Last night, I went to bed excited to hit my first 1,000 sign-ups for my AI learning app, StudyChat, by morning.
When I woke up, I saw I had 1,800 sign-ups.
Wow.I quickly checked where all this traffic was coming from, and it turned out to be from Russia.
I assumed they were bots trying to find vulnerabilities on my site, so I took down the sign-up form.Moments later, I was flooded with messages on Discord asking me to fix a bug. Confused about why a “bot” was contacting me, I asked how they heard about the app.
It turns out there was a post in a 1.9 million-member Russian Telegram group that linked to my app.
Now, the sign-ups have reached 4,900.
I’m using a freemium model, so this influx of traffic is starting to strain my finances. Since Stripe and PayPal are banned in Russia, I can’t monetize this traffic.
What should I do?
EDIT: To avoid any legal issues, I’ve banned the Russian IPs. Thanks to everyone for the advice, support, and feedback!
Due to Russia’s restriction on OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini, this market is constantly growing on ANY gpt wrapper. That was two years ago. However, just 1% of people really possess valid Visa or Mastercard cards. Thus, the two choices available to me were to completely geo-restrict or to limit the trial option (because Russians always pay in advance). Unfortunately, that increase can only occur in Russia; individuals in other nations will not be as interested in your service because they can simply go to OpenAI or whatever. Apologies
There, in Russian. These days, the majority of individuals have learned how to use VPNs, and a small minority of people have foreign passports. Thus, I believe that if customers choose to pay for your services, they will find a way to do so. Crypto is most likely a friendly option as well.
Everyone uses local cards, but since they’re under sanctions (like Visa and MasterCard), you can’t accept them in the U.S. or Europe. Some people have cards from banks in other jurisdictions that they can use for payments. These cards often work with Apple and Google Pay, as they can be linked to a “good” bank account. Have you considered offering these payment options?
Since many of your customers are students, they might use their parents’ cards for payments. Have any of the sign-ups done that?
Your limit on quizzes should help manage costs. If that’s not enough, consider it an investment in understanding how users interact with your product. If the costs are still too high, you might need to rethink the freemium model.
This advice applies regardless of where the traffic is coming from.
Also, great job! Your site looks good, and you’re gaining traction. Going “viral” in one country could lead to similar success elsewhere (hopefully not in places like North Korea or Iran). It might be worth focusing on replicating this success.
P.S. Don’t worry about FSB or VPN issues. Almost all young people use VPNs, and some even use double VPNs (like Russia to Italy to the UK), so it appears as if a user from Italy is accessing your site. Geo-blocking IPs won’t be effective for you.
Freemium is a tactic used in marketing. You really need to address the fact that you are giving things away to individuals who are unable or unwilling to pay for them.
Set the trial price at $1 for a week or something. Get rid of free, or else you are going to run into a lot of issues when word spreads to countries such as India, hehe.
Depending on your origins, Russia could present challenges. Having said that, those Russians (of which there are some) who still desire a western connection have bank accounts in neighboring nations such as Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria, and they are able to send money abroad via standard means. I would consider incorporating a filtering step into your registration procedure. One way to do this is to offer your product for $1 instead of free, which will quickly weed out those who are unable to purchase.Another problem is that OpenAI is prohibited in Russia, even though I know some people who use VPNs to access it without any issues. Something to ponder.
Russia is a tech-savvy country. Since there is money to be made, I would give this market serious consideration.
The RU revenue will be a drag on your SaaS revenue growth and generation because no buyer will pay you for it and take on the risk of having RU customers. Heard it from someone who worked for a company that generated some (very little) revenue from RU and had RU dependencies. In 2022, we ended both our revenue and RU dependencies in order to prevent having to defend our actions to investors.
Consider using cryptocurrencies, but be cautious if any of your customers have their wallets linked to extremist or illegal activities. Government agencies from various countries are actively scanning the blockchain for addresses associated with such activities. Also, I assume you’re American, so be careful when doing business with Russians. I’m not well-versed in the details of sanctions, but it’s wise to be cautious.
You might also want to explore local payment processors, but proceed with caution there as well.
Additionally, when pricing your business plans, avoid setting the price too high. While $10-20 a month might seem reasonable to you, it can be quite expensive for many people around the world. This advice is especially relevant if you’re looking to “maximize your profits” from countries like Russia. You might also consider limiting your free plan a bit, given the “high demand” for your product. Congratulations and good luck!
Create a bank account online or in a nation that will take cryptocurrency or Russian money.
You’ve developed something that appeals to an audience, so don’t let a minor inconvenience like a bank account stop you in your tracks.
Serving them or making money off of them is probably against the law in some way, including the conditions of the AI platform you use, among other things.
Will you mess with the US government and run the risk of having your company blacklisted from OpenAI?