Just wanted to share my observations on experimenting with different price points and the kinds of reviews and user response they attract. As I had mentioned earlier, I started out with pricing the app at 99 cents. Then decided to make it free during the last days of being featured. And once it hit 350K downloads, decided to experiment between the 1.99 and 0.99 price points.

First, the Obvious: If you give it away for Free. People will download it. And, Free + Featured = Explosive growth in downloads. You can figure out your monetization strategy (either Freemium or Free+Ads) later, and use the free price point to gain momentum for your app.

Just check out the download stats of Fotoyaki in the first 2 weeks. (As a side note, check out the L-shaped, or 1/x shaped for the mathematically inclined, download curve after each major event). Compared to the Free downloads, paid downloads are insignificant.

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The major events in the charts above:
Oct 27th - App gets featured.
Nov 1st - I made the App free mid-day
Nov 3rd - App goes off featured list mid-day (The decline is a curve similar to the curve in paid downloads, when the app got featured). App became #2 photo app on the 2nd. App climbed up to overall #49 on the 3rd before declining, once off the featured list.
Nov 11th - App probably got featured in EU. Italy had 40K+ downloads, and france, 30K+.
Nov 12th - I wanted to throttle free downloads, so decided to make the App paid again.
Nov 13th through 15th - Still see a few Free downloads occuring. Probably Timezones catching up + gift codes being used up. 

Second, the not so obvious way in which human psyche works: User ratings and reviews tend to be more on the positive side when you charge for the app. If and when they are negative, they tend to be constructive, and based on real pain points. And when you give away the app for free, expect a flood of ill thought out reviews, with no regard to the effort you placed into developing an app.

Price contributes to your app’s intrinsic value in people’s minds. When the app was 99 cents, most reviews were 5 star and 4 star (Yes, those from strangers, and not just from friends), and the couple of 1 or 2 stars were from users who had pain points which I was able to address later. Now, when the app became free, I saw a lot more 1 star reviews flowing in with no constructive feedback. Prime example: “This app is so basic, it’s lame. I wish I could say dif.” (1 star, Free) vs. “This App is awesome. Simple to use…” (5 star, 99c). Even the 1 star reviews when the App is paid are more thoughtful and provide constructive criticism than just one liner disses. Since people have actually invested in your app, they have an interest in getting some value back, and in turn, provide you with valuable feedback.

Third, the mind bender. There are almost twice as many daily downloads of the app at 1.99, than at 0.99 (at least in the US, which is the largest paid market still). That’s 4 times the revenue. I’m guessing people take the app more seriously when it’s priced above the rest. Yet another glitch in the human psyche. This is just an observation based on a very small sample set. (4 days worth of data, where 2 days had mixed data of both $0.99 and $1.99 priced downloads). So, I might be entirely wrong, but I will run this pricing experiment for longer and let you guys know if my observations are in fact mind bending.

Here’s a relevant scientific study that might explain the above 2 not-so-obvious behavior: Higher prices make cheap wine taste better.

But here’s the catch. With a higher price point, come greater expectations. I better churn out new features soon before the reviews get flooded with a lot of constructive criticism.