There are tons of mobile applications out there, some of them being completely free and some of them paid. Most of the time, people want to monetize their apps and this is understandable, especially if considerable effort was invested or some unique feature/service was offered.
However, in the pursuit of a relevant monetization model, it is easy to overdo it a little to the degree that people might want your app but completely hate the way it works.
In this post, we look into ways you can create and monetize a mobile app so that everyone hates it (and hopefully it will give you some hints on what not to do with your future apps!)
Make It Free. Kinda
The freemium revenue generation model is one of the most popular models that also works well when implemented smartly. Many indie game studios or apps actually use the freemium model quite successfully.
The point of the freemium revenue generation model is to provide all the key basic features to the user for free with the ability to use the app for free eternally. However, for some premium features players have to pay if they want them. The good thing about this model is that potentially willing-to-pay users can test the app out and therefore show the publisher if the app is even potentially in demand.
And yet, it is easy to make a freemium model everyone will totally hate even if the concept of the app is brilliant and genius.
First things first, make the app free but limit access to features timewise. For example, make it possible to use an app only for half an hour, and then the user has to wait for several hours to renew the access.
Secondly, offer the bare minimum for free. The app should barely function and moreover, make sure to constantly remind your users how much they can get if they pay.
Many successful businesses in quickly developing industries do exactly the opposite – take, for example, top Canadian online casino sites on the CasinosHunter platform. They constantly offer bonuses and different rewards to their customers to promote paid features for free.
You shouldn’t follow such a successful example. Don’t allow testing any extra features and keep them a mystery. Do not provide any rewards within the free app version – users who do not pay must not get the taste of the full set of features!
If you think this is not enough to make people really hare your freemium app, consider selling some in-app ads.
In-App Ads You Can’t Skip
Now, the best way to make users totally hate your app and never look back is to add in-app advertisements even in the premium version of the app. However, let’s go back to the beginning.
Because users do not rush to immediately pay for free apps and keep using free versions, many publishers go for a mixed revenue generation model and allow some in-app advertisement from third companies. Most of the time these ads exist for brand recognition and users just patiently wait until they can skip.
Now, there are different types of in-app ads. Some of them are banners or welcome mats that you can close after some time, others pop up from time to time, but the most annoying are video advertisements the user cannot skip. If you want to make people hate your app in a close-to-guaranteed way, the best option is to provide unskippable video ads.
Also, don’t bother to collaborate with companies that want to advertise something at least distantly interesting to your potential audience. Just go for whatever the company wants to show to your users, regardless of whether they would like it or not.
Another good method is to make the ads as unskippable as possible. Hide that little button with a cross as far on the screen as you can and make them watch it all. Preferably twice.
Eventually, if you want to look really experienced and professional, add some video ads in the middle of the experience when people are in the process of using your application. Don’t be shy to interrupt what they are doing, eventually, you’re trying to make money here.
(Never hesitate to add sound to the ads and make the advertisement volume by default higher than the application sound volume.)
Subscriptions and In-App Purchases
The last level of hate from your app users you should strive to achieve is to make them pay for the subscription and then keep offering them even more extra content within the app for small extra sums of money.
The subscription model was very widespread several years ago and it is still popular, with certain nuances in mind. However, adding in-app purchases to a paid application version, especially if the user chooses to get a paid version to avoid ads and limitations of the free version, is something worth a standing ovation.
If you go for this double-kill your revenue generation model is likely to work but many people will also very likely hate your app!
