Getting users to spend money on your apps can be a difficult experience for App developers and businesses especially if they have to pay an initial price to start with. They need positive reasons and assurance to why they should spend their hard earned money on your apps and will be reluctant to do so initially.
With the change in users behaviour towards the kind of apps available, the mobile app development trends are changing every year. Apps such as Candy Crush have a perfect balance as their app is free but offers in-game purchases for boosts and power-ups to help complete levels.
Most users make purchases due to frustration towards not being able to complete a level.
As an App developer, finding a good balance and giving consumers a reason to spend their money on your app can be a frustration, but why are they so reluctant to do so?
Users have high expectations of what various things should cost, which is often influenced by our environment, meaning they will have already judged your app based on price before even trying it.
Every day people won’t hesitate to spend $200 on a Michael Kors handbag or $200 on computer software but would never spend $200 on an app in the store. The reasoning behind this is because people expect computer software or high-end fashion to cost $200 but due to most apps in the store being $1.99 or less, therefore, people have been conditioned to think apps should be cheap or free.
Bill Gates being the face behind Microsoft set the anchors for high software pricing, but for the App stores- Apple started at $0.99 and Google started at $0, therefore, the anchors for the two are set lower.
One factor of low pricing in the app stores could be due to it being such a competitive market. Paid-for downloads are decreasing and in-app transactions are on the uprise, people would rather spend after downloading the app than spending to buy the app.
There is a very simple explanation behind this: Users have already found their value and are more willing to spend money after a free download than purchasing the app first. AppsFlyer conducted a study and found that customers spending is 20 times more for in-app purchases compared to the intake from users buying apps.
So, the key is to provide value to customers but how do you do this with a paid app? One suggestion is to offer a free trial. This would work by giving users a limited version of your app on a trial basis and then be charged for the full download- also the reason why Freemium apps do amazingly well as a monetization strategy.
In the end, it all boils down to conditioning, expectations and value! Customers want value before they part with their money but also want their expectations met and this is why users are reluctant to spend money on paid apps.
Have an app idea but not sure how to cash it? Get in touch with our team for an absolutely free consultation over coffee and we’ll help you build a big business out of it!
