What Happened to Alarmy in 2023

A year of product changes, and what lies ahead

It’s already been 10 years since Alarmy was born into the world. Just as landscapes change in a decade, Alarmy has changed a lot, too. Meanwhile, people continue to wonder about us, so much so that we even published an article titled You’ve been making an alarm app for 10 years? What’s next?. Honestly, I think I had similar doubts when I first joined. What more value could possibly be added to Alarmy? Put another way, are there really any more product specs to improve or add?

In that previous article, Jay (DelightRoom's CEO and the father of Alarmy, a.k.a. "Al-buji") explained the future direction of Alarmy using our mission and vision. Alarmy, which used to focus purely on the exact moment of waking up to ensure you definitely got out of bed, is now expanding its scope of responsibility to cover the entire journey—from right before you fall asleep to right after you wake up. If we previously solved problems by just waking you up no matter what, we are now going a step further to wake you up feeling refreshed and clear-headed, setting you up for a successful morning and day.

So, what exactly are we working on to make this happen?

For everyone who's curious, I’d like to take a broad look back at 2023 and summarize the actual changes that happened to Alarmy.

A. Early 2023

Up until the previous year, Alarmy was heavily focused on revenue growth. Our cross-functional teams (squads) were led by AdCarry (ad monetization) and Subs (subscription monetization), which allowed us to grow our revenue volume and profit margins quite healthily. Meanwhile, we were also gradually experimenting with value expansion on the side, but as we entered 2023, you could say we started breaking ground in a much more 'serious, full-scale' way.

a-1. Revenue growth that cares about usability

Through countless growth experiments over the years, we had significantly boosted revenue by fully leveraging our core value (definitely waking you up). So, it was time to start taking care of the various usability issues on our revenue-related screens. Even though we always tried to keep UX in mind during experiments, as winning revenue growth experiments stacked up, the little things we missed along the way started to pile up too.

The Subscription squad continued their ongoing optimization of the purchase screen, subscription products, and pricing, while also adding basic flows related to the subscription journey. For example, we made it possible to switch from a monthly subscription to a yearly one (and vice versa) and added a flow to cancel subscriptions directly within the app. We also made some premium features free if they weren't significantly contributing to subscription conversions.

Similarly, the Ad squad continued optimizing ad call logic and improving latency, while also removing legacy banner and native ads from the alarm list screen and adding fresh new ad placements. With this, we were once again able to continue our growth by increasing revenue while simultaneously improving user usability.

a-2. The rise of the User Journey TF

Just as each squad started focusing on usability, a movement began to comprehensively address the usability of those slightly ambiguous areas that didn't belong to any specific squad. This movement was born out of the fear that, if we weren't careful, Alarmy might stop looking like a single organic product and instead look like a Frankenstein's monster patched together with random features. Thus, the User Journey TF (hereafter Journey TF), which took care of all these overarching elements, was run short and sweet. They tackled a massive backlog of countless usability issues that had built up over time. As a result, Android and iOS—which used to look like completely different apps—raised each other's standards for lacking designs and behaviors, ending up looking much more alike.

We also went through a massive onboarding revamp, which improved our D1 retention by nearly 20%.

Between the revenue squads focusing on usability and the Journey TF, our baseline usability got a massive upgrade. It was a fantastic first quarter where we managed to secure both retention and revenue simultaneously. :)

B. Mid-to-Late 2023

With all that thorough preparation out of the way, we started sprinting forcefully toward expanding our product's value. A new squad, "Sleep," was launched, and the existing "Morning" squad collaborated organically to release several major features. Our structural shift to a wellness service had truly begun.

b-1. Expanding sleep value

The sleep value we had slowly been adding previously was limited to providing sleep music (Sleep Sounds) to help you fall asleep and creating a sleep environment (Sleep Mode). Since the sheer amount of value provided wasn't that large, it was hard to say we had meaningfully expanded our value. However, ever since a dedicated squad (the Sleep squad) was officially formed, we've been running relentlessly to solve problems related to falling asleep and getting deep sleep, achieving remarkable growth in the value we offer.

In Q2, we added sleep detection logic to start diagnosing sleep "quantity" through asleep/awake analysis. In Q3, we started analyzing sleep stages (light, REM, deep) to diagnose sleep "quality." By Q4, we were detecting sleep behavior patterns (snoring) to strengthen our feedback. Through this series of updates, the usage rate of sleep features within the product increased significantly, allowing us to further solidify our position as an app that helps you sleep well.

b-1. Expanding morning value

Even in the morning area, where we were already providing solid value, we managed to definitively plug a hole that existed in our "guaranteed wake-up" promise. We added a feature to prevent the flow where users run away without dismissing their alarms (hereafter referred to as "cheating"), which, ironically, was by far the number one feature requested by our users. Technically preventing users from deleting the app or turning off their phones is incredibly difficult. Fortunately, we somehow found a way to implement this on Android. Since there was no technical workaround on iOS, we solved it through product planning. We introduced a system where users can set a self-imposed fine to stop themselves from cheating when the alarm goes off. As a result, we were able to further solidify our wake-up value, ensuring that even users who try to cheat their alarms are guaranteed to get up.

b-3. Launching Activation devices

While solidifying these major pillars of value, we also implemented foundational growth devices to further encourage users to use the product. From Q2 onward, we ran push message (CRM) experiments at least once a week for about a year, steadily increasing alarm usage retention. At the end of Q2, we launched a "refer-a-friend" feature where users could earn premium subscriptions by inviting friends, laying the groundwork for our first viral loop. Then, at the end of Q3, we launched an attendance check (wake-up challenge) feature where users could earn a premium subscription by using Alarmy every day for a set period.

To summarize:

In early 2023, alongside revenue growth, we bolstered basic usability that we had previously neglected, which increased our retention.

In mid-to-late 2023, we seriously expanded our sleep value while simultaneously solidifying the morning value we were missing. You could say we also established the Activation growth devices (push messages, friend referrals, attendance checks) that we felt were necessary for the mid-to-long term.

C. Present Day 2024

And that brings us to 2024. Compared to this time last year, the product has truly transformed. Thanks to this, our related business metrics have also grown significantly.

However, we still have a long way to go.

First, we need to build the user's core journey by connecting sleep and waking up. We've elevated the value of each individual feature, but from the user's perspective, they aren't able to easily and seamlessly connect their use from night to morning just yet. In other words, we need growth that creates synergy between these two values.

Furthermore, as a wellness service, we need to provide practical "prescriptions," not just "diagnoses," for sleep. Rather than just stopping at diagnosing sleep-related issues for users struggling to fall asleep or those suffering from poor sleep quality, we will ultimately provide highly targeted solutions to solve these problems.

In addition, from a product growth perspective, we plan to solidify our Activation and Referral funnels. By leveraging some of the tools we set up last year (like home banners and pushes) to help users better utilize various features within the product, we'll activate key functions. By diversifying referral features and achieving an optimal viral coefficient, we plan to build virtuous loops that allow the product to grow organically on its own.

Thus, by the end of the year, we are picturing our growth into a super app that generates 3 million DAU, 60% D1 retention, 18 billion KRW in subscription revenue, and 20 billion KRW in ad revenue. :)

Conclusion

The events of the past year that I've discussed in this article are the precious results created by an elite group of just 30 members coming together with a shared purpose. Looking back, it was an incredible display of productivity. The most important factors seem to have been the constant streamlining of collaboration processes—both cross-functional and within the squads—in our roughly 15-person product org, and the fact that outstanding talent joined us at exactly the right times.

The tasks we need to accomplish this year are no different. They are milestones we can only achieve if we hunt down and fix holes of inefficiency, and find great people to join us as teammates.

If you ever wondered, "What more value could possibly be added to Alarmy?" or "Are there really any more product specs to improve or add?", I hope this article has definitively cleared that up for you. And if you want to join us on this journey to becoming a super app that generates 3 million DAU, 60% D1 retention, 18 billion KRW in subscription revenue, and 20 billion KRW in ad revenue, please don't hesitate to reach out.

As always, Alarmy is poised for massive growth in 2024. We ask for your continued support going forward!