Mobile apps can make you money and serve many different purposes. You may have had an app built so you could communicate with your constituents more effectively, you may have had it built so you could market your products directly to your consumers or have an app used for contact tracing to help in the healthcare industry. There are so many different reasons why apps are developed, but how do you make money?
The most straightforward answer to this is charging for the app, but most people don’t want to pay for an app unless it is very targeted and specific. The other obvious answer is ad placement. Ad placement can be useful, but it can also backfire. If your users get annoyed with the constant bombardment of ads, they may delete the app and never return. There is also the issue of needing large amounts of users to make money with ad placement, requiring a significant marketing budget.
So what are some ways you can make money with your new mobile app?
In-App Purchases
In-app purchases can be one of the best ways to make money with your app consistently. The app itself is free for download, but users can opt to purchase additional content or premium access in the app.
Email Marketing
Email marketing remains the top seller in the game of marketing. 58% of people check their email first in the morning, even before social media. Some app developers opt to require a sign-in feature on their app to collect email addresses and user data. They then can email the user and begin that user in the conversion funnel or even place advertisements in the email.
Subscriptions
Subscription modeled apps can create quite the revenue for businesses and individuals. If you do go down this road, you want to make sure that you can deliver well-tailored content to ensure long-lasting subscriptions.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship can be a significant way to establish and enhance a revenue stream from a mobile app. App developers can partner with large or small organizations to build an app and provide content. App developers and the organization would then split the profits in an agreed-upon manner.
As you begin to think about app development, you’ll also want to focus on the revenue strategy for the app, as that is just as important as the construction and design of the app. Mobile apps should be developed with a revenue strategy in mind to enhance the success of the app.