136,800% More Users: A 24-hour experiment on the App Store

Last week we found our sales in a post-honeymoon lull and decided to shake things up by trying one of the few tactics we hadn't pulled, make Finch free for 24 hours and see what happens.



We saw a truly massive spike in downloads, from 2 the day before, to just over 4,200 during the promotion. To put that in perspective that's a rise of over 136,000%, and better than the entire lifetime sales of the app prior to the previous day. By the end of the day Finch was the top time tracking app, broke into the top 5 productivity apps & hit #18 in the top free overall apps.



Don't be fooled by the glamorous blue spike. Although we're thrilled that thousands of Mac users now start their day with the cheery Finch icon in their Dock, the jury is still out as to the short-term effects of this pleasant anomaly.

There is no expert on the fresh science of marketing for apps. Essentially, we are all voluntary guinea pigs in this theater of trial & error. At Touch Studios, we’ve offered up Finch (a.k.a. the best time tracking application for Mac that has ever been created) as our sacrificial lamb on which we take every opportunity to both create and break "the rules" of app marketing. In the 5 months since Finch was launched on the App Store we’ve:

• Received rave reviews (thanks to Mac360, Silicon Bayou News & AppStorm for being among them)
• One negative review by TUAW
• Varied pricing between $.99-$8.99
• Released two version updates
• Awarded the holy grail of Mac app honors: The App Store’s New & Noteworthy section.

We look forward to trying newer and even crazier ideas in the future. Check back for updates!

Fun Figures from Finch’s Free Friday:

27: Percentage of total downloads from United States
24: Percentage of total downloads from China
3: Average amount of new users per minute
1: Number of critics named Bjorn who reviewed Finch
1: Number of Video Tutorials Released in Spanish