Airtable App Launch Case Study Vol 2

Introduction

This post follows the previous one where I talk about what happens within the first month of launch of an app on Airtable. This one regards the Data Extraction extension for Airtable, which is a second app I’ve launched there.

The Most Interesting Part

Here’s to recap what happened to the last app:

And this is how the new app behaves:

I am really glad to see both initial higher uptake and continued interest in my apps throughout the full first month.

In terms of what I mean by activations here on the new app is whether the user did anything meaningful on the app, which is closer to the original definition of activation as well. I just used the authentication to define activation as such on the first app just because it is such a deliberate show of interest from the user’s side and is not easy to go through.

The major difference between the two apps seem to be that Data Extraction has now exceeded already the amount of users that the URL Shortener has, despite having launched 3 weeks later. This is because each day brings in more users in a more stable fashion than the previous app did. Even though it might not seem immediately obvious from the graphs, but Data Extraction has consistently about twice or three times the interest the URL Shortener does, especially now. My hypothesis is that even though URL Shortener might actually provide more value add to the user, then Data Extraction is way more accessible and relevant to more people’s uses sheer numbers-wise. This is actually surprising, because the Data Extraction was initially meant to be a quick addition of an app that is really fun for me to build, but now it seems to draw more attention than expected.

The Important Part

So how many users have actually used the app? Not just installed, but have actually used the app?

Of a 100 installed users in the first month, 73 have actually done something with it. I believe by SaaS standards this is probably good!

Some behavioral analysis

The app is most heavily used from Tuesday to Thursday, with Monday being sleepy.

I see usage behaviors that indicate what parts of the apps are useful, and what are not! It also gives me insights into what people need more. I also have polls on the app indicating to me what people care about more, and what they don’t care about, which is the more important part. What I’ve learned throughout my entrepreneurial journey is that users won’t tell you what to build, and you must elicit that yourself, but you can definitely find out what they don’t care about. It is valuable information!

Also, finally someone actually used the feedback form! The two feedbacks received: “thanks” and “good”. Wonderful.

Now I am also interested how many users have actually used the app for more than a single day. Unfortunately, that’s only 13 users. Three of them have come back for more than 3 days, one being a heavy user. I really hope they want to tell me more about their usage once I ask for it.

The Funnel

Similarly to the previous app, the main driver behind all of this is the marketplace listing itself. However, the funnel is simpler because at this point in time I don’t need users to having authenticated, so it’s more likely that they get to receiving value from the app faster.

Airtable Marketplace Listing ➡️ Install ➡️ Extract Data

Currently, there is no paid tier to it, so the funnel pretty much stops there. The more active users, the better.

What’s Next

I’ll have a third app out soon that I can compare this against as well - and understand whether it’s an outlier, or just part of the norm. Also, adding a paid offer to the app will change the dynamics of the funnel. Still, I don’t think I will be modifying the front end of the funnel much, as the organic growth here is what I am really after. Perhaps over time I could just work on more SEO-related things that help with the findability of it all.