The best ways to monetize your mobile app

These days it is easier then ever to create an app.  There are many great tools on the market to help you build your app and there are ready-to-use app source code packages to get your app in the app store even the same day.

But how do you make money from your app? This is something to start thinking about before publishing your app. There are many options. Have a good look at all options and then decide what fits your app best.

 

 

In app advertising

If you have a great number of people using your app, using ads is a great way to monetize your app. If you do not expect a lot of people using your app, because for example it targets a  niche, don’t go for ads. Ads require a lot of usage of your app to be able to make a  nice amount of money from it.

Ads are a good option if you haven’t figured out how to monetize your app, but need some income in the meantime.  Ads are easy to implement into an existing app and easy to remove when you find something better.

You can also combine a ads version of your app with a paid pro version with no ads. This way you give your customers the freedom to chose what they want and make some extra money.

There are many ad networks out there that pay you for displaying their ads, we have put together a list with the best paying ad networks:

 

Admob

Admob is Google’s ad network for mobile. Google is market leader in online advertising with its Adsense advertising platform. As expected Admob works great with very easy integration. The only negative about the network is that the revenues are not very high. There are other networks, which are less polished and more difficult to integrate that pay more then Admob. If you are just getting started with mobile ads, Admob is great choice.

 

Flurry

Flurry is property of Yahoo. Flurry has great analytics features. using their analytics features has great potential for high revenues if you are able to fine-tune things correctly.

 

InMobi

Inmobi originates from India, but are a big player on the international mobile advertising market. High revenues.

 

 

Sell your app source code

These days nearly everybody wants to have their own app in the app store. What if you could create a solution where somebody can publish an app that same day. Normally it would take a great budget to develop a quality app.  There is a way to take advantage of this great demand. If you have an app that could be very useful for others to publish,  sell app source code.

Selling your app source code is like creating a white label solution for app publishers and like every white label solution it will have to have good documentation and your code should be tidy and optimized for others to use.

If your app is one of a kind and there is no other app in the app store that can do what your app can, don’t sell your source code.  You don’t want to throw this advantage away. Instead use a other business model from this list.

If there is already competition in the app store, there is no reason not to publish your app source code. This only indicates a lot of people want to publish a similar type of app.

On Codester you can easily sell your app source code. You will not have to make any investment, which makes it a great option to trying out and a great opportunity to create a great income .

 

 

In app purchases

This business model allows users to make a purchase within your app.  The big advantage is a lot of users will try your app because it is free to start with and if they really use it a lot chances are they will sooner or later make a purchase. Some types of purchases are:

 

Unlockables

Users will able to use your app for free, but  with certain limitations. But  to be able to use the more advanced functions, they will have to pay.

This strategy is also great for games. It can be used to have players unlock certain levels asking for a small payment in return.

 

Physical goods

This works very well for eCommerce companies as they already have all infrastructure, and will only need to connect the app to the system. Having an app for your webshop is of course a great way to get extra sales.

If you have a very strong brand, you can also start selling merchandise inside your app.

 

Vitual Goods

Selling virtual goods is a great strategy for games. The trick is to have these goods resemble great  value within the app. This can be achieved by having the goods resemble a certain status that users can show off to other users.

Another example is allowing players being able to buy certain weapons or items that make playing the game more enjoyable or easier to complete.

 

 

Paid Apps

With paid apps users will have to pay to be able to download the app. What is very important is you have to show your app is better then any free competitor. You can do this by collection 5 star reviews and creating great screenshots of your app.  If somebody has to pay to use your app he or she will be much more critical when reviewing your app. So make sure your app is absolutely great! If you app does not beat any free competition hands down,  stay far away from this strategy.

 

 

Subscription

This strategy allows your app to earn revenue on  recurring basis. Apple and Google both have great payment systems that support recurring payments, this makes it very easy to integrate into your next iOS app or Android app.

This is a strategy that could be used to allow users to access content with restrictions if you are using a ‘free account’.  If the user pays and upgrades to a premium account he/she will be able to access all content without any restrictions.

A great example of a company successfully using this strategy is Spotify. Spotify is an online music streaming service. Free accounts are allowed to listen to music, but will be interrupted with ads after every song they listen.  Premium users are allowed to use the service without any limitation and will not be bothered with any ads. Premium users can also download music and play it wherever they want, without any internet connection needed.  If you use the service a lot, premium has great value.

It sounds logical, but when using a subscription business model your content or service should be better then any free alternative. If this not the case don’t go for this business model.

On the other side if you do offer superior service or content, this business model can be an absolute winner as you keep receiving revenue from a user until the person unsubscribes.

it is important that when write a business plan (which you always should) using this model and you are calculating your future revenue, you don’t forget take into account the churn rate. The churn rate is the percentage of users that unsubscribe from your service. Try to keep the churn rate around 2% a month. This may sound very low, but on a yearly basis this is 29%. This means that if you would like to keep your business as it is, you will have to gain 29% of your userbase every year!

 

 

Conclusion

Now it’s up to you to determine how you are going to monetize your app. There is no absolute winning solution that will make every app into a moneymaking machine. It comes down to selecting what fits your app best. If one strategy does not work, don’t be afraid to try another.

What is your experience with app monetization?