Attention App Developers, Here are 10 Ways to Monetize Your Apps

At present, users have option to choose from millions of mobile apps available in various operating system-native stores including Google Play, Apple App Store and Microsoft Windows Store. But the statistics posted on various websites indicate that a large percentage of these mobile apps are free. Further, several surveys have highlighted that the number of free apps downloads exceed the number of paid app downloads by a huge margin. So both enterprises and developers frequently explore innovative ways to make money from mobile apps. They also have option to monetize their mobile apps in a number of ways.

10 Ways to Make Your Mobile App Make Money

1) In-App Purchases

This mobile app monetization technique requires businesses to use their mobile apps as a sales channel or a mobile store. The businesses can generate revenue by selling both physical and virtual products through their mobile apps. The user will have option to download the app for free. Also, he can see details of products or services without paying extra. But the in-app purchase feature included in the app will enable the user to place order for the products or services almost immediately.

2) In-App Advertisement

Many businesses try to make their free mobile apps profitable by selling data-driven advertising space to advertisers. The app monetization model further enables businesses to reduce the app development cost, and allow users to download the app for free. But the app must be designed with specific features and advanced analytics to gather a variety of user information. Whenever a user interacts with the app, the application must capture the data required by advertisers. The business can earn revenue by selling the user information captured by the application to relevant advertisers.

3) Freemiums

This app monetization technique emphasise of dividing all features of the app into two distinct categories, i.e., free and basic. The users can download the app from the app store without paying any fee. Likewise, they can access the basic features and functionality of the application without paying any fees. But the users have to pay money to access the app’s premium or proprietary features. The premium or proprietary features of the mobile app will remain locked till the user pays the required amount. The technique will encourage users to pay the required amount to avail app’s advanced features.

4) Subscriptions

This method of app monetization is similar to freemiums. But this method requires users to pay a specific amount to view certain content. The mobile app can be downloaded from the app store for free. Likewise, it will allow users to view a specific amount of content without paying extra. The users will be required to sign up or subscribe to view additional content. The app monetization method is best-suited for content-based mobile apps. Also, you need to invest additionally to generate high quality content to generate more revenues.

5) Sponsorship

The new app monetization method requires you to partner with several advertisers. The advertisers will reward users whenever they complete a specific in-app action. Whenever a user completes the specific in-app action, the advertiser will pay you a predetermined fee or a percentage of the revenue earned from the specific in-app action. However, you still need to focus on displaying the ad and convey the in-app action without affecting the app’s user experience. The application must keep the users engaged to encourage them to complete the in-app action to generate more revenue.

6) Maintenance and Updates

To make a mobile app profitable in the longer run, you must focus on constant user engagement. The app must seduce the users consistently with appealing content and innovative features. So you must make and implement a strategy to make the app engage users and generate more revenue. You need to ensure that the app is delivering fresh and relevant content to users continuously. At the same time, you also need to update the app regularly with new features and advanced functionality to boost its usage and popularity.

7) Virtual Currency

Many surveys have highlighted that games are more profitable than mobile apps. Most mobile gaming apps nowadays use virtual currencies. But they require users to interact with specific brands to earn the virtual currency for free. You can always consider developing mobile apps that use multiple virtual currencies. You can further allow users to buy the virtual currency or obtain virtual currency for free by completing special offers and accessing special content. The distinct add implementation strategy will make your mobile app profitable, while making it deliver game-like user experience.

8) Native Advertisements

Popular social networking sites like Facebook use sponsored posts to accomplish higher click-through rates. The native ads are designed in a manner similar to sponsored posts on Facebook, and can blend seamlessly with the mobile app. So you can always consider earning revenue by displaying native apps without affecting the app’s user experience. However, the revenue generated through native ads will be affected by the layout of the mobile app and the execution of the ad. The mobile app developers can easily embed the native apps in a wide variety of mobile applications.

9) Cross-Platform Mobile Apps

You can always get higher returns by making the app available on multiple mobile platforms. But you may not get higher ROI by targeting mobile operating systems based on their worldwide market share. At present, Android dominates the worldwide mobile operating system market. Many surveys have highlighted that both iOS apps and Windows Phone apps are more profitable that Android apps. Hence, it is important to develop the mobile app by targeting the right mobile operating systems to get generate more revenues and profits.

10) Paid Apps

You can always get higher ROI by making it paid. The users will be required to purchase the mobile app from an app store, and your app will start making money. But often businesses find it daunting to promote a paid app. You need must build the app with many features and functionality that make it different from similar free apps available in the app store. Also, the paid app must be promoted as something unique and most powerful. The innovative features of the app and robust marketing campaign will encourage many users to opt for your mobile app instead of other free apps.

However, a business cannot use a single app monetization strategy to make all its mobile apps profitable. It must pick the app monetization method by keeping in mind the nature of the mobile apps, targeted users, and level of competition. At the same time, it is also important for the business to explore monetization options throughout the app development process. Also, it must keep the app monetization strategy flexible and dynamic to incorporate all changes required to get higher ROI.