How do in-app subscriptions affect mobile apps?
It was obvious that the subscription model would have a great impact on the mobile world.
We have adopted a consumer behavior where everything is subscription-based for a long time. From our daily meals to streaming music, even our pets’ food and toys, we consume everything through subscriptions. Therefore, it is also inevitable that the subscription system will increase consumers’ spending habits in the mobile industry.
If you are a mobile app publisher and think you can achieve a high growth rate with only ad revenue, I suggest you reconsider that thought. If you have millions of users, your ad revenue may be too high to be underestimated, but in today’s conditions, you are unlikely to make your app’s lifecycle longer with only ad revenue.
Each revenue model comes with its own pros and cons. However, what is important here is the value that you offer to users with your app. If you can convince the user that your app offers value, the user will not hesitate to pay for the service, and no need to overwhelm the app with ads.
The keyword here is to convince. Since the users are much more conscious than we think, this is the biggest proof that it is getting harder to convince them. If you can achieve this and keep your users loyal by converting them into subscribers, which can be achieved with a good user acquisition strategy, you can change the lifecycle of your app.
Of course, this strategy causes an increase in advertising costs, and this can be considered a disadvantage of applications that use the subscription model in the short term. However, since the revenue generated by the subscribers you acquire will continue to show itself in the long run, it allows both the life of your application and your income to increase. So, if your strategy is well established, there is no need to worry.
I would like to conclude my first article by giving an example from our experience. We integrated the subscription model into the application that generated only advertising revenue, then we were shocked! Just in the first month, we increased our revenue 3x by keeping the profit rate constant in spite of increasing our marketing expenses! Of course, this is not a one-sided success; you should consider many factors and create a good strategy, from the subscription package price to the paywall you show and the behavior of the users you acquire.
The most important thing for us is always this: we may make mistakes in the process, but we know that if we take lessons from them, success will be inescapable in the next stage, just like in the example above!
