How Do Billion Dollar Apps Go Viral

Newbie developers are dreaming of turning their app ideas into winning products and they’re envious of businesses that make millions of dollars. The road to success is not always straight and easy, because there are many other new applications that are yearning for the popularity crown, but with an and a small investment, anyone who gets into the mobile app development can build a strong community and users start recommending their apps to their friends, increasing the number of loyal fans. So, how can an application go viral and generate one billion dollars in sales?

There are few popular billion dollar applications and everyone wants to know their secret of success, how they managed to go from zero to one, and one to one billion. Well, for starters, their creators have identified which consumer segments they’d like to grow with their applications and they did their best to satisfy their needs.

Also, their prices must be acceptable, or else people will be reticent to spend their money on a product they see for the first time on the Google Play Store or App Store. I gave these two examples because Android and iOS are the major platforms with the largest number of mobile apps and every developer’s dream is to become known in these two app stores.

Guidance and Interactivity

Two of the most famous games are Clash of Clans and Game of War, which are very complex and well-designed. When taking the next step, players see animated arrows, while visual cues are highlighted using bright rectangular boxes. Any new player must be fascinated with everything the game does, or else he loses his interests and moves on.

And it’s a shame because there are many games with a lot potential, but which lack guidance and have a mediocre interface. Attention to details can save an app from disaster and if it stands out and has excellent graphic elements, such as app icons explaining the action – like in Clash of Clans, the user will have a positive feeling.

What Type Of Games People Play The Most?

Definitely strategy (CoC, Clash Royale, Hearthstone, Plants vs Zombies etc.) or puzzle games (Candy Crush, Cascade, Fruits Mania etc.) because they’re captivating and create addition after a few minutes of play. Then we have action type of games such as GTA 5, Hitman, Temple Run, Suicide Squad: Special Ops etc. that make player’s adrenaline boil. If you create a game that’s as good as the ones we’ve listed above, then you’ll hit the jackpot.

Why Not Releasing Two Or More Apps Or Games?

Overnight success happens only in movies. In reality, things are quite the opposite, as it takes a lot longer for a business to start earning good money. With a little bit of luck and a minimal effort, an application will generate an annual income of $10,000, or five times more. Maybe after a year, it will earn $100,000 and so on. So, instead of focusing on only one application, squeeze your brain a little bit and bring a similar, but yet different app or game. Google and Facebook have released a bunch of applications and all of them are pumping money into the accounts of the mother ships.

One Time Charge Or Subscription-Based Apps

There are applications charging users one time, and they are ok with paying 99 cents to download them and be content with what features are offered. Other applications are subscription-based and users pay, let’s say, $9.99 per month (usually, streaming services), while some apps are free, but come with in-app purchases or they offer a premium variant with extra features.

Viral By “Accident”?

If your application/game impresses an influential person, he/she will definitely recommend it on Facebook, Twitter or other social network and then, your app will go viral and people will install it because they’ve heard so many good things about it. So, you don’t have to do anything, just be noticed by the right guy or girl with thousands of friends.

Don’t Try To Achieve Perfection

Chasing perfection is crushing many mobile app developers who lose their minds when they discover bugs in their apps. Glitches appear in the most popular games and their creators are releasing new updates with fixes, but another bug pups up and messes everything up.

This isn’t a tragedy, but for some users, endless mistakes determine them to uninstall the game and find something less buggy. The idea is that if you act fast and solve the problem before receiving too many complaints from angry users, then you’ll save the situation.