A very long time ago, decades ago, in fact, people who wanted to communicate with their friends had to post letters and wait for months to get a reply or walk to a phone booth before they could talk to their loved ones. Today, thanks to technology and knowledgeable app developers, you can not only get in touch with the world at the click of a button, but you can also enjoy many other features and benefits of having a mobile device.
Top app development companies are falling over themselves to give customers the best mobile app experience possible. For this reason, both Android app development and iPhone app development evolve every day each one having its uniqueness.
Who Are App Developers?
These are people who dedicate themselves to creating apps which would perfectly work across all mobile platforms. In a lot of countries, like India, they are in high demand because of a large number of people that use smartphones and other mobile devices today.
Using software, these developers design and put out apps that the prospective user needs. Thanks to their attention to detail, every phone user can find several apps that work for their brand of mobile device.
When done with creating an app, the app is then put out on the app store for users to enjoy.
Now, it is one thing to churn out new apps daily for a great user experience by your customers, and it is quite another to make money out of your creations.
Yeah, it does not matter if it is a new product being tested out, or a new market strategy; everyone wants to see that their creation can give them some cash and do more than putting food on the table.
But, making money off your mobile app requires more than just creating a good app. It requires planning and strategy; else you will have a white elephant project on your hands, costing you a lot of time and some money but giving you nothing in return.
Thankfully, there are ways to make money from putting a mobile app out there for public consumption.
Ways To Monetize Your App
i. Making Users Pay To Use Your App
These apps are also known as ‘paid apps.’ This is because, for a user to use the said app, they have to download it from the app market. This can cost a small token, from less than a hundred dollars to some hundreds of dollars. With every download a user makes, the app developer makes money off the app. Now, imagine millions of people downloading that particular app.
This means that your app has to be worth it, to keep users coming. That way, it’s a win-win situation. They are satisfied, and you make money. But for them to know that your app is worth their money, you have to market it and show them what sets it apart from others. There are lots of apps in the mobile app stores which are for free, so why would they rather download your app for some amount of money, than get a free app? In clear terms, let customers know what exactly your app has to offer them and why they should spend their money on it. Make your app unique from the others in the market and let them know that it is.
You should have a marketing team whose job is to effectively sell your products to the public using smart strategies to get and keep users.
ii. Advertising In-app
This is another brilliant way to make money from your app. A lot of app developers use this method, and it has proven to be effective.
This is done by making your app free to be downloaded by users, but putting up mobile ads that are relevant to you or the app, which would look interesting enough to pique their curiosity and make them download the advertised ad. This way, you get your money. To see the benefits of this method though, an app developer has to have a user base that is large enough.
In a nutshell, this is a monetization method that has favored both Android app development and mobile app development and is still an increasing trend.
iii. Making In-app Purchases
This monetization method, like the name suggests, means trading other goods inside your app. They can either be virtual: for example, gaming lives, guns, and extra money; or physical: jewelry, cosmetics and clothing items.
These purchases have to be naturally infused into the app, however, so as not to look odd or out of place.
So, using this method, if a user is interested in any of the products they see, whether physical or virtual, they would first have to download the app to make their purchase.
iv. Gated Features
This is also known as ‘freemium.’ It is similar to in-app ads, but the difference is that all the app features are not free.
That is a brilliant way to make money from your app. It works this way; users are allowed to download the app for free and have an experience of what it’s basic features look like. But to have access to premium features, they have to ‘unlock’ those features by paying some money. This is why your app should be unique and interesting because nobody would want to pay for an app that they have used and seen nothing special about.
A good example of an app that works like this is the popular game, ‘Angry Birds.’ Everyone knows by now that this is a very good game which can even be addictive sometimes. What the app developers did was to release a version that is free for users to download and play, while locking the higher levels of the game. This way, users had to pay to download the full game. It worked for the developers because they put a fascinating game out on app stores.
This method has a great advantage; the users who come across such apps and it’s great reviews just dive in because it’s free and only get to know that they will have to pay when they have experienced some features of the app and cannot let go.
Conclusion
Finding ways to monetize your app and make as much as you can is from it, is critical. The four methods above have been shown to profit mobile app development and iPhone app development more, though they are not the only ones that can be used.
There is a lot of competition and jostling out there by mobile app development companies, as everyone wants to be seen as the leading brand, so trying out different strategies is advisable.
Also, remember that what works for one person will not always work for the other, so if the method that worked for your competitor does not work for you, then try another one.
Melissa Crooks
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