Sales Data Graph for a Top 100 App

[CBanga]

Hey everyone,

Just posted this on our blog and figured it would be something that would be useful to everyone here. It's a graph that shows the sales trends for the first three weeks of our app, Battery Go! We wanted to release this so that you guys could see what to expect if you're looking to release an app or to maybe compare with people who've seen sales data.

Have a look and let me know what you think.
http://www.collegekidapp.com/2009/07/battery-go-sales-data-three-weeks-later.html

 

[braddick]

Wow. Lots of hits right out of the box and now a hugh decline.

Do you believe your app is the best that is being offered?

 

[CBanga]

I mean, I believe we do, but I'm probably a bit biased. I do think we offer a great app for only $0.99.

I'm just curious as to if any other devs are seeing similar sales trends. We're looking for ways to maybe see a couple more jumps in sales and are working over some creative ways to do so. We just want to know if what we have is standard/above/below average, etc We think we're doing alright, but I guess you never know.

 

[Jeremy1026]

That curve looks normal to me. And your thread title is misleading. There is a difference between a Top 100 app, and to be in the Top 100 within a category.

 

[CBanga]

That curve looks normal to me. And your thread title is misleading. There is a difference between a Top 100 app, and to be in the Top 100 within a category.

The app is in the top 100 in the category, but was in the top 100 overall at a point. When you see the big peaks early on, we were as high as 72nd in the US. The post title was to indicate what sales figures look like for an app that reached the top 100, since we figure that's a pretty big milestone that few apps reach and many would be interested in seeing it.

 

[FearlessFreep]

What's wrong with those damn Brits?

 

[Pika]

I have battery go.

 

[JBmoney13]

Hi,

I'm the developer for Mummy's Revenge, it's been in the Appstore for almost exactly 2 months. And it has had 2 minor updates, been featured in the iTunes "What We're Playing" section and had 1 major update.

Here's a youtube video of the gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh2q-j6UTMU

Like clockwork on every update (without a lite version) the app reaches #45 (Top Paid) in the Arcade section & #20 (Top Paid) in the Adventure section. It hovers around there for about a week then begins to move downward until it is out of the Top 100. I can only connect this trend to the exposure of being in the new release section of the Appstore. I do believe that a game or any app that shows this type of performance is going to succeed based on it's exposure. That may seem like common sense, but if you look closely you'll notice that there are other apps/games that don't make it into the Top Paid sections no matter how many times they have been updated and put into the New Release section.

I would say to any developer who is not making it in the Top Paid section of its category once it has been newly released, change something. Try it in this order, and submit an update after each change:

Sales Price (lower if possible)
Description
Graphics
Lite version (this might help a little but if you're not selling and you have done all the other steps this better be one heck of a lite version)

If none of that works, you have a bigger problem on your hands. The game itself is at that point just difficult to sell visually and your only hope is outstanding marketing outside of itunes, like blazing reviews from some top review sites with a large reader base.

Hope this helps.