In this article, we will talk about what is working and what is not in this latest app monetization era.
Revenue – Reality and expectation
Even if you find stats saying least about money-making from apps, you can still have such apps that can make money. You should understand that app development is not just done merely for constant revenues. Applications are now the true powerful tools used by users and enterprises for engagement purposes. Even if the app you have developed doesn’t compliment a huge service or software, you can still cope up with development and growth.
The main issue behind the failure of an app idea is that some of the apps hardly follow any decent monetization strategy. Several reasons supporting this thing – some apps are made by non-profit organizations like Wikipedia, corporations or brands. However, the major reason that you can consider is the vast majority of apps failed to get a decent amount of downloads to apply at least one monetization strategy.
There are three revenue blockers for in-app monetization
This is a fact that when you monetize an app, you must check for its quality- however, apart from that, there are external reasons that affect the revenue of the app.
1. Flooded market + low user loyalty
Those days are gone back in time when the user hardly had any demand. There were just limited options for him and he had an all-time favorite game which he played every day on his way to the office. But today, thousands of gaming apps are already entered the app store. With time, things changed and users became more demanding.
The user doesn’t forbid bugs in user experience or app functionality and if he experiences an ad at the wrong time, he rates the app badly in the play store. App rating plays a critical role as it can influence the number of downloads in the Google Play store.
2. Wrong model
When developing an Android/iOS app, you keep in mind all app superheroes – an app that you think like a successful idea or an idea you took for building your app. You will figure out the best app monetization model that works for it, and decide to implement it as well.
App monetization principles work when the app is for adults. If you are making an app for children, you need to ensure that you provide the target audience with real educational value or entertain them. You can even add a “parental control” option to give parents control with which they can decide how their kid will use the app and it will make them feel safe about your designed app.
3. Managing numerous SDKs
As per the survey report, around 74% of the top free applications in the play store have over 20 SDKs integrated. If you are an iOS and Android app developer, you must be aware of how stressful it is to manage all these. However, IT offers the best way to keep all monetization SDKs together and handle them with the help of app mediation platforms like InMobi, Epom, etc. These platforms can maximize your profit margins by leveraging varieties of ad formats. In case you have not tried anything better than AdMob, this is the right time- some platforms are offering expert advice, exclusive demand, and free optimization.
Strategies that work to boost your app revenue
It is obvious to select proven monetization strategies for your app, which are – advertising, in-app purchases, or both. You must know that ad revenue is significantly dependent on user engagement- the number of hours or minutes spent by users on your app. So, the first thing for Android app developers is to find the best way to balance between being loyal to the user while using every visible space in the app to put the desired ad to recoup investments.
In-app ads
In-app ads are taken as one-size-fits-all things. Display and video ad formats provide the best choices on how advertisers can reach the audience without making them anxious. However, the mobile advertising industry attracted several fraudsters. Mobile fraud puts an adverse impact on the entire industry- the ad networks, app owners, and advertisers prefer quality over quantity when it is about traffic volumes.
Apart from this, users get an extra number of reasons to detest in-app ads
- The ad has no incentive – You may find your users generous, but they are not that much generous you think. They will surely make some purchases from your ads if they are interested, but they will do it for themselves, not for your profit.
- Small in size – In-app banners are usually made with smaller fonts which are difficult to read. Such ads kill the chances of conversion. Moreover, the most mobile banner is accidentally clicked by the users due to small fonts.
- Bad UI in general- Bad mobile ads have poor UI design issues such as poor resolution, misplaced buttons, sizing problems, and broken links. All these issues are tough to note without user help.
- Zero trust – users don’t know every advertiser and thus there are trust issues. This is common if users don’t trust in-app ads.
- Zero relevancy – You are using a running app and completed your first 5K. While navigating to the timeline, you see an ad for Dunkin donuts. The advertisers don’t know you and this is how the majority of users feel that ads have zero relevancies.
- Zero purchase – Not all the users can afford or are interested in buying a house, but they have to sit through ads even though they have zero intention of making a purchase. Advertisers need to understand that targeting the right users will give sales.
- Tough to close out – The bad thing is that when a user gets an ad and find it hard to close it. Due to poor UI, small fonts, you may not find the close button or skip button to exit the ad.
- Disruptive ads – Users waste their time by sitting through an ad before they can move on. This disruption irritates the user and they find these ads as intrusive.
App data monetization
Data monetization at its center is analyzing, gathering and passing non-individual recognizable application user information to get application income. For app developers, it’s a good source of easy income and an opportunity to earn money on users. For what reason am I saying non-individual? Since this information of non-individual recognizable user information is the main 100% GDPR and Google agreeable type of winning cash on users.
Conclusion
Here are the things to do in-app data monetization
- Your DAU has to be above 50000. If you have low DAU, you can still install a data monetization SDK for future earnings.
- Get clear user permission before taking their private identifiable data.
- Combine data monetization with different strategies.
And the things not to do in-app data monetization
- It is wrong to judge others for earning with data monetization with zero knowledge of the subject.
- Never ignore the app security as it can protect your users from accidental bugs.
Rosina De Palma
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