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Ask HN: Apple is featuring one of my apps. Should I drop the price to $0.99?

6 points by albertogh ↗ HN
Apple has posted a review of one of my apps in the App Store's official Facebook page. Its price is $2.99 and it's currently ranking 27th on iPhone and 16th on iPad in its category (News).

I'm thinking in lowering the price to $0.99 for the weekend, but I see both upsides and downsides:

Upsides: - More sales - More exposure, since it will climb the rankings higher

Downsides: - I might make less money - Some users who bought the app might be annoyed when they see I dropped to price to $0.99 just after they bought it (this one specially worries me)

So, dear HN, what would you do?

App Store's official FB page: http://www.facebook.com/AppStore

Printful (my app) http://itunes.apple.com/app/printful/id385487729?mt=8

12 comments

[ 18.3 ms ] story [ 42.5 ms ] thread
nickythegreek
You could split the difference, with $1.99. People who already paid wont be so irk'ed, and others will be more likely to find value in your app at the new pricepoint.
bretpiatt
Users that paid $2.99 shouldn't be upset. When making a purchase decision they decided it was worth that to them. The future lower price could have saved them $2.00 but it isn't a reason to get upset. If you spend time all of your life being bitter by the fact you could have gotten a better deal if you just waited... well this is how bubbles happen.
nickythegreek
When an app is more then 99 cents, one of the key things I look for in the Description field is upcoming features. It makes me find more value in the app, because I believe the developers are actively working on updates and I will be more likely to purchase the app knowing that its feature set will be increasing.
albertogh
That sounds like a good idea, I'll add that right now. In fact, some of those features are already available if you enable them using the website, but they aren't exposed in the app's UI.
kingofspain
I had in my mind that this kind of thing was grounds for rejection by app reviewers. Though I admittedly haven't read the guidelines in many months so I may very well be wrong.
rick_2047
Hey people bought it for 2.99 right? What makes you think that more people won't pay that price? It has a nice ranking and all, why not just take nickythegreek's advice and add a upcoming features list.

You may also put a lite version out there which will cost .99. Just saying, not an experienced person here.

albertogh
That's a good point. I already have a $0.99 iPhone-only version. The "full" version which is priced a $2.99 supports both iPhone and iPad. However, the $0.99 version sells really badly. Around 5% of the full version. I'd say it's because reviewers have only focused in the universal app and users are not finding the iPhone only version.
brudgers
Why not double the price?

http://jacquesmattheij.com/Double+your+price+(and+no,+Im+not...

albertogh
Very interesting article, but I don't think that would apply to the App Store. Selling more copies increases your rankings, which in turn helps you get more exposure and more sales. That's not applicable to the website which offers a service for a monthly fee.
brudgers
Are you in it for rankings or revenue? Cutting your price to a third may not triple your sales - $2.99 is still nominally free.
nika
I'm experienced with the appstore, including having an app that sells for the same price and leveraging short term exposure by lowering the price.

Absolutely lower your price to $0.99. The goal here is not to maximize revenue for the short period apple is featureing you, but to maximize momentum for the next week or two.

If you have viral features, such as sharing, etc, then you have a chance of sparking a lot of further growth by having new people introduced who then share it.

Never once had anyone complain about the price being lowered.

sambeau
So I see you did it. How did it go? Did it make a difference?