Building apps is a business and this trade needs investment and the returns as well. After all, money is important for your application.

As popular your app would get, the more money it would make. We are lucky enough to reside in an era where we have got thousands of ways to accomplish the monetization technique the right way. But it is important for you to know which monetization technique would suit your app the right way.

Being clear about the monetization model right from the beginning would help you to launch your app as soon as it is registered in the Google Play or Apple App Store. And, remaining clear about your strategy will help you to determine that the customers are willing to pay for your application. But having so many mobile app monetization techniques available today, it might get difficult for a marketer to choose the best one in order to make money from the app. In case, your concern revolves around a similar issue, I have got the solution for you.

The write-up is going to talk about a number of such options that you could choose from. Here are ways that will help you figure out which option will suit you the most.

Among a number of strategies available for app monetization, there are some common ones that are known as the best in terms of providing the revenue back to the app. So, as soon as you launch your application, you need to work on a proper strategy. Choose one among the following:

Key app monetization strategies include:

• Advertising: interstitial, video, native, incentivized, display ads and banners
• Affiliate income and referral marketing (from CPA to CPI)
• Email marketing
• Freemium upsell
• In-app purchases
• Sponsorship
• Subscriptions

Let’s look at the best models email marketer should use.

Freemium Model For Apps & Games

It is one of the most common monetization techniques that a number of games and apps opt for. The monetization is so much in demand as it helps to generate most of the revenue. The model is easy to implement and the results from the same are really rewarding for the users. So, what is so impressive about this model? Let’s start talking!

Offering your apps and games with freemium model means the app is available free-of-charge to the users but with limited features, content or virtual goods. The free version of the application offers a limited access to the users and thus they cannot get the complete access of the application.

In order to access the complete feature of the application, the users need to opt for the premium version. The users can only access a premium version of the application through in-app purchases. The methods have been utilized by a number of companies to prompt users for a monthly subscription of an application. Well, the freemium version has proved its efficiency for a number of applications. With such kind of monetization technique, the advertisers must offer valuable content to the users so that they could themselves pay for the premium content.

The Advertising Model

Advertising includes every form of ad displaying. Right from the banner display to video content and to the native form of advertisement, this particular advertising model includes everything that brings in money to the app. This kind of advertising is considered the most popular form as it is easy to practice and doesn’t require much of the efforts. All that a marketer needs to do is to advertise commercials inside the app in order to attract the clients toward the services. The advertisers are paid per click meaning they get money for every impression.

Let’s closely look at all the aspects of advertising model:

• Banners & Displays: Banners and displays as an ad monetization medium can appear in different size and format either at the top or the bottom of the screen. The connection between the ad and the banner can be established in such a way that it may attract the clients towards the advertisement. The size must appear small so that the users don’t feel any difficulty while interacting with the application. Additionally, app developers can target tailored users by designing the banners in such a way that it seems to fulfill their specific requirements. These can help engage the clients in the app and in the ad as well.
• Interstitial Ads: These are the screen pop-ups that appear at specific time frames. The ad is easy to promote this way by opening the page in the ad corner. This kind of advertisement appears to be efficient for the branding of the project. The requirement specifically suits news and games applications.
• Native Ads: Native ads appear as the natural element in the application that suits perfectly to the nature of the application. It manifests as sponsored content within the application for the users. This kind of advertisements adds more to the entire revenue model as it appears less intuitive and engaging for users. The add is suitable for an app having a large audience base.
• Incentivized ads: There are a number of applications that reward users as soon as they complete any in-app action including filling a form, being a part of any survey or providing their opinion about any question asked by the application. Such a strategy allows better engagement and helps an app to get users’ attention not only over the ad but also on the brand.

Email Marketing

Despite the fact that email marketing is a century old practice, the technique is still promising when it comes to app monetization techniques. The fact that you can ask for users’ email id to ask them for sign up will help you to reach them effortlessly. Mobile apps present a whole new opportunity for the apps to collect users’ emails and then target them for different services. The mails from the users can be connected by a number of ways. You must have encountered such emails while going through a number of applications. However, the nature of a business and the ways a marketer designs the email generally determines the success of the model.

Here are a few ways to collect email address within a mobile application:

• Asking users to sign-up for services through a pop-up box is the most common way for marketers to get their email addresses. The email addresses may be asked in exchange for a free subscription or something else that could attract the users towards the services. Such kind of service becomes profitable for both the parties owing to the fact that both parties get something from the deal.
• Facebook login enabled inside an application is the best way for companies today to ask for users’ email ids. These days a number of applications are using this methodology to reach to users’ emails in return for giving the access to their services.

Collecting users’ email id through these methods is, of course, an exceptional way for every marketer to build a database that they can use when users are not using a brand’s services. Reaching them through email can help.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is again one of the tools that app marketers frequently use. It is a practice of placing sponsorship within the app but in the niche app category that suits the nature of the business. The app can be made and launched on the behalf of another company. The toughest call in implementing this kind of methodology is to find the sponsor with same target audience. Finding right kind of audience should be followed along with white labeling so that app could match the sponsor brand.

Marketers, basically follow two different kinds of sponsorship plans:

• Agreed revenue split that app generates
• Monthly sponsor fee that funder pay for app maintenance

The sponsor plan seems beneficial for developers, marketers, and everyone else who wishes to expand the count of audience. While practicing the model is of course beneficial for the companies but it is tough for marketers to find the right sponsor. It may take some time but the results are sure to offer greater benefits.

Subscription

The model suits best to the free apps that offer limited content. Premium content is given after users subscribe for the services. The model is most commonly used for audio and video streaming services. The services are good to opt for online magazine and newspapers also. The developer can offer users the free trial and then charge them the subscription fee for the premium content. However, only 5% of users are making use of the subscription as their monetization model.

Apple and Google have different terms and conditions for charging the subscription fee. The former takes 30% fee for the first year and then 15% after one year of paid services. The latter charges 15% of subscription revenue. Wall street journal has garnered the interest of 1 million online subscribers with this revenue model.

In-app purchases

In-app purchase is the way of selling services or goods through displays within the application. The model is used to offer a number of services. In the model the advertiser can either offer consumable as well as non-consumable products and services. In-app purchase is quite popular among the users and because of the same reason, the model is believed to dominate the app revenue model in the upcoming years. In-app purchase generally involves virtual currency for the transaction and thus the worth may help to gain more profits for the marketer. Pokemon G o is an exceptional example that earns nearly to $1.5 million a day from the users.

In-app advertisements are generally a kind of affiliate marketing where marketers advertise affiliates’ products and services within the app and get paid if the users visit these ads. The most common medium is cost per click meaning marketers gain a prescribed share of money for each click. Cost per view is another medium for such kind of model. Each time a user views an ad or video within application, the advertiser earns a predefined profit share. Cost per install is also practiced by a number of advertisers wherein they are paid for every ad users install on their devices.

The Ending Notes

Monetizing your app strategy is not only the need but also important for the survival of the application. Advertising is still the leading medium by which an app can make money. Moreover, before choosing the right monetization technique for an app, the marketers must do a research on the target audiences, their likes and dislikes in order to release and promote the application. This way more targeted plan can be developed to acquire the attention of users. Using unique revenue models can help in getting more positive reviews from the users. This will generate greater profits for the app. It is not only the profit that flows in for the app but also the branding that keeps getting better with every new click.