How Do Free Apps Make Money? Build Your Strategy Bypassing Common Mistakes

The Best Monetization Strategies

Monetization is always a structured system. It can have many elements that encourage users to purchase an internal product or a premium account. But everything should be discussed progressively and separately.

1. In-App purchase

The most common monetization method on apps  is content sales. Certain items are often the goods – for example, premium weapons or game tools. This monetization system is most relevant in the gaming segment.

2. Premium subscription

The second, no less popular method of monetization is a premium account. Again, the sales logic is simple – your application has unique content available to people who have paid a subscription. Also, a user with a premium account can get convenient features.

3. Freemium

It’s a cunning monetization strategy. You release an application with a trial period, which includes all the features of a premium account (de facto, this is a premium account). When time passes, the user will turn off several functions. Then,they will pay for the premium version if they like the apps. It’s relevant for large-scale applications – like platforms like Youtube, Spotify, etc.

4. Advertising

Despite all the above methods, the most profitable approach is the display of advertising. It makes no sense to talk much about it. It should be only emphasized that ads should be shown at certain moments. If the user is forced to watch a 15-second video every 2 minutes, they will go crazy and probably will no longer use your application. Therefore, you must figure out when and how best to show ads.

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Get More Users to Get More Money

The more users you attract, the more money you gain. In fact, today, it is enough to bring an engaging, relevant, and at least a little original project to the mobile market to achieve success. Below we will explain how to make an app like Shazam, Youtube Music, Spotify, etc.

Focus on the audience

Users will bring you money. Analyze your target audience, and determine the most effective monetization methods. Also, remember about the customers’  reviews – they are your guide. Then, having defined all the features – use them, in which case you will offer the audience what it wants so much.

Interact with your audience

Remember: Users are everything. You should work literally on each of them. Try to adapt to their requirements. Collect information on third-party resources, if necessary, communicate with users directly. Your task is to make the application as convenient, helpful, and interesting for the target audience as possible. If it’s challenging to communicate with users, look at the purpose and capabilities of the application in more detail.

Don’t forget about social networks

More ads! To reach a larger audience, run ads on social networks. Naturally, be guided by the budget, but often people pay attention to applications, features, companies, etc., on platforms like Instagram or Facebook.

Gamify the app

Today, more efforts are needed to meet the requirements of the target audience. Try to add achievements and motivate your target audience to visit the app more often and spend more time there. There are many possibilities to make the application interactive. For example, bonuses have little effect on the operation of the application (changing the background or icons is required).

But when introducing a monetization strategy, it is easy to make a mistake and bury the application. More on mistakes.

Free App Monetization Mistakes

Missteps are different, but we will list the most common ones below.

Excessive persistence

When creating a free application, try to make it work in an accessible format. Create many features available only in the premium version, and develop unique qualities for donators. Keep showing ads, but not every 3-4 minutes. In monetization matters, the main thing is not to scare away the user; the desire to “squeeze out” all the money will only scare them away.

Mixing several types of monetization models

From time to time, applications appear on the market in which monetization is literally everything. There, ads are shown every 5 minutes, promotional windows regularly pop up, and the application occasionally demonstrates the advantage of a paid form. This is in no way connected with each other. Unfortunately, there are such applications. Naturally, the user will only spend a little time in such applications. Even if they like the functionality, they probably need more money to touch all the content.

Chooses one monetization system for multiple apps

When one application is successful and becomes popular (we managed to earn money from it), there is a desire to repeat the success. In such cases,  there is a wish to take everything the same, test in practice, and simply repeat. However, catching on to the audience will likely be impossible if you do not consider the application’s specifics. Then the application will be developed, but more money will be needed.

Ignoring analytics

As we said earlier, it all depends on the audience. If you fail, your application will probably not pay off. Unfortunately, statistics are common to be ignored, and not pay attention to feedback. So naturally, such an approach will only end in something good.

If you plan to develop a free mobile application, contact professionals. The main thing is to make sure of the experience and skills of the company!