“We are just as bad as everyone else, why don’t we win?”

Be better, not just as bad.

Marketing?

Your post is rather vague.

If you are referring to your task management app that is a very saturated market with some big competitors. Not only that but many of the established players do plenty of advertising whereas it sounds like you do not. Do not discount marketing. You can sell literal dog shit if marketed correctly.

Do you require a subscription when signing up for the paid version? Do you offer a free trial that automatically turns into a paid subscription? Is it extremely easy to cancel once subscribed?

When I’ve tried this type of app the answers to those questions has typically been yes, yes, and no respectively. I also think your target users are people less inclined to stick with things, hence needing the app, which already makes retention an uphill battle.

Your app is a task manager for families. Maintaining an organized task list for an entire family over the long haul requires a lot of discipline. You will never, ever, in a million years, retain more than a tiny sliver of your new users. It’s just not gonna happen. Also, you won’t get real feedback because your former users will never say, “It seemed like a good idea at first, but I am too fucking lazy to keep up with all this.” They’ll opt instead to come up with some excuse about missing features or UX problems.

Your dedicated lifelong users will come slowly. They will always be a teeny tiny fraction of your new users. Once you have them, though, you really have them.

Are your competitors actually thriving solely by maintaining a large user base with minimal churn for a dedicated family task manager app? Unfuckinglikely. They either have other apps in their portfolios, or they are not actually making money.

Ask them

Probably b/c your competitor is better at selling than you are. They probably are churning just as much, but are doing better at reaching more people.

The actively engaged users asking for features are generally the outliers. You can’t just add features forever or you’ll have mega bloat and put off other users.

“If only it had X it would be perfect” are also the same people constantly looking for a better solution and are ready to jump ship.

You state your product is better, but only talk about the number of features. There is so much more to good products, at minimum:

• Ease of use
• Simplicity (having just enough of the right features)
• Interoperability into workflows and other tools
• Support cross platform and user experience
• Reliability

Dumb question why don’t you give them x y z use these improvements to capture more new subscribers ~ then raise the prices because you have x y z!

Seems like a no brainer!

Features do not always equate to Feelings.

It’s marketing that turns rubes into Customers, by teaching them your Customers. It’s also how you retain them.

That unfathomable mix of Language and Feeling.

Most “Entrepreneurs” have a 'if I build IT, THEY will come" with no real thought as to what IT is (in essence) or who THEY are (at their core). They put all Marketing last, and wonder how they “hurt themselves in their confusion”.

They might forget what you’ve said, but they never forget how you make them Feel.

So, does it feel GOOD to use your product? How are you making it an Experience that actually fosters the values you’re pushing?

I really wouldn’t even LOOK at your Competitors (YOU are your own Competition right now), until you master your own Marketing Metrics. You can never know “theirs”; and your Customers aren’t paying you JUST for features.