You cannot run a decent mobile app if you cannot monetize it and at least have money to run it properly and fix the bugs. Of course, when you start making money with your app it makes sense to create as much revenue as possible, and many publishers do that. However, there is an important balance between making money from the app you created, and just making users pay as much as you can make them pay.
If you do not apply the right marketing techniques, users are unlikely to pay enough but if you use too many techniques, users are very likely to hate you eventually. So, in this blog post, we discuss some of the most popular revenue-generation schemes and how to utilize them without making users hate your app.
The Freemium Model
This is one of the most popular revenue generation models when it comes to new apps by less well-known studios or indie apps.
The point of the freemium model is to offer all basic features for free and to get premium features, users have to pay. This is an awesome scheme to attract customers, test new apps or features, check if the app will even be in demand, and what features users are likely to pay for.
It works almost like a free trial but without a time limit for access. If you are afraid that your users will never want to pay for a premium version, and you are afraid to give away too much for free, think again. If users enjoy the app, they will be willing to pay.
This scheme can pretty much be seen with Yukon Gold casino 125 free spins when you play a game for free and if you are happy with everything then you choose to pay.
The worst-case scenario is that they pay for the premium version, don’t like it, and go back to the free one. The freemium model rarely makes users hate the app unless you mix it with ad-based models which is usually done because of the low conversion rate.
Revenue from In-App Advertising
Exactly because users rarely buy premium app versions (only if they really enjoy the app or really need it), publishers tend to add other revenue models to their freemium applications.
One of the most popular models is in-app advertising. This model suggests that there are ads displayed within the application through another party like Google AdMob. These can be banners that are placed at the top or bottom of the screen, full-screen ads also called welcome mats that appear as breakpoints, or rewarded ads that you need to watch in order to continue to use the app.
The good news for the users is that they don’t have to buy things from the ads or even follow links because ads can work simply for brand recognition. However, the more users the app has, the more money it can make from the in-app ads.
The bad news for the users is that most of the in-app ads are highly disruptive. If the ads are too often all over the place, they take too much time in proportion to how the user utilizes the app, or they are hard to get rid of (you can’t make the ad disappear), users will soon hate it.
If the rest of the app is okay, there is a high chance that the user will choose to pay for the premium version to get rid of the ads. However, if the app is not generally very convenient, or it uses aggressive marketing strategies, or the users don’t need it that much… Well, they will hate the advertisements and just leave.
Subscription Model
This model was one of the most popular ones a few years ago, offering affordable payment schemes to the users and providing some decent revenue to the publishers if the app was decent.
This model works perfectly well when the users really like and use the app. The best way to make them check it out and test it is to offer a freemium or a free trial. There is also an option for tier subscriptions when different levels of access are available at different prices.
For publishers, subscription-based revenue is a stable and predictable model. However, to keep users paying for the app, you have to provide ongoing value. Users can hate the subscription-based revenue model if they do not get all the promised features, or when the app constantly pushes them towards buying a pricier tier.
In-App Purchases (IAP)
This is probably the newest model and it is rather tricky. The app can be free or paid already but it offers its users some virtual goods like extra content, extra features, etc. This is very well seen in mobile games when you pay for the app and then buy in-game currency to get extra features you do not have in your already-paid-for-app.
Users generally tend to have a love-hate relationship with in-app purchases because they want the extra content but they might be reluctant to pay extra. Some users don’t mind paying extra but they hate the misleading or too aggressive marketing for the extra content. Also, some apps go as far as making it impossible to proceed in using the apps (again, this is seen very well in mobile games) unless you pay.
This is a profitable revenue model but publishers have to be careful with it because users can hate literally everything about it.
