Amanda Maricle is the Product Owner at Nami ML. She has an extensive background in app development and most recently product managed the Connect mobile app platform at HomeSpotter.
Nami takes security very seriously, and we are proud to now be able to offer another layer of protection to your account through Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
If you setup 2FA, logging into your Nami account will require a code from your authenticator app as well as your username and password.
Enterprises now have even more control over the safety of their Nami organization and the security of their team members with our configurable organization security policies.
Enterprise admins can configure these policies:
Expire Passwords
Lock Account After Failed Login Attempts
Disable Inactive Team Members
Control Center Session Lengths
These features are only available to users on our Enterprise plan. Contact us to setup a demo or upgrade your plan.
Let’s take a look at each of these in more detail.
📊 Subscriptions Report Card
We all want to know how many active subscriptions we have but that only tells a part of the story. Your subscriber base can be segmented across a number of dimensions to tell a more complete story.
That’s why we’ve rolled out a new Subscriptions Report Card that gives you a real-time report of the number of subscriptions with the following context:
Total Subscriptions
Active Paid Subscriptions
Subscriptions in Free Trial
Subscriptions in Intro Pricing
Paused Subscriptions
Subscriptions in Grace Period
Subscriptions in Account Hold
Subscriptions not renewing
With Subscriptions Report Card, get insight into your app's subscription journey states available on the Overview screen. To learn more, visit the docs.
🤖 Android 2.0
The latest Android release is full of features!
Nami's entitlement engine is now improved to handle subscription upgrades and downgrades
Options to sell new in-app purchases with lifetime one-time purchases and consumables
Localize your paywalls to sell your app in multiple languages
Improved TalkBack support for accessibility text to speech on our no-code paywalls
Learn more about the Nami Android 2.0 SDK, head over to the ChangeLog.
🔗 Integrations Screen
Connect Nami to your App Store or Google Play account plus other tools using our new Integrations screen.
Sync Nami subscriber data with 3rd party platforms such as mParticle, Wicket Labs, and Zendesk (coming soon). Importantly, you can also now setup and consume Nami context on your own backup by consuming our webhooks.
We've had a busy summer! Take a look at what's new in the Nami ML platform from the last few months, including:
Create Paywalls in multiple languages
New Cloud Paywall Builder
Accessibility support
Big Enterprise feature update
Paywalls in Multiple Languages 🗺
Nami has been innovating to help grow your global business needs!
Promote different content in different countries
Customize paywalls by language and locale to tailor your message
Unlock a global audience of potential subscribers
Updated Cloud Paywall Builder 🖼
The paywall builder looks better than ever! Edit your paywalls easily from our newly designed sidebar editor and watch your paywall preview update in realtime.
We’ve designed our paywalls to work with screen readers solutions including VoiceOver on Apple and TalkBack and Select to Speak on Google Android.And you can even translate the screen reader text for localized paywalls!
See the new Localization and Accessibility features in action:
Enterprise Features 🏢
These features are only available to users on our Enterprise plan. Contact us to setup a demo or upgrade your plan.
Advanced Roles/Permissions
Invite users to your organization with limited access using our new roles and permissions controls.
Admin - Access everything
Support - Perfect for customer support teams that only need access to customer records
Viewer - Keep your Nami environment secure by limiting users that can make changes
Or contact Nami to customize roles with access that fits your business needs.
Nami is invested in enterprise-class resources and processes. We have integrated continuous monitoring software and advanced data privacy practices to become SOC 2 compliant.
* * *
We hope you find these updates useful and if you have any questions or feedback, please reach out.
1. Calculate for Your Users How Much Their Plan Will Cost Monthly or Compared to Other Products
Understanding the true cost of a subscription plan is a critical factor for users when deciding whether to commit to a service. By calculating and displaying the monthly cost of a plan, users can easily assess its affordability within their budget. This practice not only enhances transparency but also helps users make informed decisions.
Additionally, comparing the monthly cost with an annual plan's cost can highlight potential savings, making the annual plan more appealing. While they may not initially want to commit to a longer term plan, seeing clear savings can be compelling.
For example, if a monthly plan costs $10 per month and the annual plan is $100, users can immediately see that they would save $20 by choosing the annual option. This straightforward comparison can be a compelling incentive, as users often appreciate the opportunity to save money, even if it means committing to a longer-term plan.
While [users] may not initially want to commit to a longer term plan, seeing clear savings can be compelling.
Why Monthly Cost Matters
Most users think in terms of monthly budgets. Displaying the cost per month can make your product seem more affordable and easier to justify within their monthly expenses.
Implementation Tips
Dynamic Pricing Information: Use tools like Nami paywalls that have Smart Text variables to automatically calculate and display monthly savings.
Visual Comparisons: Use charts or graphs to visually represent cost savings between monthly and annual plans.
2. Don’t hide billing terms
While it can be tempting to just provide the price broken down by month, for an annual product users will be billed once every year, not monthly. So when the user is billed once for a larger amount than was advertised on the product (the monthly price), they will be surprised and upset. Being misleading about billing frequency can lead to support issues and refunds that are avoidable, violating paywall best practices.
Transparency in billing terms helps build trust with your users. Misleading billing practices can not only lead to churn but also damage your app’s reputation.
Implementation Tips
Clear Billing Descriptions: Clearly state the billing frequency next to the price. For example, "Billed annually at $120 ($10/month)".
FAQ Sections: Include an FAQ section on the paywall that answers common billing questions.
Visual Cues: Use icons or symbols to represent billing cycles clearly.
3. Clearly Indicate Trial Length
Users like to test out services before committing to purchase. Clearly indicating how much time they get in a free trial will help overcome buyer concerns and convert more users. This is a crucial paywall best practice.
If your products have different trial lengths, you should make that clear so that the user isn’t surprised. Unclear trial length is an easy way to get an unhappy customer or a refund request.
Free trials reduce the perceived risk for users, making them more likely to try your service. However, unclear trial lengths can lead to frustration and mistrust.
Implementation Tips
Trial Length in CTA: Incorporate the trial length into the Call to Action (CTA) button, such as "Start your 1-week free trial".
Countdown Timers: Use a countdown timer to show how much time is left in the trial.
Reminder Emails: Send reminder emails towards the end of the trial period to prompt users to subscribe.
Badges can help highlight the most popular or best value product, making the decision process easier for users and driving them towards the option you prefer.
Implementation Tips
Highlight Savings: Use badges to highlight savings, such as "Save 20%".
Social Proof: Use badges like "Most Popular" or "Best Value" to leverage social proof.
Color Contrast: Ensure the badge color contrasts well with the rest of the paywall to draw attention.
👉🏻 Looking for examples of paywalls with product badges? The Nami paywall gallery has hundreds of paywalls from top apps to explore.
5. Don’t show more than 3 Products on a Paywall
Users are viewing your paywall from their mobile device and trying to decide if they want to pay for your service, and if so, how much and how often. While it is tempting to display all your product options in one view so that users have flexibility, rarely is this a good idea in practice.
Even if you do offer weekly, 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month products, displaying them all on 1 small screen can give a user decision paralysis. They have to compare 5 different products and prices and try to decide how long they will want to use the service and whether they will remember to cancel.
Try setting up a paywall featuring just the annual product and track the conversion rate. Then test it against a paywall with both 1 month and 12 month options. How many users are buying the 1 month product versus the 12 month? How long do you retain the 1 month users?
Too many options can overwhelm users, leading to decision paralysis where they end up not choosing any option at all.
Implementation Tips
Limit Choices: Offer no more than three product options on the paywall.
Highlight Differences: Clearly highlight the differences between the available options.
User Testing: Conduct user testing to determine the optimal number of choices for your audience. With a software like NamiML you can run A/B testing for all your paywall in minutes.
Your mobile app paywall is a critical component in driving revenue. By following these paywall best practices, such as clearly indicating trial lengths, using badges to draw attention, and not overwhelming users with too many options, you can optimize your paywall for better conversion rates and user satisfaction.
Looking for more tips on paywalls? Submit your paywall for personalized advice from our team.
On Friday, September 10th, California Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a ruling in the lawsuit between Fortnite maker Epic Games and Apple ordering Apple to ease their anti-steering restrictions on in-app payments. Here’s what we think the decision means for Apple and in-app payments as well as two ways to prepare your subscription app for these changes: analyzing your in-app purchase flow and the costs of building a subscription service.
What happened in the Epic v Apple Ruling
On the morning of Friday, September 10th 2021, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a ruling in this closely watched case.
Epic has been butting heads with Apple since last August, when Epic introduced their own direct payment system inside the Fortnite app as a way of getting around App Store fees. Purchases made through the Epic system were discounted, purportedly since Apple wasn’t taking their 30% cut of the purchase price. Apple responded by pulling the app from the App Store. Epic filed their antitrust lawsuit the same day.
Fast forward to this month’s ruling, and Epic lost on 9 out of 10 counts, including lowering the 30% App Store fee, claiming the Apple App Store as a monopoly, and accepting other app stores on Apple devices. The ruling Gonzalez Rogers handed down in Epic’s favor regarding Apple’s anti-steering policy is small, and likely to have no long term impact on Apple’s finances.
The relevant text from Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ ruling says that Apple is “permanently restrained and enjoined from prohibiting developers from (i) including in their apps and their metadata buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing”. Essentially, iOS apps must be allowed to direct users to payment options other than Apple’s IAP, overturning Apple’s anti-steering policy that had been in place for years. This is set to go into effect 90 days from the ruling, or December 9th.
Epic has filed an appeal and Apple can still do the same. These appeals could postpone the December 9th deadline for the change.
What does this mean for in-app payments? A lot depends on how Gonzalez Rogers’ ruling is interpreted and we can only speculate how this will play out. But regardless of how Apple implements the change, we are more interested in how users will adopt it, and how it will affect app subscription adoption.
At WWDC 2019, Apple announced ‘Sign in with Apple’, a privacy tool that allows users to sign into any app with their Apple ID. In 2020 App Store Review started requiring the ‘Sign In with Apple’ option if the app also allows login via Google, Facebook, or other 3rd party systems. The result: login pages with stacks of buttons to choose from, and multiple accounts to manage if the user had already authenticated.
Image courtesy of MacRumors
Apple users have the choice to use a 3rd party, but do they? Given the simplicity, built-in privacy, and ubiquity (the option is now in 39% of iOS apps) of ‘Sign in with Apple’, iOS users often opt to use Apple’s technology. We speculate that, if given the choice between Apple Pay and 3rd party options, many users will still choose Apple unless there are substantial benefits to a 3rd party payment solution.
What you Should Do Today to Prepare your Subscription App
While Apple prepares for this change, here are 2 actionable steps to take today to get your subscription app ready:
1. Analyze your in-app Purchase Flow
Whether a one-time purchase or a yearly subscription, the payment flow is an extremely important part of your app. Other payment providers might offer you lower fees than Apple, but there is extra friction introduced by requiring users to manage multiple accounts. You don’t want users to get into a situation where they have purchased a subscription twice and you can’t combine records.
While a free app may focus more on new downloads and sessions, a subscription-based app needs to be laser focused on customer loyalty and happiness. A subscriber is a loyal customer, and you don’t want to lose them to a complicated purchase process.
2. Consider the Cost of Building a Subscription Service
The Apple App Store is a fully developed technology stack that provides you with all the tooling you need for your app monetization, without needing to do the hard work of writing code for involuntary churn mitigation, intro offers, and more. While being able to introduce another payment provider may cut fees, consider carefully the development time required to match all the features you are already getting (and users are expecting) from the App Store. Could you be better using that time to introduce more features or delight your customers in other ways?
If your app offers account creation, look to these metrics as a leading indicator of whether users will adopt a non-native solution or continue falling back on Apple.
What We Still Don’t Know About the Epic v Apple Ruling
This story is still unfolding and there is a lot we don’t know:
When this change will be enforced
Exactly how the ruling overturning anti-steering policies will be interpreted
If Apple will allow other integrated payment methods other than Apple Pay
If Apple will only allow other payment methods through buttons or links that take the user to a webpage, or whether this webpage will be in-app or rendered through an external browser
We’re watching this story closely and the Nami product will be ready with any changes needed to help expand your subscription app business. Join the newsletter to get the latest updates.
Apple Offer Codes are a great way to help you acquire, retain, or winback subscribers. You can offer special reduced prices on a subscription or provide free access for a limited time. Here is how to find and configure offer codes in App Store Connect.
3. Scroll down to ‘Subscriptions’ in the left hand menu.
4. Then pick the Subscription Group your product is located in.
5. Click on the Subscription product you want to add an Offer Code for.
6. Scroll down to ‘Subscription Prices’ and then click ‘View all Subscription Pricing’.
7. Click ‘Offer Codes’.
8. Click ‘Set up Offer Codes’.
Setup Apple Offer Codes
9. First, let’s setup a winback offer for Expired Subscribers. To do this, provide a name for your Offer. This name used for reporting and internal management. Then select ‘Expired subscribers’ from the checklist. Decide if you want subscribers to also be eligible for introductory offers with this code. Then click ‘Next’.
10. Then select the countries or regions of availability.
11. Select the Offer Type. For our Winback offer, we will choose Free for 1 Month. But you could also select ‘Pay as you go’ or ‘Pay up front’ for a discounted rate.
12. Confirm your Offer Price and ‘Submit’ to create the Offer.
Create Codes for your New Offer
13. Now that the offer is created, we need to create codes so customers can redeem. To do this, click the name of the new offer.
14. Decide whether you want to create one-time use codes or custom codes.
One-time use codes are perfect for email or SMS marketing and are unique to each customer. One-time codes expire up to 6 months after creation.
Custom codes are memorable codes that can be redeemed by multiple customers. An example would be ‘SPRINGSALE’. Custom codes can be edited to control how many customers redeem it, when it expires, and more.
You can create both one-time use and custom Apple offer codes for the same offer.
Create One-Time Codes
15. To create one-time codes, click ‘Create One-Time Use Codes’ from the Offer page.
16. Pick the number of codes to create for this marketing ‘batch’. Need more than 25k? Create multiple batches. However be aware that your app can’t have more than 150,000 codes redeemed in a given quarter, so watch your limits!
Then pick an expiration date for the codes. The codes will automatically expire in 6 months.
Finally, click ‘Create’.
17. You will see a batch of one-time use codes available. Click ‘Download’ to get a .csv file of the codes and the unique redemption URL that can be inserted into your marketing campaigns. Note: it can take up to an hour before the Apple offer codes are available to be redeemed by customers.
Create Custom Codes
18. To create Custom Codes, click ‘Create Custom Codes’ from the offer page.
19. Enter a name for the code. It should be memorable and short, such as ‘SPRING23SALE’. Be careful! This name can’t be edited once you create it and if you want to use it for another code, you must deactivate this code first.
Select the redemption limit for this code. This controls how many users can redeem it and counts against your 150,000 app redemption limit for the quarter.
Then select an expiration date. If you want the code to expire, you must pick a date within the next 6 months. Otherwise you can choose ‘No End Date’ if the code should always exist. Be careful! The expiration date can’t be edited.
Finally, click ‘Create’ to finish. Note: it can take up to an hour before the code is available to be redeemed by customers.
Redeem Apple Offer Codes
Now you have offer codes created! There are 2 ways to redeem Apple offer codes: direct URL and redemption sheet
The direct URL route is ideal for email or SMS marketing. Grab the Offer Code URL from the top of the offer page and replace ‘CODE’ with either the One-Time Use Code for a particular customer or a Custom code for a promo event. When a user clicks this URL they will be taken to the app store with this code prefilled.
Deep-linking into the redemption sheet with an Apple offer code prefilled
Redemption sheet allows a user to manually type in a code that they’ve received from you at an event, through SMS or push messaging, or from support. Users can either redeem the code through the “Redeem Gift Card or Code” page in their App Store account settings or in your app if you have implemented the presentcoderedemptionsheet API.
Redeem a one-time use offer code from App Store settings
Opening the generic redemption sheet for an app allows the user to type in a custom code
There you have it! All the steps required to setup Apple Offer Codes in 2023.
Want to try out an offer code to see how it works? Take a look at Nami’s house-built app called Serenity - Deep Sleep Booster. Use code ‘FREEFIRSTMO’ to get your first month of service for free.
Looking to improve your subscription conversion and retention funnels? Nami has detailed analytics to help you track and optimize your subscription app revenue. Get started today.
