Apple is set to allow app developers the ability to offer discounts to existing and lapsed subscribers, it announced Monday. Developers will be able to use the discounts to tempt customers to upgrade their subscription.
Three Type of Discount
A post on the App Store Connect said:
Apps with auto-renewable subscriptions will soon be able to provide a discounted price for a specific duration for existing or previously subscribed customers. You can use subscription offers to help win back subscribers who have canceled their subscriptions or promote an upgrade to another subscription at a special price. Customers can accept the offer even if they’ve already completed an introductory offer.
There are three different types of offers developers will be able to use to promote subscriptions, Apple said. Firstly, they will be able to their service free for a specific time period before the normal renewal price is applicable. Then there is a “Pay As You Go” option, whereby a user would pay a reduced price for, say, 3 months. Developers will also be able to offer a “pay up front” option. That would be a one-time promotional price for a specific duration.
Beta Testing Available Now
To offer promotions, developers will need to generate a subscriptions access key and create offers in App Store Connect. Once that is done, they need to download the beta of Xcode 10.2 and implement the new StoreKit APIs. That will allow customers to accept the offers they have created. Developers can test their offers before the functionality becomes public using the beta version of iOS 12.2, macOS 10.14.4, and tvOS 12.2.