5 Ways to Monetize Your Mobile App

Mobile app development isn’t easy at all. If you are a developer, then executing the development will turn out to be a bit easier for you because you already understand the project and different steps involved with it. If you are an entrepreneur or businessman with little or no understanding of the development, then you will rely on developers and their consultants. They will learn from you and your idea and then convert it into an actual product.

But in all cases, you will certainly require help in monetizing your app. In this post, we are going to take a note on the top app monetization strategies that will guide you through making your app venture beneficial. Let’s begin it now.

PAID APPS MODEL

• One basic way to monetize an app is that you sell it for single-time payment. App owners need to choose the price of their apps out of available price tiers starting from 0.99 cents to 999 USD. So, when you choose the paid model, you sell your app for the listed price on the App Store or Google Play store.
• Many games and utility apps are using this monetization model. In 2013, the game Minecraft pocket, for example, was sold at $9 per app. It made total revenue of $325 that year.
• The best thing about choosing this model is that it provides quick cash flow to the app owner. The money is yours as soon as someone pays for the app.
• An app has to be really unique and of the top quality to be sold as a paid application. Currently, there are only 10 percent apps based on this model.

FREE APP WITH IN-APP ADVERTISING MODEL

• It’s one of the widely adopted app-monetization models quickly building a large audience. The app is provided for free with full features enabled.
• The app generates revenue through advertising. The app integrates ads from Google Admob, Flurry, InMobi, etc.
• Big organizations can build their own ad network for serving ads within the app. This provides them the flexibility of deciding the price and other terms of ads. But there are certain costs associated with building own ad server and, they may burn a hole in your budget.
• The model can be applied well to both social and gaming apps where people are spending most of their time.

FREEMIUM MODEL

• As the term itself suggests, it’s a half-free-half-premium model. When choosing this model, then the app is provided free with the limited feature enabled. When users like it, many would like to use all its features and, then they upgrade to the paid version.
• Another option in the freemium app model is that you provide the app for free and then encourage users to subscribe to paid features.
• An app needs to be quite engaging to be a freemium app.
• It’s a well applied and tested monetization model for gaming apps where users are happy to pay to advance gaming-levels or powers.
• Candy Crush Saga is a great example of a freemium monetization model based app that generated 1.3 billion via in-app purchases from 2014 from a2 of all its users.
• The best advantage of using this model is that you propose a low-barrier to entry for downloads because the app is available for free with the best of the games plays.

SUBSCRIPTION MODEL

• An app based on the subscription model offers a free trial of a week or month. In this period, users will use all premium features of the app for free. Upon ending of the trial period, the app promotes users to buy a subscription to keep using it.
• The model best fits for business or enterprise apps for CRM, invoicing, and customer support and entertainment apps for news, music, and video streaming.
• The advantage of using this model is the high lifetime value of customers due to constant revenue.
• Popular apps using this model are Dropbox, Xero, and Spotify.

REVENUE SPLIT MODEL

• This model requires you to create a marketplace that enables others to make money and, then you take your commission on the money they make. These apps are free to download and use.
• Two great examples of apps using this model are Uber and Airbnb. Uber charges 20% to 25% commission of the money made by drivers. Airbnb charges 6% to 12 of commissions made by people renting their property.

Apart from these above-mentioned monetization models followed by most of the apps, there are few other models like affiliate marketing & leading generation, sponsorships, licensing and crowd-funding. Some app owners have monetized their apps through these models too.

Also, there is no hard and fast rule that an app can use a single model only. In fact, many apps of today are using the combination of monetization models to maximize their revenue.

Author Bio. :- Sofia Coppol is the technical writer of Rapidsoft Technologies, a prominent mobile app development company which provides Android app development and iPhone app development services across the globe. She loves to write on latest mobile trends, mobile technologies, startups, and enterprises.