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Shmoody
Highlights
- 5x MRR in under a year from $100K → $470K
- 156 paywalls built across the portfolio
- 135 A/B tests launched
Most app companies hit a wall when they try to scale monetization. The bigger they get, the slower they move.
Going Merry was no different until they found a way to break free from development bottlenecks and turn their marketing team into a revenue optimization machine.
Here’s how they achieved 5x growth in under a year, and what you can learn from their approach.
The challenge every growing app company faces
Going Merry had what most app companies dream of: 60+ apps, 50M+ installs, and a million people using their products every month. From tanning to productivity, their portfolio looked unstoppable.
But behind the numbers was a frustrating reality. Growth had stalled.
Every time the team had a monetization idea, it got trapped in the same slow cycle: developer sprints, code reviews, app store submissions. By the time a seasonal paywall was ready, the holiday had passed.
Revenue bounced around $100K-$150K a month, never breaking through.
The final straw came during Black Friday. Competitors launched campaigns overnight and rode the shopping wave. Going Merry sat on the sidelines, waiting for developer time.
It was clear: in today’s app economy, speed decides who wins.
The systematic solution
In August 2024, Going Merry discovered Adapty’s Paywall Builder. For the first time, monetization experiments stopped being a development project and became a marketing tool.
The concept was simple but powerful: marketing teams could build, test, and deploy professional paywalls without writing code. Launching a seasonal campaign took 20 minutes instead of 20 days.
The impact was immediate:
- Paywalls built in 20 minutes instead of 5 days
- Seasonal campaigns deployed same-day
- A/B tests launched without draining engineering resources
Proof in action: campaigns and experiments
Instant seasonal campaigns became standard practice
- Halloween themes deployed that same morning
- Christmas paywalls live within hours
- Valentine’s Day promotions launched with trending themes
Going Merry’s seasonal paywalls deployed the same day as major holidays.
Rapid A/B testing turned into systematic science
Instead of guessing what worked, the team could finally test.
In one app, they experimented with a new CTA and pricing model:
- “Continue” vs. “Start for $0.00”
- Weekly plan shifted to annual
- Adjusted yearly pricing
The results were dramatic. The optimized version hit a 1.14% conversion rate vs. 0.78%, adding $3,105 in weekly revenue, a 45% uplift from a single experiment.
Multiply that kind of gain across dozens of apps, and the impact became exponential.
The outcome: 5x MRR in under a year
With Adapty, Going Merry turned monetization into a system:
- 5x MRR increase in under a year
- From $100K baseline to steady $470K MRR
- Clear acceleration during holiday season (Dec-Jan)
Your portfolio has the same potential
Going Merry’s transformation shows what really drives app portfolio success: the ability to optimize systematically and move faster than the market.
Your apps already have the users. Your team already has the skills. You just need a system that lets you move at the speed of opportunity.
