This Growth Hacks Led YouVersion to 500 Million Downloads
On November 10, 2021, YouVersion announced the milestone of 500 million App downloads. What started as a ‘desire to make the Bible available for everyone is now a global movement’.
I found out about the YouVersion app sometime around June 2017. I needed a Bible that had more multiple versions; I found the default King James Version (KJV) difficult to read. A friend referred the app to me and said something around, “oh use YouVersion, they have over 50 English versions of the scriptures”
I found out about the app via referral.
It may be easy to water down the reason for the growth of the YouVersion app to a large number of Christians in the world. But, YouVersion is not the only digital Bible available.
So what has influenced this massive milestone?
Here are eight growth hacks I have discovered in my course on using the app. All of these span around exciting the user enough to recommend the app without paid marketing.
- Multiple Bible versions
This was the first win in the YouVersion app. The KJV was the most popular version before the 20th century, many acclaimed theologians believe only the “real” Christians can read the KJV. But not everyone is a Bible scholar, people like me needed other versions to understand the Bible. We wanted to compare scriptures with scriptures, and prior to my discovery of YouVersion, that meant searching on the internet.
YouVersion created over 50 English versions and about 2600 Bible versions; making it easy for “lazy” Christians to understand the Bible. They met the need of many people whose core concern was to understand the scripture.
2. Daily Devotionals/Plans
Prior to YouVersion, one of the most popular ways to get a daily devotional was to buy from your church or one of those advertised on the road, the days of My Daily Devotional.
Beyond reading the bible; chapters and verses; people want explanations and teachings that help practicalize the doctrines. Enabling that in the app solved fragmentation. Now you have all you need to truly study the scripture.
The major lesson in the first two hacks; solve for fragmentation, people want one solution for all their problems. Make it as “one” as possible
3. Badges
This was one of my favourite features. It is a feel-good feature. YouVersion created mini-milestones for different actions in the app. You get a badge for reading a certain number of plans, or highlighting verses in the Bible or taking notes.
Getting a badge is like 2Go stars; remember the arrogance of Senior users and the desperation of Novice users? Yes, it makes you feel good and accomplished.
It’s like completing an exercise routine, or reading a book, or learning a skill, or doing something really great at work. You feel proud of yourself. It’s a motivation to do more. And every time you get a badge, the threshold for your next badge increases.
And the result of this? Increased usage. You go back to the app because you want to get a badge; it’s called deep selling/ marketing penetration.
The lesson here? Find a way to sell emotion. Create an emotional bond with your customers and they will keep coming back to you.
4. Daily reminders
The daily reminder feature feels like the mom in an African home who wakes you at 5 am for devotionals. You don’t want to pray but you also don’t want to be the devil, so you grudgingly oblige until it becomes a habit. Soon, you wake up without anyone tapping you.
Just like the badges and the devotionals, the reminders were designed intentionally to drive app usage.
5. Audio Bible Versions
Now, this was the peak for me. So I don’t have to read in order to read the bible? Awesome! This feature meant you could listen to the Bible on your way to work, in traffic, during breaks, before you sleep or even while you work. It created comfort and encouraged usage.
Always make the work easier for your customers; minimal effort, maximum results. Find ways to reduce the effort it takes to achieve their goals. It’s 2021, we are all lazy :)
6. Bible Streaks
Needless to say, the Bible streaks was an ingenious feature! Every day you open your YouVersion app, you get a streak. If you open it daily for 30 days, you get 30 steaks. Now if you fail to open it on the 31st day, you lose all your streaks. You start from zero.
As seen above, no one wants to lose their streaks. Some even go as far as just opening the app, without reading, just to ensure they don’t lose their streaks.
It’s a combination of feel-good and virality. It’s genius!.
7. Verse of the Day
Every time you see someone share a bible quote daily on their status or pages, chances are it's YouVersion verse for the day.
Daily, you get a bible verse sent to you as a notification. If you didn’t have the time to study the Bible, all you need is the verse for the day.
Even better, they now come in form of stories; text, video explanations by different preachers all over the world and a Bible plan. YouVersion made it extremely easy to study the Bible daily even if all you need is a text.
Keep finding the easiest way to solve your customers’ needs. Creating a solution is not enough; innovate or die.
8. Shared devotionals/plans
What’s better than reading the Bible? Reading it with a friend, family, or spouse. You share similar interests so why not share a Bible plan? The ability to read a plan with someone else creates a referral culture. If they didn’t have the app, they will need to download it to enjoy the experience.
It’s a simple yet impactful feature.
In conclusion
The success of the YouVersion app is the result of an excellent product with a great marketing strategy. They focused on solving one need; reading and understanding the bible. In solving this need, they constantly innovated their solution.
These hacks may not directly be relevant to your product, but if you’re obsessed with satisfying the customers, you can create and re-create your own hacks.
Look for similarities within your product, which of these hacks can you tweak to better suit your audience?
