Love You Guys!

I’m not sure if I’ve said this publicly before, and if I have I surely don’t say it enough – I love the users of my apps!

Let me say that I originally developed Auto Respond as a tool that I, personally, had a need for. I decided that if I had a need for it, others surely will as well. That’s why I shared it freely for a while on forums, then eventually went onto the Play Store.

Even though I was my own customer originally, the people who use my app are constantly helping me improve it. If I had nobody out there pushing me to improve things, it probably wouldn’t get done. (Or at least, it would take a lot longer to accomplish.)

I am still the biggest critic of my own work. I always will be. I find a lot of bugs, crashes, typos, etc. before anyone else reports them. But I do love hearing from my users about possible additions, things that could possibly work better or differently, etc.

Suggestion

Having said all of that, a user came to me this morning with a painfully obvious suggestion. So obvious that I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I had never thought of it myself… promoting my app through a signature at the end of Auto Respond messages!

Now, I hope you all know by now that this is not something that I would force you into. That would alienate too many users. People don’t always like to be used as a free advertising tool. Other people, however, like to show off the tools that they are using, and help other people discover those tools.

That’s why I’m going to add this as an option to both the free and paid versions of Auto Respond. If you would like to tell others about Auto Respond, turn it on and spread the word. If you are in the group that finds that kind of thing intrusive, or don’t like the idea for some other reason, then don’t use it. It’s entirely up to you.

Some Questions

I’m thinking about also possibly making the message customizable, and obviously a link to the Play Store would be added to the end of that message. The one thing I need to think about is which version should I link to? Should I always link to a specific one (always free or always pro) or should I link to the app that the person is currently using? I’m thinking of linking them all to the paid version, simply because I feel that the extra features are worth the minimal cost. Or should I make that link an option as well? Free or paid option…

I’m also debating whether or not the option should default on. I was thinking default on for free users, then you can turn it off if you don’t want it on, and default off for paid users, and you can turn it on if you do want it. I’m afraid that defaulting it to on might still give people a negative feeling though.

What do you guys think? I’ve proposed a few questions here, and feedback would be appreciated! 🙂