Off My Chest: Did I Kill My Own App?
Two years ago I shipped a productivity app for a very specific niche. It gained significant traction back then, even though I only promoted it here on Reddit.
The web app was far from perfect, but it got the job done. At the beginning I did not think of monetizing it because I had made it just for me and I was almost sure no one was going to use it. Boy, was I wrong! Almost 100 people subscribed in the first 4 months. I could not believe it!
That's when I seriously started to think about integrating Stripe.
Over the months I tried to implement it a couple of times, but at the end I always ended up reverting the changes. I thought the app was not good enough to be monetized, so I kept it free.
Until one day one of the users asked me over Reddit if they could tip me, they've been using the app a lot in the past months and really liked it. So that's when it occurred to me that maybe integrating a Buy Me a Coffee was a good idea. I went ahead.
Only 3 people tipped me. Didn't know what to make of it. Were people not finding it useful anymore? Was I right and the app was not good enough? Was I being greedy?
I decided I didn't care. I discarded all those thoughts and I kept fixing bugs, improving the UI, added features that I thought were useful. In the end I created the app just for me.
Despite my doubts, I kept noticing people were still signing up and using it. So, back in April, I decided to finally integrate a paywall. I deployed it a couple of weeks ago and, since then, 5 people have registered.
The free trial expired for 3 of them and they have not subscribed... yet. I sent them personalized emails asking for feedback on their experience and what would help them decide to subscribe. So far: radio silence.
I just need a reason. Awaiting their response is very stressful and is making me anxious.
Now I'm wondering if it was better keeping it free or if it's too expensive. And of course I know about subscription fatigue, but hosting isn't free either.
Have any of you experience this? How have you overcome this anxiety?