Update

“Trial Period” Fuels Magikids’ Business, Development Cycle

Magikid Numbers

Magikid Numbers has ranked in the top 10 apps in 22 countries and seen a quarter-million downloads.

Finding the right balance in an app aimed at kids and hoping to encourage curiosity or learning is hard enough, answering the business strategy question can be even harder.

A couple months ago we spoke Björn Jeffrey from Toca Boca about their strategy and he explained they always have a one-time charge to download the app and aimed to develop a suite of games that would almost be like a digital version of “Lego.”

“We spent several months both looking at exactly what kind of product we were going to do but also studying the App Store,” Jeffrey said. “So, Toca Boca is a company designed around the App Store.”

Today we hear from another developer, Sean Hurley, Marketing Manager at Angell Echo, Inc. Angell Echo produces the Magikids apps. Magikids Numbers boasted 200,000 downloads back in March when they discussed their work at the Macworld Conference.

“We create comprehensive kids apps that kids use daily over long periods of time, weeks or even months,” Hurley said. “We’ve take inspiration from textbooks, school curriculums, and TV shows to make products that kids want to keep using and that parents like because of proven educational value. I think that there is still huge room for growth in the Kids category.”

We asked Hurley to take answer a few questions about Magikids, its business strategy and what it’s like to market a more formal suite of learning apps.

gamesandlearning.org:  Magikid has seen a lot of success in developing a series of apps for a fairly broad range of children. When mapping out your business strategy did you decide your approach would be to have a suite of apps for different age groups or did that approach develop?

Sean Hurley:  Having apps for a wide age range is something that developed organically. We never restricted ourselves to a certain age or type of app, we just made what we thought would be the best app.

As Magikid has grown we’ve filled in the blanks and now have apps for very young kids all the way up to 8 years old. The first Magikid app (Magikid Stage) was inspired by our CEOs daughter, and our apps have grown up with her – this is something we hear all the time from developers with kids.

We’re aware of the brand awareness benefits from having a wide-range of apps so kids could ‘graduate’ from one app to the other and have a consistently good experience with Magikid. Parents appreciate that. In the future we’ll continue making apps for kids of all ages, and maybe challenge ourselves to make something for pre-teens, which we’ve never done before.

gamesandlearning.org:  Did you alter your approach after you went to market with your first apps?

Sean Hurley:  We started out making digital toys, then purely educational apps and then comprehensive education apps, so we have definitely changed since our first app in 2011.

gamesandlearning.org:  Your approach seems to be to create more consciously educational apps – versus apps that are entertaining and indirectly educational. Why did you do this and how did that decision affect your product plans and development?

Sean Hurley:  Our first comprehensive education app was Magikid Chinese, it was large app and we spent a long time working on it – a complete gamble for us at the time. We wanted to see if we could create something that was directly educational and still engaging and fun. It was successful in a very specific market. That experiment told us that parents wanted apps that their kids would use long-term (2 months or more) and could see tangible benefits from.

Our planning and development changed from releasing new apps as often as possible to focusing on content creation for our existing products, this means we have fewer new releases a year but our existing users get hours of new content at no extra charge – it’s been really successful from a business POV and, based on parent’s feedback, an educational one too.

gamesandlearning.org:  One of the big questions is how to make money off these apps. Toca Boca has taken the pay once and own it forever approach. You all have primarily developed a free download and some play and then an in-app purchase to unlock the full game. How did you decide that would be your approach?

Sean Hurley:  We’ve tried pretty much every business model out there, everything except ads, and the best model is free to download and try, with a single IAP (In-App Purchase) to unlock the rest of the content. This gives parents a chance to try the app and they still own it forever. Every update is included in the IAP, so the people who bought Magikid Chinese when it only had 20 lessons now have all 68 for no additional cost, I’d consider that to be “pay once and own it forever.”

gamesandlearning.org:  When did you decide that you would pursue a “freemium” model?

Sean Hurley:  I wouldn’t call our apps “freemium”, Magikid’s model is more like a trial period. In Magikid Numbers you get book one free and can choose to purchase all the other books and future updates with a single IAP. We don’t sell ‘packs’ of content or exclusive content.

The first app that used this model was Magikid Chinese, which we tested at various price points. We grew into this model based on user feedback and our download/revenue numbers. A free app is going to get many more downloads than a paid app, that’s just a fact about the App Store, and having users actually play the app is our best sales tactic.

gamesandlearning.org:  How did that decision affect the development of the apps themselves?

Sean Hurley:  The sheer size of our apps means that our development cycle is slower than other developers, and we release less new apps every year because we’re busy updating existing apps. An update could contain 10 new stories, 10 new games, and 10 new songs and music videos – and creating all that content takes a long time.

gamesandlearning.org:  In designing the game (especially one for kids and that is educational) how do you balance between what you can offer for free and what needs to be behind the “paywall?”

Sean Hurley:  We wanted to give a fair representation of the quality of the app. If the parents and kids like the app and can connect with it on an emotional level then they will pay. The free content is usually one lesson, with a story, games, and a song. Because we give parents so much free high quality content they grow to trust the Magikid name and seek out our other products.

gamesandlearning.org:  Your business plan also seems to have other components – custom app development, off-line events and more. Was that part of your initial thinking about how you build a brand and monetize it or more an opportunity that came up?

Our parent company, Angell Echo, creates custom apps for other business but that’s not a part of the Magikid business model. We have branched out from apps, including tie-in books, stickers, and clothes. We also organize events like the Magikid Concert because it’s a great way to connect with our users and get real-time feedback from kids and parents.

For Kid’s Day this year we’re going to be doing an event at the flagship Apple Store in Shanghai. The apps are still our main focus but building a robust brand means expanding ‘outside the iPad’.

gamesandlearning.org:  For other developers considering “freemium” approaches, what advice do you have?

Sean Hurley:  Parent’s are wary of IAPs because of the negative press they’ve received recently.

You have to balance what your users get for free and what you’re promising them if they pay. It’s all about respecting the user and creating a long-term relationship based on trust. Don’t ruin your brand by over-promising and under-delivering.

Testing in the earlier stages of a freemium model is crucial – test your sales pitch, the content, and the price points.

gamesandlearning.org:  And what is coming next from Magikid?

Sean Hurley:  We just updated our best-selling app Magikid Chinese, with 8 more lessons – we’re working with Chinese teachers across America to help them integrate the app into their curriculums, which is really exciting.

We’re also putting the finishing touches on the new Magikid Numbers – an app we released last November, it’s been completely redesigned and reworked based on user feedback. We’re going to keep updating our apps and work on some new projects too.