Your freemium app model is broken
With the new privacy measures in iOS 15, apps that rely on ad revenue to subsidize the freemium model have been hit quite hard. Furthermore, invasive ads are destroying the user experience and usability of your app.
The freemium model is also destroying your growth. Going freemium, you’re essentially trying to have the best of both worlds. But do you really want a free offering that generates attention and downloads with a mechanism to generate random revenue?
You’re better off picking a model between 100% free or a free trial.
The benefits of going free
Many app developers are scared of releasing an app for free, they want to generate revenue right away.
I completely understand this, and releasing it for free seems counterintuitive, but the benefits far outweigh the initial loss of your income:
- Releasing your app for free will generate a lot of positive reviews.
- It’s more likely to create viral growth.
- It increases your position in the App Store for keywords.
And keep in mind…
Just because your app is free now doesn’t mean it’s free forever. Once your app is listed in the top ranking spots, you can always insert a prompt for a free trial.
The benefits of the “free trial” model
Once you drop the freemium model and move towards the trial model, you can focus on the user experience. You no longer have to focus on getting the customer experience right with ads or prompts every five minutes to upgrade to the freemium version.
Changing from the freemium model to the trial prompts your user to fully evaluate your software up front. As users are given a time limit it ensures they engage with your app (instead of just leaving it on the home screen and forgetting about it)
From my own personal experience, going to a trial model increases revenue by 600 to 1000%, creates a better user experience, and lets you focus on adding features that are beneficial to your customers.
When to switch to a trial model
Your app needs to be well-established before you switch to the trial model.
Once you reach the top keyword position in your targeted search category, that’s a good time to switch.
Alternatively, once you stop seeing growth in downloads or acquisitions, that generally means that your app has reached its plateau.
Also remember that you will need a large number of positive reviews to compensate for the inevitable negative reviews you’ll get when users find out your app is suddenly required to have a trial.
If you’re not generating enough downloads to rank organically, you can use paid ads to supplement your position in the search engine.
