Let's talk about how to monetize your app with rewarded surveys
If you’re an app developer, the question of how to actually turn a profit with your app is always on your mind. Or, at least, it ought to be. While the world of app development has exploded over the past few years, it’s not easy to stay afloat as an upstart developer. According to some estimates, in fact, less than 1% of apps ever become what most would term to be “financially successful.” The competition is stiff, and you need a winning monetization strategy if you’re going to make a go of it with your app.
Don’t get us wrong: the world of mobile apps is full of opportunity. Millions of apps are currently on offer through the App Store. 80% of the time people spend browsing the web occurs via their phone. And, the vast majority of people’s phone time is allocated to app usage (as opposed to mobile web browsers). Still, though, it’s clear that you need to take an innovative approach to monetizing your app if you want to stand out from the crowd.
There are a number of options when it comes to app monetization, including in-app purchases, traditional banner ads, video ads, offerwalls, sponsorships, freemium subscriptions, and more. At TheoremReach, though, we believe that there’s one approach to monetizing your app that stands above all the others in terms of its potential for return: market research surveys.
What are market research surveys, and how can you make them work for you? Keep reading and find out.
Read: This is how to monetize your app with rewarded surveys
What are market research surveys?
Simply put, a market research survey is a questionnaire designed to gather information from a consumer about a product, brand, or industry. Market research is big business: as of 2017, some estimates place it in the range of a $40 billion per year industry. Some of that money is spent on the development of the actual research material itself; however, a good portion of it goes to the companies who distribute the surveys and the people who take them.
Surveys can be delivered in a variety of formats. You’ve probably received email requests from companies you’ve done business with in the past, requesting that you participate in “a brief survey” to share your opinion with them about past products and services. These surveys are generally hosted on a website — sometimes through the site itself, but more often through a third party provider such as Survey Monkey — and potential respondents have to navigate to the page and fill out the questionnaire. These surveys tend to have fairly low response rates. After all, how many times have you actually dropped what you were doing to open that survey request email, click through to the survey, and fill it out in its entirety?
How do market research surveys help researchers?
With market research surveys, researchers can discover important information that will guide a company’s product development decisions. With a properly designed survey, researchers can learn about consumers’ brand awareness, usage, attitudes, and perceptions. They can also dig deep into purchase intent with individual customers.
Here's a great overview video on how you can add rewarded surveys to your app:
In-app market research surveys are becoming increasingly popular, and with good reason. For one thing, a company can target a particular segment of the consumer population by placing their surveys in specific apps. By identifying apps with users that fit the researcher’s respondent profile, it’s possible to drill down into a very specific selection of consumers.
More importantly, though, in-app market research surveys make it easy to reward users for spending the time to take a survey. So-called rewarded surveys are becoming more and more common. Let’s take a look at how you can make them work for you as an app developer.
Why should I use market research surveys to monetize my app?
If you’ve never heard of rewarded surveys before, don’t sweat it: understanding them is actually quite simple. First, a researcher partners with an app developer to place their survey in front of that app’s users. This is often mediated by a third party, which makes things easier for both the researcher and the developer. When a user is presented with a survey, they have the option of completing it in exchange for an in-game reward — usually a form of in-game currency, an app feature, or something similar. Whenever the researcher receives a completed survey, the app developer is compensated. The researcher gets the info they need, the developer gets paid, and the user gets rewarded. This is a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Unlike mobile ads which tend to alienate users, rewarded surveys can actually increase your user retention. Users frequently cite their positive experiences with rewarded surveys. While revenue from ads can be quite low for developers, market research surveys offer the opportunity to generate real income when paired with a sizable user base.
How do I get started with rewarded surveys?
The best way to implement market research surveys as part of your app monetization strategy is to work with a company like TheoremReach. Rather than having to connect with individual researchers on your own, TheoremReach makes it easy to incorporate surveys into your app and get paid with minimal headache.
