4 strategies to monetize your free app

Every developer wants to become the next giant in the market. Do you want to know if you are using the best strategy to do so? There are many ways to make your app stand out and what you need is to find the one that works best for you. Monetization may be your key to success. Instagram and Snapchat have succeeded not only by creating incredible apps but by achieving monetization from almost the very beginning. Unfortunately, this is not the norm. In fact, one figure shows us this powerfully: only 21% of developers account for 54% of the profit generated by apps. So if you are looking for how to make money through your free app, it is vitally important that you know what strategies are available to you so that you can choose the one that best fits your business strategy. These are the best strategies to use. 4 strategies to monetize your app that we propose to you:

Strategies to monetize your app

1. Embedded advertising

The Embedded advertising is the most used technique and it won't be too difficult for you to use it in your strategy. Once you get a lot of downloads of your free app, you can allow other brands and advertisers to show their ads in your app and pay you for it. Knowing this, you should consider respecting a space in which this relevant advertising is shown for your audience. A clear example of this business model is Facebook. Leaving aside the world of WhatsApp spam, Facebook has never been and will never be a paid app. Its focus is on getting the largest user base in order to offer this large audience to companies. In short, What you achieve with this technique is to monetize your app by selling ad hits.. You can do it on your own or by joining an affiliate network. The goal is to try to get the highest eCPM (effective CPM) by offering relevant ads to a qualified audience. The biggest advantage of this model is that You can monetize your user base while they benefit from using a good app for free.. Monetizing apps using videos or interstitials is becoming very common and effective. They can be included between levels in video games or by getting users used to watching ads in exchange for points. Implementation may take a little longer, but is usually ends up having higher CTR and faster monetization.

2. Freemium

As in the previous model, the app is also offered free of charge here. The difference here is that Monetization is not achieved through ads, but through purchasing an upgrade to the app's functionality.An example of this type of monetization is Dropbox, which offers a free plan of up to 2GB of storage space and basic document sharing. The Dropbox Plus plan, on the other hand, offers 1TB of space for less than 10$ per month. It is important that the app manages to retain its audience because they will be the ones who end up buying the paid version.. Moreover, this type of monetization also helps convert users who prefer to try before they buy into customers. Many app developers create both versions, allowing users to see and use some features in their free mode. This freemium model gives free access to the most basic functionalities, while paying for the full version generates revenue by offering extra features to the user. The marketing team here plays a key role: You need to convince users to buy the full version instead of continuing with the free one.

3. In-app purchases

Monetizing your app through in-app purchases opens up a wide variety of options for companies looking to earn revenue through their apps, for example through the purchase of virtual goods that can be used within the app itself. In the case of apps with a high engagement rate, this method is usually very profitable.An example of this strategy are some video games, such as Clash of Clans, in which through purchases you can advance more quickly in the game or get improvements compared to other users.

4. Sponsorship (or incentivized advertising)

This monetization model has recently appeared in the fitness and sports app sector. In them, Users reach certain goals and the app rewards them with discounts or gifts previously agreed upon with the companies that have paid to appear on it.An example of such an application is RunKeeper26. Among others, the advantages of this strategy include:

• Advertisers gain relevance and a powerful space for their advertising
• Developers can generate profit through advertising deals
• Users benefit from promotions

These 4 are some of the most widely used strategies today to generate economic benefits with mobile applications. The challenge is to gain visibility in a very competitive market. Impacting users based on factors such as their geolocation, their tastes or their needs is the best way to increase the number of benefits, conversions and therefore, the return on investment.