Dan Burcaw is Co-Founder & CEO of Nami ML. He built a top mobile app development agency responsible for some of the most elite apps on the App Store and then found himself inside the mobile marketing industry after selling his last company to Oracle.
When it comes to designing mobile apps, one of the most important decisions developers need to make is whether to use native user interface elements or web views. While web views can be more versatile, they often fall short in terms of user experience and functionality. In particular, paywall screens are an area where native UI elements shine.
Here are some of the benefits of using native UI elements for paywall screens in mobile apps:
Consistent Look and Feel
Native UI elements ensure that the app looks and feels consistent across different devices and operating systems. This helps to establish a sense of familiarity and trust with the user, which can be crucial in convincing them to pay for content or services.
Faster Loading Times
Web views can be slower to load, which can frustrate users and discourage them from making a purchase. With native UI elements, paywall screens load quickly and seamlessly, which can help to improve conversion rates.
Native UI Elements for Paywall allow Better User Experience
Native UI elements are designed specifically for mobile devices. This means they are optimized for touch screens, smaller screens, and other mobile-specific features. These native elements can help to create a more intuitive and enjoyable user experience. A more enjoyable user experience will encourage users to engage with the app and make purchases.
Native UI elements are more secure than web views, as they are less vulnerable to attacks such as cross-site scripting and injection attacks. This can help to protect sensitive user information and improve user trust in the app.
With native UI elements, developers have more control over the design and functionality of paywall screens. This means they can create a unique and engaging user experience that reflects the brand and appeals to the target audience.
In addition to these benefits, native UI elements also allow paywalls to leverage system features like localization, accessibility, dark mode, and more. Let's take a closer look at each of these features:
Localization
By using native UI elements, developers can take advantage of the built-in localization support provided by mobile operating systems. This makes it easier to create paywall screens that are localized for different languages and regions, which can improve the user experience and increase the app's reach.
Accessibility
Native UI elements also provide better accessibility support than web views. This means paywall screens can be designed to be more accessible to users with disabilities, such as those with visual impairments. This can help to improve user satisfaction and ensure compliance with accessibility guidelines.
Dark Mode
With the increasing popularity of dark mode, native UI elements allow paywall screens to automatically adapt to the user's system-wide preference. This can create a more seamless and immersive experience, which can help to increase user engagement and satisfaction.
Native UI elements also allow paywall screens to leverage system features like haptic feedback, which can improve the user experience by providing tactile feedback for user interactions. This can make the app feel more responsive and engaging, which can encourage users to make purchases.
If you're looking to create paywall screens for your mobile app, consider using Nami's no code paywall solution. With Nami, you can have the best of both worlds by creating paywalls that are rendered using native UI elements. This means you can take advantage of all the benefits of native UI elements, such as faster loading times, better user experience, improved security, and system feature integration, without the need for coding skills. By using Nami, you can create paywalls that are customized to your brand, easy to use, and optimized for revenue generation. So why wait? Get started with Nami today and take your mobile app to the next level.
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If you have a development team, you might be considering building a paywall in-house. Why should you use a paywall solution instead? Here are our top reasons why you should use a no-code paywall solution for your subscription app business.
See a Live Preview in a No-Code Paywall Builder
When coding a paywall, you spend a lot of time staring at lines of code and not a lot of time focusing on the layout and design. With a no-code paywall builder, you get to skip right to designing and editing colors and copy live.
Industry best practices for paywalls are constantly changing. Rather than spending days of development on 1 paywall design and being hesitant to change it, use a solution that is continually evolving and adding new components and layouts.
Nami’s no-code paywall builder has dozens of paywall designs available out of the box. And we are always adding more designs that require no development time to add to your app.
Nami’s library of no-code paywall template designs
The Apple App Store requires your mobile app to go through review each time you submit an update. While review often goes smoothly, your app update can get delayed for everything from long review times to new guidelines that require big product changes. According to Apple, “...forty percent of apps or updates submitted to Apple are rejected...” - CNBC, Inside Apple’s team that greenlights iPhone apps for the App Store
40% percent of apps or updates submitted to Apple are rejected
With a no-code paywall builder you can make big and small changes that go live immediately without the hassle.
Test Faster
When you want to grow your app revenue, you need to optimize paywall conversion rate. To do this, you need to make frequent updates and enhancements to your paywall and purchase funnel. If you are always relying on development to make change, testing grinds to a halt.
With Nami’s no-code paywall builder, you can create 2 variants of the same paywall in minutes. Then use our campaign view to set up a one-click A/B test with customizable split and audience filtering. When your campaign goes live, your app audience immediately starts getting the test paywalls.
When you are coding your own paywall, analytics are often the last thing on your mind. But without data telling you if users are viewing or purchasing from a paywall, you are in the dark about paywall performance. Choose instead a no-code paywall solution that has a full package of analytics. Nami analytics are specifically designed to give you the fullest picture of how your app is performing.
Use a no-code paywall builder to build paywalls live, experiment with new paywall designs, avoid App Store review delays, test faster, and get built-in analytics.
WWDC22 wrapped up this week and we've got you covered on the key announcements relating to payments, monetization, and in-app purchases from Apple WWDC22:
Major New Apple Pay Merchant Features
Benchmarks in App Analytics
SKAdNetwork 4.0
In-App Purchase Testing Improvements
Refinements to StoreKit 2
💳 Apple Pay
Apple Pay received major new capabilities to will help merchants remove purchase friction and do more. Let’s take a look:
Tap to Pay on iPhone
Apps that accept payments via an approved payments partner such as Stripe or Square can now accept contactless payments. This way, no extra hardware is required to accept payments from customers using Apple Pay, Apple Watch, contactless credit or debit cards, or other digital wallets.
Apple Pay Later
BNPL - buy now, pay layer - is coming to Apple Pay. Customers can now split a purchase across four equal payments over six weeks. No additional interest or fees are applied, and merchants don’t have to do anything.
Order Tracking
Once an Apple Pay payment is complete, merchants can how add additional order details that will show up seamlessly in the Wallet. For example, surface order tracking details, order changes, or provide easy access to customer service options.
Merchant Tokens
Automatic or recurring payments can now happen independent of a device using merchant tokens. This means if a user upgrades to a new iPhone, their payment information will remain active even if they remove a card from their old device.
Merchants can also support new transaction types to fine-tune the payment experience with the Payment Request API.
App Store App Analytics will soon have new App Benchmarks so you can see how your app’s performance compares to your peers. Peers are determined by Apple based upon your category (e.g. Travel) and business model (e.g. subscription). This is done in a way to protect end user privacy and to protect your app’s specific performance. Benchmark results are shown via a percentile distribution.
Here are the metrics available for comparing your app to others:
App Store Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the rate at which users download or re-download your app after seeing it on the App Store. This metric will let you compare your user acquisition to your competitors.
Retention
Benchmark your app’s retention on Day 1, Day 7, and Day 28 post-download compared to your competitors. Strong retention over time is a good measurement for how well your app is doing in keeping users engaged.
Crash Rates
See how well your app avoids crashes versus your peers. Crashes are a negative user experience that can cause users to find alternatives.
📏 SKAdNetwork 4.0
Apple’s privacy-focused click measurement solution is taking another leap forward. SKAdNetwork 4.0 will support new capabilities and is coming later this year. Advancements include:
SKAdNetwork for the web
Advertises will be able to attribute web-based ad interactions that lead to an app download from Apple’s App Store. This will give app publishers are more holistic view of their app campaigns.
Multiple Conversions
Postbacks from multiple conversion windows will help advertisers and ad networks better understand user app engagement over time.
Hierarchical Source Identifiers and Conversion Values
Advertising becomes more flexible and gets more attribution information while still maintaining end user privacy.
🧪 IAP Testing Improvements
Similar to the App Store's in-app events, LiveOps will include an Events feature. Events will be surfaced throughout the Play Store to give you more exposure.
Sync IAP Products to Xcode
Bring App Store Connect IAP products to Xcode for testing without manually re-entering data.
More Xcode Testing Scenarios
Test new scenarios such as code redemptions, refund requests, price increases, or grace periods. This makes it much easier to validate certain previously hard to test scenarios.
Sandbox
The IAP sandbox is getting better. At last, Apple is making it easier to add sandbox testers and to test certain complex scenarios in the sandbox environment. This is a welcome addition as you advance your IAP implementation from development to App Store release.
👩💻 StoreKit 2 & Server API Refinements
Introduced last year at WWDC21, StoreKit 2 was a major step forward for app monetization via in-app purchases or subscriptions. This year, Apple is further refining StoreKit 2 to make it even easier for developers to work with.
AppTransaction API
App developers now have the ability to get more transaction detail via the AppTransaction API in StoreKit 2. Developers can more easily access the transaction history in-app. Additionally, transitioning an app from a paid to freemium business model is now easier than ever.
App Store Server API Notification History
Now app developers can have a history of notifications and in-app purchase transactions sent to their backend via the App Store Server API. This is useful when your backend server has an outage or if you need to replay events for scenario testing. The new API also allows you to look up IAP purchase history.
SwiftUI APIs
Lastly, Apple is extending more StoreKit 2 APIs such as presenting an offer sheet to SwiftUI apps. This is a welcome addition as SwiftUI matures and more and more developers adopt SwiftUI as their first choice for building apps for Apple platforms.
WWDC22 made a lot significant announcements for app publishers related to payments, monetization, and in-app purchases. From Apple Pay merchant improvements, to App Store Benchmarks, to IAP improvements, developers can look forward to having access to the most robust commerce capabilities yet.
Combine Apple’s commerce advancements with Nami’s entitlement engine, native paywall manager, and paywall A/B testing , and it’s easier than ever to grow and optimize your app revenue. If you’re interested in giving Nami a spin for your own app, you can create a free account here.
An Apple Search Ad is the App Store’s native ad format that Apple makes available to app publishers. Search Ad advertising units show up as part of the App Store search experience. Search Ads are a great opportunity for users to discover your app while they are already in the mindset of seeking out a new app.
Types of Apple Search Ads Solutions
Apple Search Ads come in two flavors: Apple Search Ads Basic and Apple Search Ads Advanced.
As the names suggest, Basic is designed for app publishers who want something more set and forget. Advanced accounts offer much more granular control so they are better suited for large publishers, agencies, or developers who want maximum control.
You can use either solution using the relevant sign-in link.
Search Ads Basic
For Apple Search Ads Basic, Apple uses Search Match which automatically match your ad to search terms. This dramatically simplifies setup time.
There are four steps to get started with Basic search ads:
Pick the app you want to promote
Select which countries and regions you want to promote in
Set a monthly budget (up to $10,000 per app)
Specify the maximum price you’re willing to pay for an install (max CPI)
Basic accounts don’t have any complex campaign management. There are no keywords to define, no audience targeting to manage. It’s a simple as setting a budget and max CPI.
To get started with Search Ads Basic sign-in here.
Search Ads Advanced
For Apple Search Ads Advanced, you are responsible for campaign management. In fact, Apple recommends Advanced accounts start with four campaigns reflecting different strategies:
Brand campaign - Search terms for your app or company
Category campaign - Search terms related to your app’s category
Competitorcampaign - Exact keyword match of app’s like yours
Discovery campaign - Broad keyword match to attract a wider audience
The steps to create an Apple Search Ad Advanced campaign are more involved:
Pick the app you want to promote
Choose the ad unit type (Search results or Search tab)
Set a campaign budget (total, time period, daily cap)
Create an ad group
Whether to use Search Match (Search results ad type only)
Select keywords
Refine your audience (by device, customer type, demographics, location)
Set the campaign start and end date
Specify the times and days to run the ads
Choose an ad variation (Search results ad type only)
Within each of these steps is a whole lot of additional steps and configurability that we will cover in an article all about Apple Search Ads Advanced usage. Until then, let’s look at the possible ad units.
There are two types of Apple Search Ads: Search tab and Search results.
Ad Unit: Search Tab
The Search tab ad unit, if available, shows up as the top item under the Suggested apps list. This is an extremely prominent placement since millions of users visit the App Store’s Search tab every day.
A user may see this Apple Search Ad format before they type a search term into the search bar.
Ad pricing for the Search tab unit is based upon a CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) model where you specify the maximum amount you’re willing to pay. The actual cost is the result of a second price auction. This means you pay based upon what the next closest bidder is willing to pay.
Since this is such a prominent placement, it is attractive to apps with wide appeal. App publishers must be willing to spend real dollars to see impressions.
Search tab units are created using assets also provided to the App Store for your product page. The ad unit looks just like the other Suggested apps in the list, except the row has a light blue background with a small ad badge.
Since Search tab ads show up before the user has typed in the search bar, no keywords are needed to setup this ad type. In addition, you cannot create an Apple Search ad variation since this ad type is automatically build by the App Store using your app icon, app name, and app subtitle.
Search tab ads are only available to Apple Search Ads Advanced accounts.
Ad Unit: Search Results
The Search results ad unit is based upon what a user actually searches for. For example, if a user searches for recipes, the first app in the list is a Search result ad. Like the Search tab unit, the item looks just like a normal search result except for the light blue background and ad badge.
After a user searches for a term, the App Store may surface related search terms. If a user taps on the refined keyword, a different Search Result ad may appear.
A Results ad is priced based upon a CPI (cost per install) model. For Apple Search Ads Basic accounts, Apple will automatically figure out which users to put your ad in front of based upon your app metadata. For Apple Search Ads Advanced accounts, you have more control over which keywords your ad can be shown for.
Creating your first Apple Search Ad is just the start. Once you start promoting your app, it’s important to tracking your ad performance so you can tune and improve your ROAS (return on ad spend). That’s where we will pick up in the next post in these series.
Until then, happy app building!
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According to app economy research firm SensorTower, App Store apps will generate more revenue than games in direct consumer spend by 2024.
The report, 2021-2025 Mobile Market Forecast, forecasts that apps will reach $86 billion and $107 billion in consumer spend by 2024 and 2025 respectively.
This is a significant development since games have long held the leadership position in App Store consumer spending.
Direct consumer spending on the App Store includes paid downloads, in-app purchases, and in-app subscriptions. Importantly, the adoption of and growth in in-app subscriptions is seen as the major driver of why apps are growing faster than and ultimately overtaking games in consumer spend.
App Store direct consumer spending via paid downloads, IAPs & subscriptions
One might think that the subscription growth is coming from a few specific categories such as Entertainment with the proliferation of streaming services. The split of in-app purchase vs. subscription revenue within a number of categories tells a different story.
While not all categories have adopted subscriptions as widely, all categories are seeing increased subscription share.
Categories across the App Store are moving towards in-app subscriptions
For apps that have not yet made the move to subscriptions, Nami can help you get to market faster. If you're already in market, but looking to optimize subscription revenue or elevate your subscriber experience, we have you covered.
Nami co-founder & CEO Dan Burcaw joins the Automate & Grow podcast to talk about how Nami is helping app developers start and grow mobile subscription businesses.
Here is the episode synopsis:
Dan has founded four companies each on the forefront of a major technology wave: open source software, the smartphone, cloud computing, and now machine learning. He founded and exited two companies in the mobile space which built and powered mobile applications for major professional sports leagues, news broadcasters, and airlines. He now leads Nami ML, a company focused on helping app developers start and grow mobile subscription businesses.
