How Free Messaging Apps Are Making Money?

There are several free messaging apps available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. And they are definitely making a good amount of money. For example, WeChat, Snapchat, Line, Viber, Hike, Messenger, Telegram, IMO, and WhatsApp all provide a vast variety of messages to send for free. If you search for the top-grossing messaging applications on the play store and app store, you’ll find all the free messaging apps in that list. Which is kind of obvious because people around the world mostly prefer the free versions of any application. Thus the question we are left with is – How free messaging apps are making money?

Though, In-app ads and In-app purchases are the two common ways of monetization for free messaging apps. Yet there are other ways such as cost-per-click and cost-per-install which helps to generate revenue. Moreover, if the app is more lucrative then sponsorship comes in the picture.

Below is the detailed classification of the different ways used by free messaging apps to make money or generate revenue.

In-app Ads

Ads are everywhere, and that’s what makes them important. The whole digital market runs on ads. And so does the applications, such as free messaging apps. These kinds of ads can be based on clicks or installs. Apart from that in-app ads can be different in the way they look or seems to be. Some of the in-app ads which are highly in use by the free messaging apps are listed below:

Cost-per-click

The cost-per-click ads are very helpful to get a certain amount of traffic to your app. Quite efficient for startups. Though it says cost-per-click it actually counts the cost per thousand clicks on the link or ad.

Cost-per-install

Every install on the free app turns into revenue. So yeah cost-per-install does help the free messaging apps to earn what they invest into to make the application better with each update.

Cost-per-view

These campaigns mostly work on video ads. The more ad is watched, the more value or cost it gets.

The in-app ads can be different by the look and the position. Because that’s how we can analyze the clicks and views we get. The kind of ads which get more views or click is preferred more. Below are the types of ads we can see and differentiate by their size and position.

Banners

The banners can be helpful only if you’re promoting a well-known brand. These ads appear and stay on the screen even when you’re working on your screen. You can use the screen while looking at the ad. These are the most ignorant ones. Because no one likes to click on those small banners which pop up in the middle of something important.

Interstitial

These ads cover the complete screen. Generally, they appear when the application is opened or closed. But sometimes the pop can come in the middle while the application is running. They are quite good because it’s hard to skip looking at such an ad.

Native

Most of us don’t like ads, that’s why free messaging apps love them. That’s a fact, no offense. But if you show too many ads in your app it can force someone to go for some other app. Thus native ads are here to help free apps out. They do not look like ads and fit in the features of the app so well. So that it can serve the purpose without getting noticed.

Also read, List of meditation apps to remove stress from your life

In-app Purchase

Whatsapp is the one of the top-grossing free messaging apps.

As we discussed earlier that the ads are not loved by most of us. Thus most of the in-app purchase includes a plan or service which can remove the ads. Though it depends on the type of application. In this article, our focus is on how free messaging apps are making money. So in-app purchases can be an upgrade of the application or some extra features such as gifs or emojis to use while texting.

Basically, there are three types of in-app purchases, consumable, non- consumable, and subscription. The free messaging apps use the second one most. Because they don’t have virtual money which can be used while playing games,i.e consumable in-app purchase. Subscriptions are provided by free music applications more often, for example,  Spotify.

The non- consumable in-app purchase helps in getting rid of the irritating ads. That’s how free messaging apps are making money, by removing the ads.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is still a smart way of staying in the market. Even if the app is not being used or got uninstalled, sending email ads can never fail you. In the case of free messaging apps, the notifications for the text or a message can be sent via email. So if the person away or not using the application for a long while, an email notification can get good attention.

The ads sent via email possibly increases the rate of cost-per-click of cost-per-view or if it gets lucky cost-per-install too. Eventually, it helps to hit good revenue for some free messaging apps, not that bad right!

Sponsorship

Okay, so this is our last stop. The sponsorship is a lucrative way of marketing. It is used by applications that already have good numbers of users and wants to increase that number.

Though it’s really hard to get a sponsor, still some free messaging apps use it. Sponsorship can be beneficial in two ways, either you can have a partnership in benefit or you can receive the monthly or annual sponsor fee.

All and all it’s a huge market in the name of free which is running on a large scale. So yeah it’s well said that nothing is actually free in this world.

That’s how all the free messaging apps are making money. If you’re thinking of creating your own free application, this information might help you. And yes, if there is anything you would like to share or wish to question about. Please share! 🙂