransfer codebase for Swift 6 and running into all kinds of warnings. One of those warnings relates to global variables, and I'm sharing with you today how I've been able to solve them.

SPONSORED

If you’re a mid/senior iOS developer looking to improve your skills and salary level, join this 100% free online crash course. It's available only until January 28th, so click to get it now!

MONTHLY GIVEAWAY

This month’s giveaway allows you to win a ticket for the AppDevCon conference in Amsterdam! It’s one of my favorite conferences in the Netherlands. With Daniel Steinberg as a confirmed speaker, joined by speakers from American Express & Adobe, it is a conference you want to visit.

CURATED FROM THE COMMUNITY

SWIFT

An incredible open-source project by Point-Free allows you to benefit from everything the @Observable macro brings. Just use the new @Perceptible macro and start optimizing your SwiftUI view performance all the way back to iOS 13.

The technique described by Vincent Pradeilles in this article is what I like to use when optimizing an isolated piece of Swift code.

I love that you can extract objects from images on iOS, but after this article from Artem Novichkov I can now also start using this in my apps. The iOS 17 API makes it pretty straightforward.

Keith Harrison explains how you can benefit from predefined button styles and shapes in SwiftUI.

In this new video from Mohammad Azam, you’ll learn how to manage loading states in SwiftUI. I especially liked the enum-based approach in combination with a generic wrapper view to handle unhappy flows.

OPTIMIZATION

I can tell from my X feed that visionOS is getting closer to its official release. Apple dropped a Q&A based on the labs they gave over the past months. While you’re interested, make sure also to read how you can adapt your App Icon to visionOS.

FEATURED SWIFTLEE JOBS

Join the SwiftLee Talent Collective if you're hiring mobile engineers or are open to exciting opportunities.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

It’s one of the hardest things to do when building apps: promoting and getting users to use it. Jeffrey asked this week’s question.

While there are many ways to get your apps in the hands of users (like getting Apple to feature your app), I would love to share an angle I don’t often see mentioned: don’t try to sell your app, try to focus on sharing its value.

This might sound similar, but take this example:

“Download my app now and get 50% off”

This is a very clear example of selling your app, but there’s no real value for the end user other than getting a good deal. The question remains: why should they even bother downloading your app?

When I’m promoting my apps on social media, I focus on sharing value. If I can make it clear how valuable my apps are, installing the app will follow naturally. This applies to social messages, as well as advertisement campaigns or product pages. Make sure to get a clear understanding of how you can sell your product’s value.

Want to have your question answered next week? Ask your question on LinkedIn or Twitter.

THANK YOU

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