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Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

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Re: Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

#41

Post by alc90 »

jliptzin wrote: post #36

As an advertiser that sounds like a nightmare to me. We want to be able to push our creatives out to a huge mass of users instantly, track whatever performance is relevant to us, then iterate on that to try to improve. Having to vet individual placements on apps would be a gigantic waste of time and I would not do it. Maybe for some niche markets it makes sense but I can't think of any.

I'm not an advertiser and I understand your point - but I think it can be the same amount of work pushing the ad in a black hole of ad impressions - not knowing where your add is being displayed - just some numbers - then trying to guess - because it's a great amount of guessing involved - what should you do to increase the relevance of your ad.

Vetting the apps you want to advertise can also mean time spent - but knowing what are the apps where you are displaying your apps and even who are the type of users being the ad - I for one feel this is a more powerful approach.

But yet again - I'm not a big advertiser spending huge money on it.

Re: Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

#42

Post by alc90 »

avaer wrote: post #38
alc90 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The app publishers that are going to be accepted in the network will have full control over what ads that will be displayed. It's their choosing if they which ad they display and where as long their app passes our quality-standards (eg. UI/UX, number of active users, regular updates etc) I feel like the TinyAds network is more about buying influence and exposure and not a fixed number of impressions (that basically t…

So you're saying app publishers have full control, as long as you approve?

If they are in the network they have full control over the ads that are being displayed. That's what I'm saying.

Re: Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

#43

Post by alc90 »

avaer wrote: post #38
alc90 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The app publishers that are going to be accepted in the network will have full control over what ads that will be displayed. It's their choosing if they which ad they display and where as long their app passes our quality-standards (eg. UI/UX, number of active users, regular updates etc) I feel like the TinyAds network is more about buying influence and exposure and not a fixed number of impressions (that basically t…

So you're saying app publishers have full control, as long as you approve?

For example - except for some filters you don't quite have control over what ads are being displayed when using AdMob. What AdMob serves - that's what you display.

With this network - if an advertisers wants to buy an ad slot - but you don't agree with the product or service for some reason you're just going to decline the ad.

Re: Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

#44

Post by kilroy123 »

simon_weber wrote: post #22

I sell productivity tools - Chrome Extensions and a SaaS - that solve my own problems in a niche. I've avoided ads: they wouldn't be worth it with such small install numbers. For business-focused products I usually do a free time-limited full-access trial + paid subscription. For consumer-focused products I usually do freemium (limited version for indefinite use + paid subscription to remove limits).

Well now I'm curious what chrome extensions you've sold. I didn't think you could make money from that.

Re: Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

#46

Post by yupyup »

alc90 wrote: post #39
yupyup wrote: post #35

Ads. Mainly developing chat apps for Google Play and it's the simplest way to make money for these type of sw. It worked well until Google removed our main app from search results and it all went downhill from there.

Do you know why did Google removed your app?

No direct answer when reaching support.

It was some kind of penalization for some general terms like "video chat app". Before the app was in the first 10 or so and after it disappeared completely from results. But searching for the app by full name works. Also it disappeared completely from the "social" category listing.

They tols us that "search algorithm is secret and complex" but we had a previous experience like this one with an app that had unallowed content in Google Play (unreviewed images from users showing erotic content) This one was penalized with some months of disappearing from general terms search results and listing.

But now no explanation. At least they should give you an answer if there is some kind of infraction of content policy.

Re: Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

#47

Post by orasis »

Unless your app is a viral, monetization can't just be a strategy - it is the primary design criteria.

I have a 5 ⭐️ app, 7 Second Meditation, that has fantastic retention numbers, but I didn't design it around monetization from day 1, so the LTV is too low to do paid user acquisition.

So the app is doomed to putter along on organic installs.

An app must nail both retention and monetization to succeed.

(shameless plug: I did boost the LTV by 45% using https://improve.ai)

Re: Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

#48

Post by sidlls »

codr4life wrote: post #33
sidlls wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The large quantity of very profitable and very poorly done software is a counter to your last sentiment. Here's the thing: most consumers don't know enough about what "great software" means to care much about it. They just want software that works to solve a problem they have. They don't care if it never crashes or is written in language X or written by a process with rigorous QA and design, etc.

I'm not arguing that it can't be done, I too have seen plenty of examples. I'm saying that it's not leading anywhere, individually or collectively; which is why I suggest focusing on substance instead and seeing where that leads us. I believe the problem is that the general public have no clue about what's possible, and we're not doing a very good job at showing them by producing more of the same crap.

My point is that the general public doesn't care what's possible, and it doesn't matter how good we are at showing them. It isn't that they're incapable of understanding, just that they (we) have a finite budget for attention and learning about things and the "what's possible" in software is generally much lower in priority for that.

Re: Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

#49

Post by orasis »

dfabulich wrote: post #9

We publish games. Our free games all include ads, plus a one-time in-app purchase to turn off ads. What we've found is that we can price that product relatively high ($5) because the kind of person who's willing to put $1 in your tip jar to turn off ads is also willing to put $2. But this strategy works for us because our games are "consumable" products. Our customers will play one of our games for a while, have a go…

I have an app with 45% first month retention that is doing subscription monetization. A huge percentage of the subscribers subscribe in the first week so I don't know about doing a long free trial.

That said, I need to do some machine learning to figure out the optimal free trial length.

Re: Ask HN: What are your app monetisation strategies?

#50

Post by orasis »

hashmal wrote: post #23

- up-front payment: one of the most simplest and sane things you can do, which allow you to keep focused on your core product and customers (if you have ads, your customers are the advertisers) - free download with unlock IAP: just a hack to provide a "try it" demo. really a derivative of up-front payment - subscription based: most sustainable model, but difficult to push depending on the niche. it is, however, the m…

The numbers on the App Store disagree with your first thesis of up front payment. Simply look through the top grossing apps and most of them are free to play games.
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