WWDC2016 Session 301

Transcript

[ Music ]
[ Applause ]
>> Hi everybody.
Welcome to our session
on Expanded Subscriptions
in iTunes Connect.
My name is Daniel Miao and
I'm the engineering manager
on iTunes Connect.
So, we're going to
start this session off
by doing a quick review of
in-app purchases in general.
And then we're going to
move into the details
of how we're enhancing auto
renewable subscriptions
specifically in iTunes
Connect and in the system.
So, we've received a
lot of feedback from you
around how we can
improve auto-renewables
around how we can
improve auto-renewables
to better fit your businesses.
So, we're very excited because
today we get to take you
through new features that
will give you better control
over your pricing.
Help you to retain
your loyal customers.
And give you and your
customers more flexible tools
for managing your subscriptions.
So, let's start with
the most basic question.
What is an in-app purchase.
Well, an in-app purchase
is simply digital content
or service that your customer
buys from within your app.
Now contrast with your customer
downloading your app off the app
store and receiving all
of that content up front.
Now, there are many ways
to use in-app purchases.
But, generally in-app
purchases are great if you want
to give your customers
the opportunity
to get an understanding of your
app offering before purchasing
add-ons to that offering.
Also, if you have a
subscription model for your app,
Also, if you have a
subscription model for your app,
in-app purchases are
also a great fit.
And there are a number of in-app
purchase types available to you.
We have consumables,
non-consumables,
non-renewable subscriptions, and
auto-renewable subscriptions.
Today we also have
free subscriptions.
But, free subscriptions will
be deprecated this fall.
So, for those of you who have
free subscriptions today,
you can continue using them.
But, you will not be
able to create new ones.
So, let's go through
each of these types.
First, we have consumables.
Consumable is an in-app purchase
that your customers
purchase once per use.
Here we have an example
of a simulation game
on the app store,
Fallout Shelter.
It's a great game.
And the way Fallout
Shelter uses consumables is
to give you the opportunity
to buy in game items.
You use real money
to buy in game items.
Add them to your inventory.
And once you've used them
up you go back into the game
And once you've used them
up you go back into the game
and you purchase more.
Next we have non-consumables.
The non-consumables
is in-app purchase
that your customer buys
once and uses indefinitely.
In this example we
have Weirdwood Manor.
This is an interactive
storybook app.
When you purchase this
app you get the first book
in the series with the download.
If you enjoy this book you're
able to buy additional books
from inside of the app either
individually or as a collection.
Once you've unlocked these
books they're yours for good.
Next we have non-renewable
subscriptions.
A non-renewable subscription
is one that is purchased once
and available for
a limited time.
In this case we have Quizlet,
which is a study tools app.
And this app comes with many
great features out of the box.
But, if you'd like more features
Quizlet also offers a Quizlet
But, if you'd like more features
Quizlet also offers a Quizlet
Plus service.
You subscribe to Quizlet Plus
for one year by paying $14.99.
And after that year if you'd
like to continue using the
Plus services you'd pay
for an additional year.
And finally we have
auto-renewable subscriptions.
And auto-renewable is
exactly the way it sounds.
It's a subscription
that you purchase
and it's renewed automatically
at regular intervals.
Here we have HBO Now, which
is a video streaming app.
HBO Now offers a subscription,
a monthly subscription
for $14.99 a month.
So, you purchase this
subscription initially
for $14.99 and each month
it automatically renews,
and you're charged $14.99.
And if at some point you want
to stop your subscription,
you go into you manuals
subscriptions page
in your account settings and
you turn off the renewal option.
Okay. So, it says here a few
of the different types
of in-app purchases.
Now, let's move into
talking about the changes
that are coming specifically
to auto-renewables.
Let's start by talking
about proceeds.
So, those of you who have
auto-renewables today are aware
that up until last week you
were receiving 70% proceeds
for any new subscriptions
to your auto-renewables
or renewals.
This is the same for
apps and the same
for other in-app purchase types.
But, beginning this week,
you'll be receiving 85% proceeds
from any customers that haven't
subscribed for one year or more.
[ Applause ]
The best part about
this is you don't have
to wait a whole year
before you see the 85%.
For those of you who
have existing customers,
you'll start receiving
85% proceeds on renewals
you'll start receiving
85% proceeds on renewals
for any customers that have been
already subscribed to your app
for a year or more beginning
with renewals this week.
[ Applause ]
All right.
Next let's talk about
app categories.
Today if you want to create an
auto-renewable subscription your
app has to belong inside a
set of limited categories.
Well, we've seen a lot of
successful businesses grow
around auto-renewables
over the past few years.
And we've seen these businesses
deliver excellent products
to customers that the
customers really love.
Additionally many of you have
been coming to us asking to open
up auto-renewables to
your app categories.
So, we're very happy
because beginning this fall
if your app makes sense
for auto-renewables,
categories will no
longer be a limitation.
[ Applause ]
So, those are some
of the policy changes
that are coming to
auto-renewables.
Now, let's talk about some
of the feature changes.
We'll start with how the
customer experience will
be evolving.
Here we have a subscription
management page
on your customer's device
that they see when they go
into the app store, go into
their account details and tap
into manage subscriptions.
These are all the subscriptions,
auto-renewable subscriptions
that your customer's
currently on.
If we take a look at one of
these you'll notice a lot
of metadata here that you're
probably familiar with.
We have an app icon.
We have an app name.
And incidentally you can
override this app name
in iTunes Connect for
this specific view.
You might want to override this
if possibly your app name
is over 30 characters.
In which case it'll be truncated
in manage subscriptions,
or if your service name doesn't
quite match your app name.
or if your service name doesn't
quite match your app name.
Next we have the name of
the subscription group
that this subscription is in.
This will show up if you have
more than one group on your app.
And finally we have the name
of the subscription itself
as well as the duration.
Now, if your customer
wants to manage one
of these subscription,
they simply tap into this
and they'll see this view.
Here we see the customer's
current subscription along
with renewal options
for the subscription.
These renewal options are
simply other subscriptions
in the same subscription group
as the customer's current one.
In a subscription group
it's just a collection
of subscriptions that
describe your app offering.
Now, as your customer moves
between subscriptions they
can only have one active
subscription per group.
So, for example, if they went
from the full course
subscription here
to the entree only,
once entree only goes
into effect full
course will stop.
Next, if your customers
jump between subscriptions
in a group regularly, that will
not affect your 85% proceeds.
That means that as long
as the customer stays
within this group you'll
continue to accrue days towards
that year that you need
to start receiving 85%
from this customer.
As part of this feature
said, we're also going
to be adding the
ability to designate,
upgrade, and downgrade paths.
And upgraded goes into
effect immediately.
So, in this case if
we've designated as,
if we've designated entree only
to full course as an upgrade,
the switch to full course
would happen once the customer
selects it.
If the customer downgrades,
the new subscription goes
If the customer downgrades,
the new subscription goes
into effect at the end of the
current subscription period.
Okay. So, we've talked a
little bit about groups.
Now, let's take a
look at the structure
of one of these groups.
For those of you who are
using auto-renewables today,
you make recognize the
term subscription family.
Beginning this fall
we'll just be referring
to families as groups.
Here we have an example
of subscription service
that has three subscriptions
in it.
A one week, a one month,
and a one year subscription.
Today we have a restriction
that says you cannot have more
than one of the same
duration in a group.
So, in this case that means you
wouldn't be able to have more
than one, one year
subscription for example.
But, we will be removing this
subscription in the fall,
I mean this restriction
in the Fall.
So, that will allow you
to do something like this.
We call these subscription
levels.
Here you'll see an example that
has a silver level of service,
a gold level, and
a platinum level.
Each of these levels has two
subscription in it for a total
of six subscriptions
in this sample group.
You'll also notice on the
side that we have ranks.
This is how you decide
what is considered upgrade
and what is considered
a downgrade.
For example, if your customer
were to move from gold
to platinum, that would
be considered an upgrade,
and platinum would go
into effect right away.
If they went from gold to silver
as a downgrade, that would go
into effect at the end of
their current subscription.
Period. And those are
subscription groups.
So, I'd like to invite Jenn
up here to give us a demo
of such subscription
groups in iTunes Connect.
[ Applause ]
>> Hi. I'm Jennifer Makower.
I'm an engineer on the
iTunes Connect team.
I'm an engineer on the
iTunes Connect team.
I'm going to walk you
through what we have coming
for subscriptions
and subscription groups
in iTunes Connect.
We're going to be working
with my app, Meal Manager,
which provides recipe and
shopping list subscriptions
for various meal plan types.
Now, currently we have
two meal plan types.
We have a dinner meal plan type
and we have a breakfast
meal plan type.
And both of those serve as
our subscription groups.
So, we're coming out with
a new subscription type,
which is going to be
our new meal plan.
It's going to be for
lunch subscriptions.
So, let's take a look in
iTunes Connect how we do that.
Here we go.
Okay. So, I'm going to click
on the plus button here,
next to in-app purchase
and select auto-renewable
subscription.
So, here's where
I'm going to come
up with my subscription name.
And when I create a new
subscription I'll be prompted
And when I create a new
subscription I'll be prompted
in a moment to select either
an existing subscription group
or create a new one.
So, we'll start with the
subscription name first.
This is going to be
for our lunch plan.
So, our first subscription's
going to be
about different sandwich types.
So, I'll type in sandwiches.
And here's where I'll
put in my product ID.
Now, once I create my
product ID in this flow,
it can't be edited later on.
So, I need to make sure
we put in the right one.
So, we're making
the one week version
of our sandwich subscription.
And then I'll click
next at the bottom.
So, here's where I'm going
to create our new subscription
group for our lunch plans.
And I'll type in
lunch plans here.
And then click on create.
So, what we have here is our
redesigned in-app purchase page.
So, what we have here is our
redesigned in-app purchase page.
And I'll come back to this
in a moment to walk you
through what's on this page.
But, what I want to focus
on right now is subscription
groups.
So, I'm going to go to the
top of the page here and click
on lunch plans, which
will bring us
to our subscription group page.
So, here at the top you can
see we have the sandwiches
subscription that
we just created.
Below that we have
our subscription group
reference name.
And below that we have our
localized app store metadata.
And we can add additional
languages when you want
to localize for additional
languages.
As well we can go here
to override the app
name if we want to.
So, in this case my app name
is Meal Manager, Recipes,
and Shopping lists, which is
a little bit too long to show
up on the account
management page.
So, that would get truncated.
So, I'm going to
select use custom name,
and just use the short version
of our app, Meal Manager,
and just use the short version
of our app, Meal Manager,
and then go to the top of
the page and click save.
So, what I'd like to
show you next is how
to arrange multiple
subscriptions
to create an upgrade
and downgrade path.
So, I'm going to move over
to our breakfast plans,
which has a number of
subscriptions already in it.
And what we can do here is
arrange these subscriptions
so that they're in an order of
our upgrade and downgrade path.
So, first is our full course,
which will be our
highest level of service.
So, I'm going to pull that
out of the grouping here
and move it to the top.
And I'm going to take both
versions of the subscription.
We have a one week
and a one month.
And within one ranking
here this basically,
this can have differences
of either price or duration.
The main idea here is
that they're moving
between these two subscriptions.
It's neither an upgrade
or a downgrade.
And then I'll take omelets only
and move that to the bottom,
which is our lowest
level of service.
And then I'll click
save on the top here.
So, as Daniel explained,
all these subscriptions
within this group are
mutually exclusive.
So, a customer would
only have one
of these subscriptions
at a time.
If your intention is to
have your customer have two
subscriptions, they would need
to be in two separate groups.
So, now this is arranged in
my upgrade and downgrade path.
So, full course subscriptions
are the highest level
of service.
Muffins and omelets, movies
and omelets are my mid-range
subscription level of service.
And omelets only is my
lowest level of service.
And you can actually
have as many levels
of subscriptions as you want.
We just say three for now.
But, you can see the numbering
on the side here
indicates which level it is.
And that is about
subscription groups.
And that is about
subscription groups.
I'll give it back to Daniel.
[ Applause ]
>> Thanks, Jenn.
All right.
Now, let's move into how we'll
be changing the way you plan
price changes with
auto-renewables.
Will start with territory
pricing.
Today when you price an
auto-renewable subscription,
you choose one price tier
for the entire world.
Behind the scenes, this price
tier is associated with prices
in individual territories
around the world.
Now, we at Apple today manage
these prices on your behalf.
When there are currency
fluctuations we update these
prices for you.
Now, this has always
been convenient.
But, you asked us
for more flexibility.
So, beginning this fall, you'll
be able to price per territory.
[ Applause ]
The way this will work is,
instead of choosing a single
price tier, you'll start
with a base currency
and a base price.
This base price will come from
a predefined list of prices.
And as you move though the work
flow, we will generate prices
for each territory
that you select based
on the current exchange
rate at the time
that you plan the price change.
After we generate these
prices, you can go in
and you can edit the
price for say Austria.
Maybe you want to change the
price here from $1.99 to $2.99.
And you can do this for one
country, or you can do this
for multiple countries.
Once you set up these
prices and you've hit save,
this price change
goes into effect
at whatever start
date you've selected.
Next let's talk about
customer attention
in the context of price changes.
So, one of the biggest
challenges today
with customer attention when we
change price is increasing the
price of subscription.
When we increase the price all
the customers that that affects,
which is all the customers,
receive an email that says
that the price has increased and
the subscriptions are stopped.
From here they have to go
into their app store app,
go into their account settings
and re-enable the
subscription at the new price.
Well, beginning this fall,
we're introducing a
streamlined consent process.
With this new process when a
customer receives price change
or a price increase they
will get a push notification
and an enhanced email.
From either the push
notification
or the email they can simply
tap and they'll go directly
into an app store page
where they can review the
new price and consent to it.
where they can review the
new price and consent to it.
This gives your customers many
more opportunities to consent
in a more direct and
understandable way.
Now, no matter how good the, no
matter how good this flow is,
if we increase the price
there's always a chance
that we can lose customers,
which is why we've added the
feature to preserve prices
for existing customers while
increasing prices for new ones.
[ Applause ]
Let's take a look at
how this might work.
Let's say we're launching
a new service in Japan.
We'd like to set our
initial price at 120 yen.
So, we set that up.
And once this in-app
purchase goes live,
we'll have our early
adopters paying 120
for both new subscriptions
and renewals.
Now, after some time has passed,
we're ready to launch
our product formally.
So, we get our marketing
teams ready.
We do a big push.
And we like to set our
launch pricing at 240 yen.
But, when we set
this price change,
we like to keep our
early adopters at 120,
because they've been loyal.
They've been sticking with us.
So, when this new price
change goes into effect,
we'll have our launch
customers paying 240
for both new subscriptions
and renewals.
And we'll have our early
adopters continuing paying 120
for their renewals.
Now, some more time passes and
we're ready to move the price
up to a new target price
that we've had in mind.
This new price is 360 yen.
But, this time when we want,
when this price change goes
into effect, we'd also like
to bring our launch customers
up to 360.
So, we set that in
our price change.
And once this goes into
effect, we have one set
of customers both launch
and post-launch paying 360.
of customers both launch
and post-launch paying 360.
And we have early adopters
still continuing at 120.
Now, notice here that the
launch customers did have their
prices increased.
So, they do get a
consent request.
Finally we've reached the
end of the year and we decide
that we're ready to simplify our
pricing going to the next year.
And we'd like to bring our
early adopters up to 360.
We go into iTunes Connect.
We edit that price change.
And once we hit save, our
early adopters move up to 360.
This change happens immediately,
unlike the other price changes
that we plan for the future.
Now, we have everybody paying
360 from here into the future
until we plan more
price changes.
Okay. I'd like to invite Jenn
back up here to give us a demo
of iTunes Connect and
the new price flow.
[ Applause ]
>> So to go back into
my Meal Manager app.
What we've decided to do
is market our subscriptions
with the three phrase approach.
So, when we launch a
subscription we're going to come
out with an initial price to
attract some early adopters.
And we're going to keep
them renewing at that price
for a certain amount of time,
then on our second
phase we're going
to raise the price a little,
but only do that in a
few select territories.
And then lastly we're going
move up to their target price
that we want to sell our
subscriptions at going forward.
So, let's get started
working on that.
So, I want to go
into my dinner plans.
And dessert and entree
is the next subscription
that we're going
to be releasing.
So, I need to go in and set
up some initial pricing.
So, this again is our
subscription group page.
And I can click into the
specific subscription here.
So, again this is our new
in-app purchase details page.
So, again this is our new
in-app purchase details page.
We have the reference
name at the top.
We have a subscription
duration underneath that.
We have the price
schedule below that.
And I'll come back to
that in a moment to set
up our initial pricing.
Again we have our
localized app store metadata.
And I can add additional
languages when I'm ready
to market this for
additional territories.
And then our app store,
app review information.
The screen shot should show
how our in-app purchase is,
presents itself within
the context of the app.
And we can put in some
additional app store review
notes there to help extra
find our in-app purchase.
So, I'm going to go click on set
price here below price schedule
to set up our initial pricing.
So, my base currency
is U.S. dollar.
And that can be set
as a preference
within your user profile.
And I'm going select
the initial price
And I'm going select
the initial price
for this subscription
at 99 cents.
And then click on
next at the bottom.
So, these are the prices
that were calculated based
on current exchange rates.
If one of these territories,
I have some additional licensing
fees or other business needs
and I need to raise the price
for that one particular
territory I can come in
and select this and move it
up whichever price I need to.
And if I forget which
one was the initial price
that had been calculated
I can come over here
and it will remind me.
So, I'm going to scroll
down to the bottom here
and go click on done.
And then click on okay.
So, once this subscription
goes live,
that will be our price
for the subscription.
So, I'm going to click on
save at the top of the screen.
And then go back to our
subscription group page and move
to our appetizer on
entree subscription.
So, in this case we've
launched our app.
So, in this case we've
launched our app.
We have some initial
early adopters.
And I want to raise
the price a little bit
for our next phase of marketing.
So, I'm going to click
on plan a price change.
So, as I said in this case we're
going to be raising the price,
but only in a few
select territories.
So, I'm going to pick the
United States and Canada,
Italy, Spain, and France.
And then click on next.
The price, the date for this
change will happen on June 24th.
And again, my base
currency is U.S. dollar.
And I'm going to make the
price $1.99 for this change.
And then click on next.
So, again these are the
current exchange rates for,
based on my base
price selection.
And I can see here what
the initial price was.
You know, we originally selected
99 cents for the early adopters.
And the new price will be $1.99.
And then I'll click
on next at the bottom.
And here's where we're
going to handle what to do
with our existing subscribers.
In this case we're going to
keep our early adopters renewing
at the price that they
originally subscribed at.
And this change will be for
new subscribers that come
on starting from the date
that I selected earlier.
So, I'm going to click on done.
And that change will go
into effect on June 24th.
That's the date that I selected.
And click okay.
And, so then we we'll have
two prices going forward
for this subscription.
And I can change this price
if I need to up until the date
that it goes into effect.
So, I'm going to go click on
save at the top of the screen.
And then go back to our
subscription group page and move
to our entree only subscription.
Now in this case we've gone
through those two phases
Now in this case we've gone
through those two phases
of marketing and we're
ready to raise the price
to our target price
that we wanted
to sell the subscription
at going forward.
So, I'm going to click on
plan a price change here
in the price schedule.
And now in this case I'm going
to apply this to
all territories.
So, I click this
box at the top here
and click next at
the bottom here.
Again our date for our marketing
campaign will be the 24th.
So, I'll select that date.
And the price change will be
$2.99 for this subscription.
Again, select next.
And once again we have
the calculated prices.
And I can see that the last
price change we had was $1.99
on March 18th.
And our new price is
going to be $2.99.
So, I've clicked
next at the bottom.
Now in this case for our
existing subscribers,
the last price change, I want to
move anyone that had subscribed
the last price change, I want to
move anyone that had subscribed
after that point up
to this new pricing.
But, we're still going to keep
our early adopters at their,
renewing at that original
price that they had.
So, this change I only want
to affect just the existing
subscribers that came in since
that last price change.
So, in this case I'm going
to select apply price change
to existing subscribers.
And I've applied it
to all territories.
But, I can go and select
individual territories
that this would apply
to if I needed to.
And I can see here, it
says existing subscribers,
$1.99 subscribers
will now pay $2.99.
And that is what I want to do.
So, I'm going to click on next.
And it's important to note that
once this price change goes
into effect it cannot
be changed.
And once it does go into effect,
the user that will be renewing,
that will have their price
effected, will be notified
that their price has changed.
And they will need to consent
to that higher price before
their subscription renews.
So, that is what we want to do.
So, I'm going to go ahead and
select the check box here,
and then click done,
and then click on okay.
So, once this price change
goes into effect, it will be --
you won't be able to
go back and change it.
But, we can edit it
up until that point
that it goes into effect.
So, I'm going to select save
at the top here and go back
to our subscription group page.
And for our last task
we're going to a look
at our full course subscription.
So, now in this case we have hit
the target price that we wanted.
And it's time to move those
early adopters into our pricing
so we can simplify the
price for this subscription.
So, I want us to take a
look at what we have here.
I want to click on the
March 18th date here.
And I can see that
the current price
for new subscribers is $4.99.
And I can even see
what my proceeds are
for the first year
for new subscribers.
for the first year
for new subscribers.
And if they stay
with us for a year
or more I can see what my
proceeds will be for, from that.
So, I'm going to click on done.
But, what I want to do is raise
our early adopter price up.
So, I'm going to click
on initial price here.
And here I can see that these
subscribers are paying 99 cents.
So, we want to move them up.
So, I'm going to click on
show price change options.
And here I can see
the again, 99 cents.
And that the current is $4.99.
So, I'm going to click
this check box up here.
That will apply it
to all territories.
And again, if I need to I can
selected individual territories
to apply this to if I
want to do it that way.
So, here it says 99 cent
subscribers will pay $4.99.
That will simplify a pricing
for this subscription.
So, I'm going to go
ahead and click next.
Now in this case, the
price change will take
effect immediately.
So, as soon as I
click save, that's it.
It cannot be edited or changed.
So, they will, and when
the Windows subscribers,
when it's time for them to renew
they will get the agreement.
You know, the consent request
to consent to the higher price
for this subscription
before the subscription will
automatically renew.
And that is what we want to do.
So, I'm going to go ahead
and select the check box
here and then click done.
And then click on okay.
And now we have one price
for the subscription.
So, once I click save
that will save the changes
and it will not be
able to be edited.
And that is territory pricing.
[ Applause ]
>> Hey, thanks again, Jenn.
All right.
So, we talked about a
lot of things today.
So, a quick recap of
what those items were.
We talked about increased
proceeds.
You'll be receiving 85%
proceeds for any customers
that haven't subscribed
for one year or more.
that haven't subscribed
for one year or more.
We're expanding to
all categories
for auto-renewable
subscriptions.
We're giving you the
ability to define,
upgraded, and downgrade paths.
We're allowing you to
price per territory.
We're streamlining
the consent work flow.
And we're giving you the
ability to preserve prices
for existing customers while
increasing prices for new ones.
If you'd like more information,
please go to this link,
a bunch of great resources here.
We also have a number
of related sessions.
We have the using StoreKit
for in-app purchases
with Swift 3 session that
happened earlier today.
This is a great session
to learn how
to integrate your
app using StoreKit
with all the things we talked
about today, including how
to check for seats and
other things that you can do
to check for seats and
other things that you can do
with in-app purchases.
There's also the What's New
with iTunes Connect session
that's happening this Friday.
Be sure to check that out.
There's all kinds of new
announcements that we're making
around iTunes Connect.
That's this Friday at 1:40.
Thanks for joining us and enjoy
the rest of your conference.
[ Applause ]