How to Build a Great Kids App with Minimal Data — Podcast with Sago Mini’s Brennan Clark

An interesting stat in the kids industry… is that about 80% of the purchases are actually made in the first two days. So you have this very narrow window where you have the parents’ attention and you have the kids’ attention. And most of the sales, most of the purchases, are made in those first 48 hours. 

Brennan Clark, Sago Mini

Building an app for kids these days is hard. But Sago Mini — which has seen 100 million+ downloads — has landed on a formula that not only engages kids (and parents), but has also enabled the Canadian company to branch out into physical subscription space. It even has its own Apple TV+ show.

“It’s Apple recognizing the values that we have and that we share with them, in terms of high-quality, safe content for kids,” Brennan Clark, Director of Product at Sago Mini explains. Sago Mini counts no fewer than three subscription apps for preschoolers, with Apple driving 80% of their revenue.

But how does Sago Mini manage to build products primed for both the kids who use them as well as the parents who pay for them? Beside weekly play testing with kids, the key is to bring the parents into the equation, and Brennan talks about how Sago Mini introduced an app for parents, enabling them to see how their kids are engaging with the apps.

Privacy and data management requirements are in overdrive when it comes to the kids app space. Unable to use IFDA or ATT (and about to lose its Google Ad ID), Sago Mini has had to get creative with partners in order to avoid crossing boundaries while still creating great experiences for kids.

In this episode of the Sub Club podcast, Brennan gives insight into the unique challenges of building and growing kids apps. He also talks about how to make effective decisions with minimal data, and why AppsFlyer had to build Sago Mini a custom SDK.