5 Major Ways to Monetize Your App Without Using Ads
You have finally been successful at developing a mobile app for your business. You are now expecting your customers to interact within the way that didn’t happen earlier. All the data that you extract from the app is helping you in marketing your brand in new ways by creating new strategies.
Now to make your app even better for business, you try to monetize it. Any app development company or business would want their app to be just more than a tool, more like something that can provide you with an additional source of income. So you think of integrating ads to your mobile app.
Now stop right there. You’ve got an idea for having an in-app ad. But know that most users dislike in-app advertising. More than 50% of the mobile users find it disruptive when they see ads in an app. Also, in-app ads are unreliable. According to Statista, Mobile advertising spending in the United States is expected to increase from $58.4 billion in 2017 to $70 billion strong growth in 2018. They don’t guarantee an income. There are better ways of monetizing your app and generating revenue from it rather than having in-app ads.
Take a look at the following list.
A Freemium App
In the last few years, a lot of companies have adopted the freemium model as it has proved to be quite useful for them as well as their users. More than 50% of mobile app development companies recommend this model. A lot of users prefer to try something before they actually buy it. They would want to use the app for free and pay later through in-app purchases in the form of payment for additional features. In-app purchases can either be for a single use or they can be permanent.
A Subscription Model
A Subscription Model is more suitable for those businesses that offer services like music, books, podcast etc, as these are used more frequently. This model wouldn’t really work with instant messaging or game apps as the content on such apps is unchanged. HeadSpace and Spotify are two of the biggest examples using a subscription model. HeadSpace offers free options that allow you to use a 10-day guided meditation series and then you can decide if you want to subscribe to use the services further.
Paid & Lite Version
Having a paid model means users will be paying right up front for using your app. There are users out there who are willing to pay for apps they haven’t tried. If your company is well known for providing a particular service and there is other option or alternative for your service, a paid model can be applied in here. But if users can do the same thing with a free app, they will not go for your app. There are two ways mobile developers do it here. They create a paid version of the app and a “lite” free version of the app with ads. If they like the Lite version, they can upgrade to the paid version.
White Labeling your app
If your app or the service that you are providing is unique and solves a specific issue in a certain way, you should think of licensing the code to other companies. When you white label your app, you create a copy of your existing app and use another company’s branding. White Label is definitely a good option for generating revenue from your code without actually influencing the customer experience. White Labeling your app only works with apps that are powerful or have something extremely useful to offer. But first know whether white labeling your app is worth it or not, because it is a difficult process.
App Referral Program
An App Referral Program allows you to earn money every time a user visits to make a purchase. If an app is directing its users to make use of some specific resources, then the app is compensated for referring users to the features or resources. The affiliate programs are applied by both Amazon and Apple. Android App developers can sell Amazon merchandise and earn revenue from that. iOS developers can earn commission from Apply if they like Apple Music content to their app.
A mix of strategies
There are several monetization strategies out there. Figure out which one works for your app in the best way. Sometimes there will be more than just one strategy that works for you. You can either learn by trial and error or you could apply those strategies at once. It’s up to you. Take guidance from your app developers.
