Sugar on Apps

Sugary details that make apps better and sweeter. A project by Cataflip.

[sugaronapps]

Prefill Signup/Registration Form with Facebook Profile

SlupMAG and Friend.ly rely solely on Facebook to signup users via the Facebook Registration plugin. Users who logged in to their Facebook account will get their basic info (name, email, location, DOB, etc) prefilled. The only thing they need to do is click "Register".

This is a great option and a time saver for apps that depend heavily on the Facebook platform.

[sugaronapps]

Cross Promoting Apps

Cross promotion is a very effective and free marketing method by leveraging on existing user base. Zynga is cross promoting their games, Halfbrick (case study) and many others through in mobile cross promotion but the biggest cross promotion to date — Google and Google+.

See the big blue arrow? Yes, just one big blue arrow pointing to Google+. It appears on Google.com and also the localized homepages. So how many millions or billions Google users will see this arrow? Pingdom estimated Google user base to be between 1 and 1.5 billion.

[sugaronapps]

Paid Private Beta

Lifepath and Mightybell took an interesting approach in getting private beta users — through paid private beta accounts. Instead of virality approach, they adopt the exclusivity approach.

Lifepath charges $5 per account and Mightybell limited beta costs $1. Those who paid have the bragging rights and exclusivity over those on the wait list (non-paying beta users). Want to join the exclusive few?

[sugaronapps]

Request for Invite Survey

Instead of just asking for email address, Grove and Strobe added a few questions to their request for invite form.

(Grove's request for invite form)

By including a quick survey in the request form, startups can get more insights about their potential and future users as well as filtering out those non-serious users.

(Strobe's beta sign up form)

Digg also implemented the same method for those who interested to join their new beta via SurveyMonkey. Check out Request invite for Digg Beta! Survey.

[sugaronapps]

Dropbox: Game Mechanics, Viral Marketing and Incentives

Dropbox using game mechanics, viral marketing and incentives brilliantly to engage with new users as well as getting more users with zero marketing cost.

Getting Started To-do List

Simply complete the 7 tasks and get 250MB for free. This helps new users to get started easily and upon completion, a 250MB extra storage.

More Social, More Free Space

By leveraging on users' social networks, Dropbox gives 128MB of free space to users for completing simple tasks like connecting Twitter and Facebook account to Dropbox, follow @dropbox on Twitter and tweet out why they love Dropbox. Piece of cake, isn't it?

More Friends, Even More Free Space

This is not the typical referral system where only the referrer gets reward. It is a win-win system. Both you and your friend who joins and installs Dropbox get 250MB of bonus space. The only catch is the 8GB max free space that you can get.

So, why not signup through my referral link?

[sugaronapps]

Mobile: Updates Notification via Push Notifications

Socialcam utilizes Apple Push Notification Service to send out new update notification to users.

A quick way to let users know when there is a new version.

[sugaronapps]

New Features, New Free Trial

Flow sends out newsletter to existing, non-paying users and give them another free trial when they announced a host of new features. A great way to let these users to try out new features which they might wanted in the previous trial.

Trying to convert non-paying, trial ended users to paid users? Give them a new trial, they might switch this time after trying out the new features.

[sugaronapps]

Send Download Link To Your Phone

Socialcam website makes it easy for desktop web users to download the app by sending a SMS or email of the download link to their phone directly. 

Users are taken automatically to the app download page on the App Store by visiting the link they received via SMS or email. This eliminates the need to type or search for the app.

Google Mobile App website does the similar thing too. But instead of launching the download page directly, users get a page where they can download the app from the App Store, launch the app (if they already have it) or use the web version.

[sugaronapps]

Signup: If You Have A Facebook Friend Already In, You Are In

Turntable.fm and Chill use Facebook social graph for user registration. The signup requirement is simple — If you have a Facebook friend already signed up, you are in.

This method is well-suited for social-based service especially if it requires friends' participation to be meaningful, just like Turntable.fm and Chill.

[sugaronapps]

Mobile: Email Confirmation/Verification Popup

wahwah.fm (iPhone app) signup process did a clever email check by showing an email verification popup asking user to confirm their email before proceeding with signing up the user.

Tap "OK" to continue with the signup or "NO" to go back to the signup screen.

[sugaronapps]

Social: Attention Grabbing Social Network Buttons

this isn't happiness has an interesting take on the common social network buttons. Instead of a Facebook icon (or a Facebook Like button), it is a "Hate" button and a Google- icon.

Want more followers or likes? Try this, it might works.