[App Friday] How to monetise your app effectively without disrupting the user experience

The process of converting your app users into revenue is called App Monetisation. Some app categories are more fit to certain app monetisation techniques than others.

Some apps focus on a single element of app monetisation, while others integrate multiple. The process as it is involves multiple strategies. It might be challenging to stay viable in the app economy but as a developer, you’ll need to generate revenue from your app.

Why it is important to monetise an app?

App monetisation is critical since it is becoming increasingly common to discover apps that are free at the time of installation. As a result, the app's business model must be altered to accommodate this.

The revenue model must be shifted by the developer to generate money after download. This is where the strategy bit must be invested to ensure that your app generates growing revenue along with keeping the user experience intact.

Popular Ad Formats that are used by app publishers:

There are six ad formats that app publishers should consider implementing in their app:

Banner

Banner ad units display rectangular ads that occupy a portion of an app's layout. They can refresh automatically after a set period of time. This means users will see a new ad at regular intervals, even if they stay on the same screen in your app.

They're also the simplest ad format to implement. Banner ad units can show text, images rich media and video types of ads. Video ads that appear in banner ad units always start muted. Banners are the most widely used as well as highly recommended if app publishers are just starting up with the app monetisation journey.

Interstitial

Interstitial ad units show full-page ads in your app. It gives the user a fatigue-free usage environment to monitor. They are simple during usage as it is used for games having long load times or for games having a natural break in their core loop design. Interstitial ad units can show text, image & rich media and video types of ads.

Rewarded

The name suggests rewards and indeed they give such rewards as in-app rewards for watching the game. Rewarded ad units enable users to play games, take surveys, or watch videos to earn in-app rewards, such as coins, extra lives, or points. You can set different rewards for different ad units and specify the reward values and items users will receive.

Rewarded ad units can show video as well as interactive ads. Such type of ads is more likely to engage in a more user-friendly way as it has recreational gifts for the user. It works well with puzzle games and other messaging apps.

Native

Native ads allow you to customise the look and feel of the ads that appear in your app. These kinds of ads are integrated in the app content itself as it is an integrated part of app design, and it helps in matching the look and feel of the app. They are the best for communication, lifestyle etc. and create a positive ad experience for their users.

Mobile native ads are most popular with feeds based and social apps. This is by far the best ad format app publishers can use in order to increase the ad revenue while maintaining the best user experience.

Video ads

Video ads are another popular choice because they can be highly engaging and deliver some of the highest CTRs of all formats. eMarketer believes the ad spending will be increasing the revenue highly attributing the increased spending to the fact that users’ time watching mobile video is creeping upwards.

Playable ads

These ads are a try before you buy method that exposes users to interactive gameplay. Users gain a limited look at the advertiser’s app before sending a call to action. This is a great way for advertisers to reduce uninstall rates because paid users will have a strong impression of the game’s user experience.

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Importance of app monetisation in today’s mobile world

The mobile app market is evolving and it is projected that it will be worth $407 million by 2026. As it is growing, the market is getting ever-competitive and developers must find diverse ways to optimise monetisation strategy.

From in-app advertising revenue to subscriptions, monetisation models for apps are more diverse than ever. Several ways to monetise apps can not only act as a safety net but also allow user preference to dictate how their app is used. Diversifying your monetisation model means you are increasing app revenue and building a robust monetisation strategy.

Why user experience is considered to be one of the most important aspects of app monetisation?

App monetisation is all about personalised monetisation strategies coming into play. Apps nowadays are more than just a product. They are a business model that will need to scale in order to succeed.

This model needs to engage meaningfully with the audience to acquire consistent and repeat users. The ultimate goal shall transition into user engagement and retention. Once the user experience is fluid and engaging, the developer can start optimising for revenue.

Talking in simple terms, monetisation revenue is calculated based on the number of active users on the app. This number is directly affected by user experience. It is important for developers to consider this as well when deciding on an app monetisation strategy.

Conclusion

To sustain in this competitive market, mobile marketers must discover ways to optimise and vary their monetisation approach, therefore app marketers must stay up to date about the most popular monetisation strategies and what to expect in the future. Revenue is counted mostly upon happy customers and happy customers are driven by the experience.

Hence, experience is crucial when it comes to a successful app monetisation strategy. Monetisation revenue is often computed depending on the number of active users. Because this statistic is directly impacted by user experience, developers must keep it in mind when deciding on an app monetisation plan.

The strategy must be to ensure that the app generates growing revenue along with keeping the user experience intact.