Many businesses want to have their own mobile app to support their products. There is a different case – the app is the business. We all know the stories of WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Instagram. There were other solutions that became popular and brought their creator’s decent revenues too. Any app’s owner wants to make money from it – this is called app monetization.
When we deal with mobile apps, monetization is possible through several channels. You need to consider them at once when you turn to mobile app development services to order a new application. The programming and UI will depend on it. However, the most essential factor will be the user experience.
The first rule is not to frustrate users by asking them to pay for your product. It can hurt the brand’s reputation painfully. Monetization strategy can be sophisticated, but it is necessary.
How to make the mobile app bring revenue – approaches
An absolute majority of mobile apps in Google Play and AppStore are free. Moreover, the number of free apps in both these stores has increased by approximately 15% within half of the year. On the other hand, the development of any mobile application requires time and plenty of money. Thus, it should get paid off. If it is not a direct sale of the application as a product, revenue comes from other sources provided by that app.
Several monetization strategies are available, and they can be used separately or in combination. The specialists of mobile software development services should be aware of the chosen strategies because they have to implement them. Depending on the model, they have to design the layout, software features, and plan the entire user experience.
So, let’s name and explore these strategies, so you’d select the right mobile development solutions approach when communicating with your developers’ team.
Paid applications
This is the most straightforward model. Users get the “download” option after paying for the software. Initially, many product companies that specialized in mobile application development services created a software with the purpose to sell them directly at once.
Now, the share of paid mobile apps is about 3% of the market, but these are dozens of thousands of solutions. They have their audiences, and many users prefer paying for the software at once to get the functionality they want and avoid annoying ads, fighting the limited functionality, and other bothers.
Free apps with in-app purchases
This strategy suggests that users get and use the app free of charge. However, they can purchase something from within the app. This model is very popular, as the basic functionality is decent and attracts users, and purchased items improve the user experience.
If you choose the in-app purchase model, you can choose from two types (or implement them both – many Android apps development services teams specialize in that):
- Consumables are regular purchases, such as internal currencies in gaming apps, hints, particular actions, etc.
- Non-consumables are one-time purchases, such as unblocking a level, removing ads, or a paid subscription.
The in-app purchase model also includes “out-of-store” revenues. The mobile app lets the users purchase some items through it – bookstores in eBook reading apps are typical examples.
Free apps with internal ads
The application is free of charge but earns money through demonstrating third-party advertisements in its interface. Banner ads or video ads are demonstrated on the app’s launch and at the end of the session, somewhere in the process, or, users can get rewards for watching full-screen video advertisements.
In this case, this particular free application helps in promoting other products in the App Store. The marketing teams of the mobile app development services make agreements with other app owners whose ads they will demonstrate. Besides, the “internal adds” model often works in conjunction with the “in-app purchases,” letting users pay to get rid of ads.
Freemium apps
Another popular model is usually a combination of the paid app and “free with ads.” This model suggests having two or more software versions with different functionality.
For instance, the basic version/plan is free and unlimited in time, but with restricted functionality and ads. The paid “premium” version/plan would have advanced functionality and no ads. The upgrade is often performed by reinstalling the app with the new file, which also is a psychological factor because the user receives a new software for its price and then can always get it again on a new device or after reinstalling.
The free version works like a teaser, offering a positive user experience and stimulating users to strive for additional power. The quality of the basic version plays a critical role in this. All teams that create apps for specific platforms or provide cross-platform apps development services are perfectly aware of the user experience value in the case of a freemium monetization model.
Free trials of the fully-functional apps
This monetization model suggests providing a fully-functional app free of charge but for a limited period only – from several days to a month. This approach is popular for paid software with relatively high prices. Potential users can use the maximum functionality of the paid app and decide if it is worth upgrading. If not, they can either switch back to the free version they used before, or use another application.
In most cases, monetization strategies work together. Professionals of Android and iOS mobile app development services combine them flawlessly in one solution and design the UI to make the user’s journey effective in terms of wishing to get more from the app and readiness to pay for it.
Conclusion
All the monetization models named in this article are already well-known. The choice of approach is the first stage, and lots of effort will come further. The user experience is the weightiest factor. However, it is easy to achieve with the help of custom mobile app development services that have enough experience and creativity.
We’ve seen plenty of successful examples of all monetization strategies, from different areas. But all those apps had one common value – they delivered excellent user experience, made the users engaged and feeling positive when using that application, and were genuinely willing to enjoy the interaction with no limits.
