How I Built Apps With Over 2 Million Downloads — Part 3 (Growing The Product)

So you had an awesome idea, and you have now released a great product for it. If you haven’t, you should check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this article series. Anyways, let’s dive into principles I found crucial towards growing my apps from 0 users to hundreds of thousands.

Feedback Is A Gift

When I take an Android app seriously, I read its first 1,000 Google Play reviews. I also build a “Send Feedback” button into the app from the very first version, which allows users to email me their feedback quickly and easily. I do all of this because feedback is the lifeblood of a successful product. Here’s why:

1. A good product is for the people - As mentioned in Part 1, you should be building products to help people. If you aren’t listening to the problems people have with your product, how are you possibly going to serve them the best you can?
2. It’s free product management - I love this aspect of feedback as someone who’s building apps almost entirely on his own. It’s tough for a single person to be an engineer, designer, and product manager all at once, so it’s really helpful to have 1/3 of those responsibilities taken care of. In the beginning, each user is a massive portion of your userbase on their own, so every time you improve the app for an unhappy user is hugely impactful. I have found that when you’re just starting out, almost every single piece of feedback should be acted upon; users are…