Struggling to keep users engaged with your mobile app?
You are not alone. Every year, thousands of apps lose more than half of their new users within the first week. The problem usually is not the idea or the design. It is the onboarding experience. In this episode of Absolutely, host Ken Vermeille, a seasoned developer, founder, and mobile onboarding expert, breaks down the seven essential strategies every app builder must master to turn first-time users into long-term loyal customers.
Ken explains how to simplify the first 60 seconds so users immediately understand what your app does and why it matters. You will discover how to inject real personality into your onboarding flow, reveal features at the right time to build confidence, and align your onboarding process with your app’s core engagement loop. He also covers how to personalize early experiences using data and behavior patterns, track the right metrics to measure success, and close your onboarding journey with a meaningful win that creates emotional investment.
This episode goes beyond theory. It is packed with actionable insights, real-world examples from successful startups and enterprise apps, and honest, straightforward advice that cuts through the noise. If you are tired of vague marketing talk and want clear, tactical methods that actually improve user activation and retention, this episode delivers exactly that.
You will learn:
How to design an onboarding experience that feels natural and effortless
The psychology behind user drop-off and how to fix it
Why most apps fail in the first 60 seconds and how to avoid it
How to turn analytics into real onboarding improvements
What it takes to create a user journey that converts and retains
Whether you are a startup founder, product manager, UX designer, or developer, this conversation gives you the clarity and strategy to build a user onboarding process that gets results. By the end, you will know exactly how to build trust faster, increase retention, and create an app experience that people genuinely love to use.
Listen to this episode of Absolutely with Ken Vermeille to discover how to transform your mobile app’s onboarding from a confusing first impression into a powerful growth engine for your business.
In this insightful episode of App-Solutely, hosted by Ken Vermeille, listeners are given a straightforward blueprint for scaling their application's user base from 1,000 to 10,000 users without breaking the bank.
Ken emphasizes the importance of smart, sustainable growth strategies that involve keen analysis of user data, direct engagement with the user base, and strategic reinvestment of revenues for further growth.
Below are the key takeaways and strategies discussed:
00:00 Introduction to Scaling Your App 00:34 Celebrating Your First 1000 Users 01:46 The Importance of Analytics and Experimentation 04:29 Optimizing Onboarding and Activation 05:49 Building and Utilizing Your Funnel 07:39 Identifying and Leveraging User Segments 11:13 Effective Marketing and Growth Strategies 15:28 Recap and Next Steps
Avoiding Common Mistakes in Building your First Tech Startup MVP
Ken Vermeille discusses the common mistakes and pitfalls founders often make when building their first minimum viable product (MVP).
Topics include the importance of flexibility to revise initial ideas based on market feedback, the risk of over-engineering an MVP with too many features, and the benefits of building an audience early on rather than operating in 'stealth mode'.
Ken's key point throughout is the necessity of focusing on customer feedback and market relevance rather than getting overly attached to an initial concept or trying to prematurely monetize the MVP.
00:03 Introduction
00:12 Understanding the Concept of MVP
00:53 The Importance of Testing Your Product
01:44 The Pitfall of Sticking to an Idea
02:48 The Purpose of an MVP
04:01 Embracing Change and Validating Your Idea
04:23 Understanding Your Target Audience
06:11 The Importance of Iterations
06:55 Avoiding Over-Engineering in MVPs
13:34 The Concept of Stealth Mode
20:46 Conclusion and Recap
This episode of App-Solutely is a game-changer for startup founders who want to create an excellent onboarding experience. Join Ken Vermille as he guides you through the essential steps to create an engaging and effective onboarding process for your mobile app.
Discover the common pitfalls, best practices, and innovative strategies to ensure your app not only captures but also retains user attention from the first use. Key Takeaways:
- Understanding User Context: Why knowing your user's environment is key to successful onboarding.
- Showcasing Value: How to effectively present your app's value proposition to new users.
- Engagement Techniques: Learn from examples and insights on making your app irresistible from the start. 🎧 Note: This episode includes detailed visuals that complement the discussion. For the complete experience, check out the video version. 📬 Got questions or need advice? Reach out to Ken via email or LinkedIn for personalized insights and tips. Your queries fuel our content! Subscribe and share App-Solutely to stay ahead in the world of mobile app development!
Welcome to 'App-Solultely', where we delve deep into the heart of scaling tech startups. In this episode, titled 'Scaling Success: Balancing Basics, AI, and Brand in Your 2024 Startup', we strip back the complexities of growth to focus on what truly matters. Hosted by Ken Vermeille, CEO of Vermillion Sky, this episode is a treasure trove of insights for startup founders ready to take their businesses to new heights in 2024.
We kick things off by emphasizing the undying importance of the basics in software development, ensuring that your foundation is as strong as your ambition. Then, we navigate the exciting yet intricate world of AI in app development, balancing its innovative potential with the essential human touch of coding. Lastly, we dive into the power of brand building – an often underestimated but crucial aspect of sustainable success.
This episode is not just a discussion; it's a guide, a companion, and a spark for your startup's journey in the fast-evolving tech landscape. Tune in to 'App-Solultely' and gear up for an enlightening session filled with practical tips, expert advice, and a touch of humor – because who says scaling a startup can't be fun?
In this episode, Ken Vermeille discusses the importance of user-friendly navigation and usability in mobile app development.
He highlights the need for clear and intuitive interfaces, using user feedback for continuous improvement and maintaining consistency in design, with an emphasis on the importance of a design system.
He also notes the effectiveness of surveys, beta testing and application analytics tools in understanding user engagement and behavior. Ken insists that building an app isn't about creating artworks but rather a tool to efficiently accomplish a task.
In this episode, host Ken guides listeners through the crucial steps and insights to consider before diving into the development of a mobile application. These five tips help in refining an app idea into a robust, marketable product that can potentially become the next big thing in the app industry.
Understand Your Target Market: The very first step is to understand the audience for your app. Find people with a problem and design an app that solves their problem. Use channels like social media and targeted ads to reach them and present your solution.
Monetization Strategy: Even if your app isn't intended to make money directly, it's vital to have a future monetization strategy, especially for attracting investors. The host emphasizes the effectiveness of subscription models and using ads tactically in the most valuable areas of your app.
Defining the Purpose of the App: Aim to make your app excel in one or two primary features, rather than cramming it with numerous features. Ken suggests focusing on developing core features first, and then gradually expanding based on user feedback.
Choosing the Right Platform: The choice of platform (iOS, Android, Web, etc.) depends on the target audience and the specific needs of your app. Starting slow with one platform and then expanding to others can be an effective strategy.
User Experience and Design: A well-designed app with a great user interface can enhance the overall user experience. A bad design can drive users away, hence investing in good design is crucial.
Ken illustrates these points with relatable examples, like his experience with the Macro Factor fitness app. He emphasizes that a deep understanding of the target market, a robust monetization strategy, clear purpose, the right platform choice, and stellar user experience and design, are key to creating successful mobile applications.
Listen to Erin Essex give the process of her becoming a Senior Interaction designer at Google.
To be a guest on the show send an email to Ken@vermillionsky.com
Josh Bachynski Chats with us about The Future in Ai. Main topics discussed in this podcast:
What are your Thoughts on AI?
To be a guest on the show send an email to Ken@vermillionsky.com
Bonnie Mauldin is The Founder of the Fast Dot game and The Mauldin Group. Listen to Bonnie explain her journey of Fast Dot.
Are you a startup founder looking to build a successful product? Do you want to know the secret to creating something that customers will love to use? Look no further than customer pain points. In this podcast, we explore the power of identifying and addressing customer pains as a means of building innovative and successful products. Ken Vermeille, shares his insights on the importance of focusing on customer pains and how it can lead to startup success. In this podcast, Ken will discuss how to identify customer pain points, why they're important, and how to build products that solve those problems. You'll learn how to use empathy to understand your customers' needs. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to take your startup to the next level, this podcast is for you. By the end, you'll have a better understanding of how identifying customer pains can help you build the next big thing and create a loyal user base. Don't miss out on this valuable advice – watch now and start building products that people love to use! If you need help building an app contact us at hi@vermillionsky.com
In a world where everyone wants to be the next unicorn startup, it's easy to get caught up in the hype of product-market fit. But let's be real, creating a product that customers actually want is harder than it looks. That's why we're here to tell you that problem solution fit is the new black.
In this podcast, we'll spill the tea on why understanding your customers' problems is the secret ingredient to building a successful product. We'll show you how problem solution fit can help you stand out in a crowded market and make your product the one that customers rave about.
We'll dive into the juicy details of how companies like Airbnb and Slack nailed it by solving their customers' pain points. And we'll give you practical tips on how you can achieve problem solution fit, from customer research to iterating based on feedback.
So if you're tired of building products that fall flat, tune in to our podcast and discover why problem solution fit is the new cool kid on the block. Get ready to take your product game to the next level!
Are you a mobile app developer trying to decide between Flutter and React Native? Tune in to our latest podcast episode where we dive deep into the pros and cons of both frameworks. Our expert guests will share their experiences and insights, giving you valuable information to help you make an informed decision. We'll explore topics like performance, development time, community support, and more. Don't miss this informative discussion on Flutter vs React Native, subscribe to our podcast now!
You have a great idea for a mobile app. You know it has the potential to disrupt the market and shoot to the top of the app charts. Unfortunately, you don’t have a single bit of technical knowledge to build it.
They say that the best idea tends to win out. But that’s only true if you also have the means to turn that idea into a tangible product. Build it right, and you can revolutionize your agency. Fail to do it, and you waste significant resources and capital.
With mobile apps continuing their rise to dominance in the digital environment, implementing your great idea is absolutely vital. In other words, without the knowledge to build it yourself, you have to look for external help. Here is what you need to know about hiring an app developer with no technical knowledge
Launching a successful SaaS business is hard.
You need to identify your target audience, create the right value proposition, find the perfect pricing model for your customers and have a long-term plan for monetization. And remember that you can't launch without first having the right team in place!
We've created this step-by-step guide to help you get started with launching a successful SaaS product. It includes everything from finding an idea to getting traction and scaling up.
This podcast will walk through 5 smart steps that will help you hire the perfect developer for your startup. We'll cover everything from finding the right person for the job all the way through getting their first day on-site off on the right foot. These tips are based on our experience of working with over 100 developers at Vermillion Sky.
If you want access to the show notes let us know by sending an email to appsolutely@vermillionsky.com or visiting our site VermillionSky.com.
Many entrepreneurs who heavily invest in their business think they have found product/market fit when they really haven’t. It can be a disastrous issue when they begin hiring staff and optimizing their product before they figured out who actually needs what they made. You only really reach fitting your product to the target market when you are so overwhelmed with usage that you aren’t allowed, by your customers, to make any changes to your product because you are swamped just keeping it up and running. You can’t point to the success you have in building up a staff or pointing to outside sources of faith and funding. Entrepreneurs are often focused on the quality of their solutions and never listen closely enough at the problems that cry out to them. Actually, the problems out there in the marketplace are what outline the product. A shiny new product that doesn’t have a problem behind it will never find a product/market fit.
The user acquisition strategy for apps is a crucial part of app development, as it will help you reach the top of different app stores and be noticed by users. These are some of the best ways to create a user acquisition strategy for an app using Facebook ads, Google Adwords, or video ads on YouTube. You should also consider investing in influencer marketing to increase awareness of your product and make it more appealing to potential customers.
1. Facebook ads
Using Facebook ads to promote an app is a great idea, as its platform allows you to test several effective ad formats and target specific audiences.
2. Google Adwords
Google Adwords also provides useful features that can help promote your app, such as the topic targeting feature which helps you find potential customers by searching for relevant keywords that your app can be associated with.
3. Influencer marketing
You should also consider investing in influencer marketing to increase awareness around your product and make it more appealing to potential customers, as this strategy allows you to work with marketers who already have a large community on social media channels like YouTube and Instagram.
4. Video ads on YouTube
Investing in video ads and putting them on a platform that boasts a huge audience (over 1 billion users) can result in a profitable user acquisition strategy for your app.
5. App marketing companies
Using an app marketing company like AdColony to promote your product is another way to reach potential customers who are looking for great apps on the different app stores.
6. App Store Optimization (ASO) Another important step in creating a user acquisition strategy for your app is optimizing it and its store listing to make it more visible and appealing to potential customers, as ASO helps you increase an app's ranking by improving its visibility in search engine
We talk about all of these topics today!
Taking the time to validate your app idea is useful for a whole host of reasons. However, people tend to get excited and rush into the development process, investing deeply into an app that might not even work. In this podcast, we’ll take a look at how you can validate your app idea before you start sinking time and resources into developing it. This helps you ensure your app stands a good chance of being successful while avoiding any costly expenditures.
Progressive apps are a new way of building cross-platform applications rather than sticking to the old methods. For example, if in past instances where you had an idea for an app, you were usually relegated to one platform such as building it for iOS. If you were interested in providing your app in an Android marketplace, that meant building a whole new app. We'll talk about how you can save money on a progressive app and the benefits that it will bring to your business.