Clearful

How Two Entrepreneurs Grew a Simple Journaling App Amidst Intense Competition

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About
Business

Maria Golikova

Founder, Clearful

Founders

Clearful

clearful.com

from Vancouver, BC, Canada

started September 2020

Founders

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Founders

Profitable

Yes

Year Started

2020

Customer

B2C

Founders

Profitable

Yes

Year Started

2020

Customer

B2C

Who is Maria Golikova?🔗

Maria Golikova is a Vancouver-based entrepreneur who co-founded Clearful and previously co-founded Mealime, a successful meal planning app, before it was acquired. Jeffrey Bunn, her partner and husband, transitioned from a non-technical role to become the primary developer for their ventures, including Clearful.

What problem does Clearful solve?🔗

Clearful helps people organize their thoughts and enhance their self-awareness through guided journaling, making introspection accessible and rewarding in our fast-paced world.

How did Maria come up with the idea for Clearful?🔗

Maria and Jeffrey, co-founders of Clearful, were inspired by their personal experiences with journaling. Maria found introspection through journaling to be profoundly beneficial, helping her gain self-awareness and satisfaction. Her desire to create an enhanced journaling experience for others came from recognizing the value it brought to her own life.

Before jumping in, they did extensive research on available journaling apps to identify gaps and opportunities. They noticed a lack of apps that successfully combined free writing with structured guidance, leading them to design a hybrid approach. Clearful was conceptualized to fill this niche, marrying freeform tools with guided prompts to assist users in their self-improvement journey.

As they developed the idea, Maria and Jeffrey utilized their previous entrepreneurial experience with Mealime to refine Clearful. They sought user feedback to ensure the app was as intuitive and impactful as possible, focusing on the core principles they believed in. Their journey highlighted the importance of combining personal passion with thorough research and learning from past ventures to create meaningful products.

How did Maria build the initial version of Clearful?🔗

Maria Golikova and Jeffrey Bunn built the journaling application Clearful, leveraging the lessons from their previous venture, Mealime. The development of Clearful initially started with creating a web app using Vue, which allowed them to test their ideas more rapidly. After deciding to transition to mobile, they chose Flutter as their primary framework for its cross-platform capabilities, allowing them to target both iOS and Android from a single codebase. This transition included significant learning for Jeffrey, who became the primary developer and tackled challenges such as implementing rich text editing, which was particularly difficult given Flutter's limited support for such features at the time. The process of development was arduous, with Jeffrey handling much of the coding himself, iterating from a very basic version to a more refined product over a span of about a year. The development journey was marked by continuous problem-solving and adapting to new technological solutions, such as the adoption of Super Editor for better text editing capabilities.

How did Maria launch Clearful and get initial traction?🔗

Clearful initially spread the word about their journaling app by leveraging social media platforms. Maria Golikova, one of the co-founders, used her personal and professional social media connections to share about the launch of Clearful. She focused on the benefits of journaling for self-awareness and personal growth, aiming to attract users who resonated with the concept.

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Why it worked: Social media provided a cost-effective way to reach a targeted audience who were already interested in Maria's perspective due to her previous successful venture with Mealime. Sharing personal insights and experiences created a personal connection with potential users.

Email Outreach to Existing Contacts🔗

The founders utilized their existing network of contacts, which they had built during their previous business venture, Mealime. They sent out personal emails inviting people to try Clearful, highlighting the unique aspects of the app and how it differed from existing solutions on the market.

Why it worked: By contacting people who were already familiar with their work, Clearful leveraged trust and existing relationships. This approach allowed them to quickly onboard users who were supportive of their new project.

Metrics: - Within a few months of launch, this approach helped Clearful garner initial traction, though specific numbers on customers and revenue aren't specified.

App Store Optimization (ASO)🔗

The founders applied App Store Optimization (ASO) techniques from their previous experience to ensure Clearful was easily discoverable on the app store. They focused on optimizing keywords, app descriptions, and visuals to improve visibility and appeal to users looking for journaling apps.

Why it worked: ASO helped Clearful appear in relevant search results, attracting organic traffic from individuals searching for journaling solutions. This was a critical step in reaching new users outside their direct network.

These early strategies focused on leveraging existing networks and optimizing their presence in app stores, allowing Clearful to start building its user base effectively.

What was the growth strategy for Clearful and how did they scale?🔗

App Store Optimization (ASO)🔗

Clearful has leveraged App Store Optimization as a primary channel for growth. They have focused on ranking well for specific search terms that are relevant to their app in both the Apple App Store and Google Play. This approach was effective for Maria and Jeffrey’s previous app, Mealime, which saw great success partly due to high organic traffic driven by strong app store presence.

Why it worked: ASO is crucial because it allows potential users to discover the app more easily. By ranking for relevant keywords, Clearful increased its visibility. However, the app store environment has become more competitive over the years, which means continually updating and optimizing keywords and descriptions to maintain and improve rankings is necessary.

Feature Promotions in App Stores🔗

Clearful has benefited from being featured by app store editorial teams, particularly during key periods like the beginning of the year when users are focused on self-improvement. They have been highlighted as an "App of the Day," and other prominent placements, which have driven visibility and downloads.

Why it worked: Being featured in such a way is a major trust signal and garners a significant amount of free publicity. It's a way to reach a large audience that might have never found the app organically. While competition for such features is stiff, once achieved, they create a spike in user acquisition, as evidenced by their own spikes in app signups during such features.

Community Engagement and Algorithm Signals🔗

Jeffrey describes needing to drive their own traffic to the app stores to kickstart the algorithmic boost from the stores themselves. Encouraging users to search for "journal" and then find and download Clearful aids in signaling to the app stores that their app is popular.

Why it worked: This strategic movement leverages community engagement to improve store rankings. Getting users to engage with the app immediately boosts the app's credibility with the app store algorithms, helping it climb higher in search results. These signals are crucial because they impact how easily new users can discover the app.

Through these principal channels, Clearful aims to grow its user base while also focusing on enhancing user retention with features that offer personalized journaling experiences.

What's the pricing strategy for Clearful?🔗

Clearful adopts a freemium pricing model for its journaling app, offering a free basic version with optional paid subscriptions that typically cost around $4.99 per month or $29.99 annually, providing users enhanced features and content.

What were the biggest lessons learned from building Clearful?🔗

Adaptability is Key: Clearful started with a web app but pivoted to mobile after understanding the market demand. Being willing to change direction based on user needs and market conditions is crucial.
Partnership Balance: Jeffrey and Maria's partnership shows the importance of having a co-founder to balance out the highs and lows, making it easier to navigate tough periods.
Avoid Marketing Assumptions: Clearful initially relied on app store traffic, only to learn it’s now more competitive. Building an audience and marketing proactively is critical.
Embrace Continuous Learning: Jeffrey learned programming to gain more control over the product. Founders should continually seek new skills to empower their business functions.
Feedback-Driven Growth: The decision to introduce mobile app features came from customer feedback. Listening to users and responding with relevant features can enhance growth and user satisfaction.

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