iCombat

Some readers who read my post “My Experience Getting Owned by App Store Pirates” criticized my approach to handling piracy so I thought I would explain my point of view by sharing a recent encounter I had with an app pirate.  About a month ago someone posted a comment to my “You Jacked My App” page (all pirates were sent here after 5 levels of play if using a cracked copy) that said the following:

WTF man. Nobody does this. Ever. And the damn point of Installous is to let you try before you buy. And you just f—– up the whole system. So f— you dude, I would have bought it after trying it out, IF it was any good. I think it probably sucks so you don’t want people to test it out first…Nice job man. Way to suck at life. And I hope that nobody will buy from you just because of this.

I was in customer service mode when I saw this post so I quickly fired off one of the most unnecessarily nice e-mails of my life:

Hey dude,
Thanks for the post.  I disagree with you that most people use Installous to try before they buy.  So you know, I spent the last 3 months on this project and currently over 60% [of users] are not paying.

I get your point…and what I was trying to do here was convert the type of people you are not talking about (those that pirate everything with no intent to buy) as opposed to letting it just go unchecked.

I would like you to try the game though…would you download it if I sent you a promo code?  Let me know.
Thanks.

Now me sending this e-mail was crazy I know but from my point of view iCombat had just launched and I didn’t want to have anyone be negative on my app.  What followed my e-mail was surprising, the pirate responded in a very conciliatory tone, apologizing and so I sent him the promo code.  His response several days later was enthusiastic, saying “I love the app dude, it’s awesome.”  And this is where the craziness begins, he then proceeded to make a YouTube clip of the game and he even offered to host a contest and do a more serious quality demo. I even found a comment of his on YouTube where he actually attacked a pirate who linked through to a piracy site.  This pirate had gone from cursing me out to cursing out other pirates, defending my interests and helping get the word out about Combat.

Now maybe this pirate was emotionally unstable or just a kid, but either way I learned quite a bit from the experience.  Key lessons below:

1. There are a lot of fanatical people on the web

• If you have dealt with customers on the web you can attest to this fact. There are a decent amount of people that seem to have nothing better to do than criticize or evangelize your product.  Needless to say this can be both good and bad.

2. On the web, everyone is your customer

• Since anyone, even people who aren’t paying customers (or even customers for that matter) can share their opinion about your product, you have to treat everyone as if they are a customer.  It’s kind of like when you walk in to a nice hotel and get treated like a guest even when you aren’t one.  Not only can these hotels not afford to be wrong, but they benefit anytime someone experiences their brand.

3. You never know which of your users (legal or illegal) has the largest digital footprint

• On the web, having influence is largely a result of putting in the time. As a result having influence usually results from a user being passionate and being willing to put in the time (Scoble or Kawasaki sending out Twitter updates on a Saturday night comes to mind) but this energy can also stem from a user being just being crazy or immature
• So while tapping users as evangelists of your product is extremely effective, the flip side is that you have to go extra far to keep your users happy so they don’t go rogue and try to sink your brand across the web

4. On the web, user opinion is the ONLY thing

• Unlike a brick and mortar business for example, web businesses have no geographic advantages like default foot traffic (unless you have a web domain that is self explanatory like pets.com or is a typo of Google)
• The digital herd is influenced primarily by word of mouth and the experience you leave customers with so loyalty is everything

I know in my example above my e-mail was a bit like asking someone robbing my store if they were finding everything they needed.  On the surface it sounds ridiculous but if you are just getting started you need everyone to speak highly of your product.  Was giving him a promo code crazy?  This pirate took the time to comment on my website (literally 1 out of every 300 that visited did) so he was clearly the type of internet user who is willing to spend the time posting to sites.  Developers give promo codes to fans and bloggers for reviews so is letting an active pirate spread awareness any different? Anyone who loves your app will talk about it to friends, be seen using the app in public and potentially be an influencer online.

The key take away is that every user counts, so even if you don’t genuinely care about your users (hopefully you do) the next time you get a question or e-mail from a tedious customer just remember that the power lies with you whether that person chooses to help or hurt your brand.

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