9 Ways To Make Money From Free Apps

Every person who is new to application development have a question of “How do free apps make money and how to make money from apps?” Well, free apps are the highly downloaded mobile apps. Just knowing how to create a mobile app for free and make money out of it as well as taking the correct monetization steps, you can take your part next to the stars! 

The App Market Overview

The market of the mobile app is increasing rapidly day by day. This mobile app industry is growing and huge, plus there is not a finish point in sight. Expectedly, the population of the mobile developer has increased, and the number of mobile applications in the marketplace has reached new heights.  The profit generated by the international mobile application industry has skyrocketed. Basically, Hybrid monetization models like in-app purchases and in-app ads are rapidly gaining fame in the world of business. The recent studies reveal that in-app marketing is set to be an important aspect of mobile development over the upcoming years.

Android App numbers

To better know what developers are doing to optimize their revenue possibilities with their free mobile apps, check out some exciting monetization strategies and pick the one that suits your requirements best.

App Monetization Options

Choosing the correct mobile-app monetization method is vital for the accomplishment of any mobile application and as a result, can harmfully impact the entire user-experience if you select the incorrect strategy. How do you create a good revenue stream without compromising the user experience and overall quality of your app? Selecting a good monetization tactic that is suitable for your application can impact development, affect both user adoption and revenue. Here, we are going to talk about some common monetization tactics.

Freemium Upsell

Freemium apps are considered one of the most famous methods of app monetization. These are accessible for free on leading application stores, however, consists of optional products for sales or optional features. By providing a solution that is primarily free of cost, app developers can grab the attention of huge customer base at a higher rate, because several users can be unwilling about paying upfront prior to download. Then users have an option to use the app before buying the same. Additional features are optional plus they’re accessible to users who want to get them with the use of in-app purchase function.

Advertising

If you are not adding advertisements in your mobile app, you might be losing out on a great chance for monetization. Digital advertising via mobile apps has developed communication among consumers and advertisers dramatically. This is mainly because of the great number of time users spend on their mobile phones, plus, this time is increasing every year.  Advertisements can assure a booming option if you gather information about your users as you have the chance to demonstrate them highly-targeted advertisements.


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E-mail Marketing

Although fairly under-used, e-mail marketing tactic can be really effective when it comes to monetizing and publicizing apps. This method works by asking for user e-mail at the time of login and accordingly reaching them through newsletters or e-mail notifications. Gathering all customer e-mail IDs in a database may be extremely useful in various conditions. In addition, adding a login page for Facebook to your mobile app is also a great method to cleverly gather user e-mails. For example, for users who have not employed the app till now, reaching them through e-mail may be a great method to contact and retain them. Also, you should provide users the option to cancel e-mail notifications, because this will make your mobile app more convincing and people will understand that they will not be getting loads of spam.

Sponsorship

Coming across a sponsor is actually very profitable monetization model. Generally, it works in this manner: you develop a mobile application that gets a number of customers, after which you get in touch with a sponsor company and provide to update the layout of your application to match the brand of the sponsor. There are 2 sorts of sponsorship deals: either you can share the profits with your sponsor or get a sponsorship fee for a monthly basis. Here, the big challenge is to find a sponsor. Of course, your mobile application should be great to be fascinating to potential sponsors.

In-App Purchases

This method can really make your mobile app another sales-channel. But, just as you are providing customers with a different buying method does not mean that they will take it. Even this method is not sufficient to push people over the finish line. The whole experience should be more enjoyable, more convenient, and seamless compared to other mediums to drive sales.

The option of in-app purchasing can vary from selling services and goods to setting up paywalls that open new features or content in the app. Test with different hand-outs to check what your mobile users react to best.

Collecting And Selling Data

Mobile applications gather loads of customers’ information, in terms of other app usages or user behavior. All these information are needed by several researchers in various areas. This implies that app developers can sell the behavior data of users to these researchers and generate a great sum of money. Usually, the data includes users’ social networking accounts, e-mail addresses, and their personal choices. There are 2 methods to enjoy this model. Either you can track the activities of users and sell data to remote researchers and companies, or you can employ the raw information for your personal purposes.

Affiliate Income And Referral Marketing

This method involves endorsing a third-party service or product as a method to optimize revenue chances. Application publishers can endorse or sell services or products of an affiliate as per the number of installs or clicks. For this, you can use pop-up ads to endorse someone else’s application or advertise products.

Physical Purchase

E-commerce businesses make use of free applications for selling out branded products or physical goods like mobile phone cases, t-shirts, toys, etc. through specially developed apps or email marketing. Angry Birds game was one of the most victorious applications to increase profits from branded products.

Subscriptions

Based on the application type, subscriptions are a wonderful method to create a trustworthy and consistent revenue stream. To be successful with a subscription method is to have fresh content. Reducing the update cycle of your app can give more value to users, attract them to go to your app more often and push them to spend extra time on your application.

Final Thoughts

Knowing the answer of ”How do free apps make money?” alone might not be enough. Yes, you need to know how free apps make money but you also need to know how to make money off an app. They are a little different from each other.With loads of monetization models available for making money with apps, it’s vital to note that every method has its pros and cons. Thus, trying these strategies and evaluating what your counterparts are doing is a great idea. So, it would be perfect for free app owners to take these strategies into consideration and begin to earn some money!

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