Week 10

Co-Creative Design & Development Practice

3 min readAug 23, 2021

Research — Monetising an App

The common way to monetise is to add in-app ads. This helps to keep the app free. Below are some of the ways to monetise an app.

Free app — users will be attracted quicker without the need to pay a cost. Free apps mean more user base but also means no profit. Likely to include in-app ads for revenue.

A free app with a subscription model — free with limited access with option for premium access for a fee. This help create a user base, if the users like what they see they may upgrade to the premium. Upgrade can either be a one-off payment or a monthly subscription allowing the users to cancel at any time.

Paid App — offering the app for a fee. Will increase the user base slowly but the fee will help contribute the cost to the developers. Not an uncommon way to do so.

Partnership — working with companies and 3rd party members who are related to the app. Maintains the app to be free by monetising through a partnership. Looking for partners can be difficult; some may not agree to partner together.

Social media ads — Promoting ads on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Monetising through Facebook, the social media app will help us in doing the marketing and spreading awareness. It allows to advertise in different format with video and banner ads being the top strategy.

According to Facebook, it is easy to begin monetising.

Step 1: Sign up / log in
Step 2: Add your app / details
Step 3: Create your Placement
Step 4: Earn money

Advantage:

Facebook highly popular social media

Higher chance of spreading awareness

Facebook Monetisation manager will break down how revenue is made

Disadvantages:

Facebook don’t share how much revenue will be earned until this is earned

Creating own Facebook and Instagram page will also help build recognition. Having the ability to upload images and videos showing off new and exciting features is one that would be recommended. Oatis + Co can use this to engage with the users and potential customers.

Facebook allows to control how we can spend on the ads. The more spending on ads, the more marketing there’ll be.

How I think we should approach this

Based on the above I think we should approach a mix of a free app and a partnership. By making the app free, the Oatis app will likely reach to a greater number of customers and therefore having a higher capacity of usage. Whilst the app is free, behind the scenes we can look to working with 3rd party companies through a partnership and collaborations.

Starting off the app with a fee or subscription will be tricky but may struggle to reach potential users. As it will be a new app, many will not want to purchase the app as they may not feel confident in doing so.

By keeping the app free to begin with, we will be able to gain customers trust and as well as build our reputation. A good reputation will help us to lead to better opportunities such as working with other companies.

Notes to be added to the slides:

Social media ads — Promoting ads on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram
Monetise through social media will help reach more target audience
Facebook allow easy control to monetise and share ads
Facebook is top social app
Facebook Monetisation manager will break down how revenue is made

REF:

1. Google, ND, 5 Monetization strategies for your app, Google, viewed 10th August 2021, Available <https://admob.google.com/home/resources/5-app-monetization-strategies-to-grow-and-monetize-your-app/>

2. Facebook Audience Network, ND, Start Earning with Facebook Audience Network, Facebook, Viewed 11th August 2021, Available at < https://www.facebook.com/audiencenetwork/getting-started?&utm_campaign=AN_SMB_Search_Google_Monetize_EMEA_GB_EN_Brand&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_term=facebook%20monetize&utm_device=c&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAjwpMOIBhBAEiwAy5M6YBd5iY6SDd6msU6utSuJ7C-ABZfTLSzxGCG9X9S6j9D0XaeMlB7GEhoCXM4QAvD_BwE>

3. Facebook for Business, ND, How much it costs to advertise on Facebook, Facebook, Viewed 11thAugust 2021, Available at <https://en-gb.facebook.com/business/help/201828586525529?id=629338044106215>

4. Anastasiia Lastovetska, 29 July 2021, How Do Free Apps Make Money?, MLSDev, Viewed 12th August 2021, Available at <https://mlsdev.com/blog/how-do-free-apps-make-money>