Freemium app: should I add ads?

PavelSea · August 2012

I'm working on an app that will be using the freemium model: the free version will have some limitations, which can be removed by upgrading to the full version.

Question: should I add ads to the free version? I understand that I will probably make little or no money with them, but then I could use them as another reason for the user to upgrade the app (the full version won't have ads). What do you guys think? What was your experience in using the ads to encourage the user to upgrade?

PinkRunner · August 2012

I don't think there's a perfect answer to it, depends on how it fits within your app, but one thing you might consider is having the ability to turn them on/off at will and see if you get any different kind of reaction (i.e. upgrade to full version). You could do something as simple as set a flag in a file on your web server/site and have the app check that to determine whether or not to show ads for that run of the app. You could experiment with them on or off and see which works out better.

mediaspree · August 2012

I vote no. "Remove ads" hasn't been very effective and getting people to upgrade for me and it brings it at most a few $ a day ( for me). I think most people by this point are "banner blind" and the majority of clickthroughs are on accident leading to frustrated users. Perhaps finding a "value added" advertisement to your app niche - for instance in my movie centric app I sell movie tickets via ad banners through fandango. Though, it might be tough to match your app with an advertiser that works on mobile.

alan@appromoter.com · August 2012

How well is the app doing at the moment? That's the key question. you can email me at alan@appromoter.com if you want to discuss in more detail. Or add me to Skype. alanappromoter.

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Freemium app: should I add ads?

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