How the new Chrome Web Store increased signups by 1000% | Hacker News Reader

How the new Chrome Web Store increased signups by 1000%

blog.handcraft.com

44 pointsprimigenus9 comments

This is absolutely true and for me, it was a real shocker. I developed an extension called Better History. Before the redesign, I had 500 active users.

On the day of the redesign, installs skyrocketed. Everyday since has seen a 2,000 to 3,000 user increase. At the moment it's up to 11,000.

I did prepare some promotions that I think really helped get Better History some face time.

These are the promotions: http://automagical.posterous.com/three-promotions-for-better... - I think it's important to note that these three banners offer a much better idea of what you're installing than just the icon by itself.

That may also be the case for Handcraft, as our banners show the code editor. Before last week we got some people signing up and asking "What is this?" as if they weren't aware it was a HTML prototyping tool. Now the questions are of a different nature. I wonder if that's because the banner is more upfront about what the app is.

I think it is WAY too early to start giving the new design credit for the surge in sign-ups.

For the last week there has been a ton of press leading people back into the chrome web store.

As the next 30 days go by, the question is really, did the new chrome web store design make a big enough difference that people will actually come back?

The new pages look good but I wonder how they chose the new featured extensions...

I created a fantasy sport extension https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cnnckoodldcbgegkml... It was featured in the old webstore in the sports category

In the new webstore, it is buried behind random team-based themes (university of Texas, Philadelphia Flyers...) and non sports related extensions (geo chaching, body mass index... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/ext/13-sports

Did they pick the extensions with the best looking banners ???

Are there really no prices listed in the Chrome Web Store? Many of the apps may be free, but I couldn't find a single listed price.

If I install an app that appears to be free, and then realize I'm on a free-trial or limited-freemium plan, I'd find that pretty annoying.

this used to be indicated in the previous version of the Chrome store.

But if I remember correctly there was no option for freemium. So most freemium apps were shown as free (mine included)

"While the original Chrome Web Store mirrored the design of Apple’s iTunes Store quite closely, the new Web Store follows its own path with banners of varying sizes representing apps in most places rather than icons. "

I love the dynamic grid layout they use for the store, and I assume it's the same one that G+ photo albums use. Are they using an open JS library (something like isotope), or is it all in-house code?

My (not featured) app has also seen an uptick.

On an unrelated note, the new Web Store doesn't run very well on Chromebooks.

I think another reason for the increase in signups is Google's latest marketing campaigns. They have been starting to aggressively advertise the Chrome App Store much more than before. Just yesterday I saw an entire commercial with the Angry Birds developers discussing how great apps on Chrome are.

Google knows its Chrome store is legit now, so they're ready to show it off to the world in an attempt to make it as mainstream as the iTunes store is now.

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