App Stacking is something that you should strive for as an AppDesigner. Essentially, App Stacking occurs when a user likes your App so much, they go out and buy all of your other Apps as well.
A good example of this is your best friend's iPhone, and the 5 different versions of "Angry Birds" that you'll find on it. Essentially, each version of Angry Birds is just re-skinned version of the last game. However, some people ... even some people YOU know ... some people feel compelled to collect every release like it's a hockey trading card.
The same principle can be applied to all Apps - people love collecting things, and cool Apps are the latest rage. By releasing multiple Apps, and then by promoting your Apps inside your own Apps, you create your own little web of sales, encouraging users to "stack" the purchase of your Apps.
App Stacking At Work
With permission from the producer, I can show you a series of Apps based on the BoozHowTooz.com website. Each App contains a tutorial that shows you how to brew beer or make wine. They sell for $0.99 each, and contain up to an hour of video, per App.
The BoozHowTooz tutorials are convenient because you always have your iPhone with you when you're brewing. This makes it easy to use the BoozHowTooz Apps as cheap & handy reference guides when you're brewing.
The Main Menu of each App has a button on it promoting the other Apps in the series. Users can click this button to launch the App Store and view more BoozHowTooz Apps.
Note: The link structure for launching the App Store was discussed in the last hub post, titled Linking To The App Store.
Create a button to promote your other Apps in the Apps Stores.
Click Here to pop open the App Store and see where the Menu Button above links to.
The Bottom Line For You
Below I've included a graph that shows daily sales for all of the BoozHowTooz Apps. 2 things are clear at a glance:
1. Beer brewing tutorials are not profitable
2. On certain days, somebody is buying multiple Apps
App Stacking occurs when a user buys several of your Apps at once. This graph shows some clear examples of App Stacking.
This is App Stacking at work. The example above doesn't show a lot of revenue ... in fact, I picked it because with only 1 person a day stacking, the example is very clear.
However, imagine if 40 or 50 people a day were buying several of your Apps. This is exactly what happens with more popular Apps, and the revenues start to stack up too - you can multiply your daily revenues several times, just by releasing a small catalogue of Apps!
URL Structure for Linking to the App Stores:
iPad App Store Link:
http://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?entity=iPadSoftware&media=all&restrict=true&submit=seeAllLockups&term=
YOURSEARCHTERM
iPhone App Store Link:
http://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?entity=software&media=software&restrict=false&submit=seeAllLockups&term=YOURSEARCHTERM
