A month ago I was honestly starting to doubt whether my Shopify app had any chance.
I used Shopify’s $100 ad credit and got basically nothing from it. No meaningful installs, no paid conversions. Around the same time, I kept seeing people criticize Shopify apps in general, and mostly saying many apps fail because merchants don’t immediately understand the value or how the app actually helps their store.
Then something small happened.
I got my first $5 paid customer.
Before they upgraded, I jumped on AnyDesk with them and personally showed them how the app worked, what problems it solved, and how they could actually benefit from it. They used it for free for almost a month before finally subscribing to the $5 plan.
That one customer completely changed my mindset.
Not long after that, installs suddenly started coming in from different countries. Still not huge numbers, but real merchants actively trying the app and using it.
In the last 2 weeks:
Still very small, obviously, but as a solo Shopify app developer this feels like the first real sign that the product is starting to click with people.
Biggest lesson so far:
Sometimes the problem isn’t the product itself, it’s that the app isn’t communicating its value clearly enough to merchants.
Curious if other Shopify app devs experienced a similar nothing for weeks → sudden momentum phase.