Independent app developers: offer your app for free or don’t make it at all | Hacker News Reader

Independent app developers: offer your app for free or don’t make it at all

blog.smashapp.com

4 pointssmashapp8 comments

With 400,000 apps in the App Store, more than half of which are free, independent developer or a small team should consider making a free app and finding a way how to make the most of it. In the three-post series we will be investigating the reasons to go free, how to profit from this move and the obstacles you might face (or what you should be aware of) if you go free. Today we are starting with the question: Why go free?

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I know many people who say that when they search for an app and find two alternatives, out of which one is paid and one is free, they go for the paid app. We all have limited, crippled or badly designed apps lying unused on our smartphones. Of course you should charge for an app if you make a good one!

Besides, why does the (anonymous) author think that word of mouth is somehow stronger with free apps? Instead with paid apps, people are more likely to recommend it onwards, since they have an emotional investment (as a result of their monetary investment!) in the app, too.

That was one trolling article.

I can't say that either of us represent the majority of smartphone users, but I find it interesting that my wife and I have different approaches:

I'll almost always shop by screenshots. If an app looks hideous, I'll assume it was created by slovenly, hateful people and pass on it. If it looks lovingly crafted, I'll try it. As the latter will usually be a paid app, this again reinforces the idea that someone has put some effort into it.

My wife, however, will just get the cheapest app. In fact, she'll get several free ones. Right now she has about five different pregnancy apps, all free. She's generally of the camp that argues that there's always going to be a free app that does the same thing, so she rarely pays for apps.

Now I'm pretty sure there are more people in the world like my wife. But I'm also sure that developers are making vastly more money out of people like me. But who knows.

Yes, it's true that many users will choose the paid app, but as Thom explained there are also a lot of them who will choose the free alternative at all costs. So, the idea behind this post is to find a way to get them to and try to earn some money from them (by conversions into full versions, in-app purchase or ads - this will be the next post tomorrow), instead of ignoring them. This is especially important for individual developers and small teams that do not have means to push the apps in other ways such as advertising. Secondly, the store is already full of limited, crippled or badly designed apps (and some of them are paid for) so some of the users like to test before buying. Therefore, to earn money an app has to be good, and having a free alternative is just a support mechanism for those not blown away by your screenshots and description. The same goes for recommendations – if it’s good you’ll share it with your friends and when they see your recommendation on fb or tweeter, more people are likely to install it if it’s both free and good (since you recommend it) than if it’s only good (at least that’s how I see it:) @thom I’ve talked with some of developers who brought the “marketing expense” issue up. Some of them were just starting their companies and without references they could not start working for clients. For them, money for that project was not the main aim – but it’s far better to say to a client that you have a free app which was downloaded many times, than just having a paid apps which is having average sales.

The article (albeit the first in a series) doesn't seem to have any real evidence to support free or non-free being better. The two arguments put forth are:

1) Free apps are a "marketing expense" for future projects (to have a good project which will attract some clients)." 2) A "free app means having an opportunity to demonstrate your quality and later convert those users into paying customers for the full app"

I don't know how people will feel about the first. Personally I'm creating my own apps to get _away_ from my clients, not get more. :P

The second argument seems pretty typical and could be valid. Has anyone done some genuine research into this? I'd love to see some statistics comparing revenue from a large sample of:

1) Free, but ad supported apps 2) Apps with a free 'lite' version 3) Free apps with in-app feature upgrades 4) Non-free apps

What a stupid idea. Maybe offer it for $2. Everyone appreciates you've got to eat!!

I agree... I don't mind paying for a great app!

Then the article says that ads don't work as much as expected. So what's the way to monetize an app if we have to give it for free?

ads work great, but it depends on the app. we have free apps earning tens of thousands a month.

> says that ads don't work as much as expected

He's talking about ads elsewhere pointing to your app. He's saying they cost way too much for getting enough users in. You need to get people to talk about your app from liking it.

Ads work FINE in apps to make you money, especially non-app based ads (ie, one's not about apps).

Professional 3rd party iOS developer here:

You can monetize it by putting adds in. I suggest something like AdWhirl as iAd is in that service as well as ads from many other sources including your own ads you make. iAd is very nice when it's there, but its fill rate leaves something to be desired at times.

AdWhirl lets you sell ads directly. This is where the big money is. You make far more per ads sold that way. However, sales teams are expensive, so you will want to work with organizations already selling ads or know of people buying ads like crazy in the market

Other ways to make money:

Pointing to products that people can buy and get affiliate cash. Cars and Real Estate are high per item affiliate fee items, books and apps are high volume affiliate free items.

Sell a pro version or subscription based enhancement to the free app (freemium, a la dropbox).

License your app to third parties as a whitebox solution for something or other (either functional or branding)

Use your app as a marketing channel for other things. For instance, The Heist gives away other people'e product.

If your app delivers certain types of product, you can collect and reuse personal data. That can be sold (with user consent).

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