Freemium Apps Start to Outpace Paid Apps in App Store
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The freemium model for app pricing may make a lot of developers uncomfortable. Without the up-front cost collected from downloaders found with premium priced apps, they run the risk that they may never see a revenue stream for their efforts. The freemium concept provides the app free of charge, but through a variety of in-app purchases allows you to extend and enhance your use of it.
Flurry recently performed an evaluation on the success of freemium apps by comparing the revenue from top 100 grossing games in January and June of 2011. The result was a significant gain for freemium apps, increasing from 39% to 65% over the 6 month period.
The logic seems simple. If your app is free, somebody may be more likely to give it a try.
Now, this may backfire. I’ve spoken to more than one iOS user who chooses their apps based on price –with the assumption that a higher priced app is going to be better quality. While this is obviously not a rule to download by, it is understandable that people may assume this when there are a sea of options that all look reasonably equivalent.
So how do you effectively market a freemium app? Give enough functionality away that people become engaged and invested while making in-app purchases affordable and logical. This may mean accepting that your app may be downloaded a considerable number of times before any purchases are made… but many of these people likely wouldn’t have paid the premium price either. Consider these people potential word-of-mouth advertisers.
I have made my fair share of in-app purchases from freemium apps –sometimes I just need (want) those few extra gold/smurfberries/stars in order to give me the edge I don’t have the patience to earn.
Do you have a preference? What makes you choose one app over another?
[via Flurry]
