Creating an app is a rewarding experience. You visualize the product, write the entire code, test and debug it, and the audience uses it, which helps you perfect what you’ve already done.
Many indie developers, however, hope to earn a living with what they create. Naturally, the monetization question arises, urging them to learn and consider various strategies. In this article, we will unpack the main monetization approaches and discover how an indie developer can earn effectively.
Table of Contents
In-App Purchases
While there are many ways to receive money from your customers, in-app purchases have been one of the most popular ones across the whole spectrum. Be it on Android or iOS, you will find that transactions made inside the mobile application bring in a lot of revenue. By enabling in-app purchases, indie developers can strengthen the bond between them and consumers by offering new valuables and features. In-app purchases can be processed through the app store or an additional payment service. There are two types of them:
- Consumables. More prevalent in mobile games, consumables are purchases that have an expiration date or disappear upon usage. Examples include in-app currency, booster items, one-time features, and so on. Users typically have to buy more after consuming, providing higher app engagement.
- Non-Consumables. Non-consumables, on the other hand, can’t be depleted. They stay in the app permanently after purchase. That includes advertisement removal, purchasing skins and characters, buying additional content and levels, and more. Most of the time, that’s a one-time purchase.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions are also quite common in mobile apps. Users purchase a subscription to receive app content or services for a certain period. Thus, they must renew the subscription every given period, like once a week, month, or year.
All indie developers should also be aware of non-renewable subscriptions that can be used to sell limited-time offers. Once the subscription expires, the offer is over, or the user has to make a new purchase.
Subscription models are great in advertising and provide the developer with a steady revenue stream. They also build great relationships between the developer and the consumer. The subscription approach lets the creator quickly analyze future returns and user decline. Additionally, customers will most likely use the app after purchasing a subscription.
Premium and Freemium Models
The premium model requires the developer to set a price for the whole app. The user will purchase the app upfront from an app store to have access to all the content inside. However, this approach doesn’t suit all developers. While it’s a great way to earn more income, most users won’t buy something they haven’t seen before. Even when a product has enough good reviews, fewer consumers will pay for an app they can’t preview.
That’s where freemium comes in. In this model, users can download the application for free, but they can’t use the entirety of the app. To access all features, they’ll have to make a purchase. It will take time until the user upgrades to premium, but once they do so, they secure a customer.
In-App Advertising
By placing ads in the app, the developer can gain revenue even from people who never make purchases. So, that approach is quite popular for a big segment of active users. Don’t jam ads in every empty corner of your product, though, as balance is paramount within in-app advertising. There are many ways to implement advertising inside your mobile app, including:
- Banner ads. They are the most basic ones out of all. Banner ads are usually pictures or GIFs that appear at the top or bottom of the screen under or over the main app features. They often feature a button.
- Video ads. Video ads roll before, in the middle, or after the main videos in the app. The visibility of video ads is very high, captivating the audiences fast.
- Rewarded video ads. They have an even higher click rate because these ads reward users for watching the entire video. Often used in mobile games, these can unlock new characters, gain extra lives and in-game currency, and more.
- Interstitial ads. These ads involve a full-screen banner popping up during a transitional app phase, like between levels or two video lessons. They can appear as photos, GIFs, videos, and text.
- Native ads. The idea of native apps is clear from the name —they appear as a native part of the app. These advertisements look natural, as if they’ve been programmed into the application, and promote similar products.
- Ads-mini games. Mini-games are usually placed in mobile games, and the product is promoted by showing off its mechanics. These ads are playable and highly engaging for the audience.
- Offerwall ads. Offerwall ads usually look like a list of actions that earn rewards. These can include playing a game, downloading an app and using its features, sharing something with your friends, etc.
Monetizing Your App Effectively
Indie developers can be easily confused by the number of advertisement techniques available. How can one independent coder write that many additional features alone? Well, thankfully, there are many resources available online. For example, every developer can leverage SDKs in their coding routine. An SDK is a collection of code samples aimed at helping developers write their apps quickly and effectively. It allows every coder to create one without doing every part from scratch.
Of course, there are many software developer kits to monetize your mobile app. Some kits, like the Honeygain SDK, allow developers to earn money without charging the user in real currency. Thanks to SDKs, you can go beyond just one monetization option and tap into new opportunities to make money from the application you worked on and perfected restlessly.
As an Indie Developer
You shouldn’t be scared of trying different approaches to benefit your financial situation. Publishing a good product will drive more people to thank you with purchases and other donations. In exchange, they will receive even more quality content.
