How to Monetize Medical Mobile Apps: 9 Revenue Generating Strategies

In the light of recent events, it’s becoming clear that medical apps are undeniably valuable investments. However, it’s a long way from coming up with an idea to deriving profit. Are you evaluating business prospects around how to monetize a medical mobile app? Learn about the most meaningful strategies. This is how entrepreneurs in the healthcare niche make their apps profitable.

9 Best-proven strategies for medical app monetization

For many entrepreneurs, a paid app is definitely the best mobile monetization strategy. But a free app release is a wise choice too. We suggest you pay attention to free mobile app monetization models. Let’s have a closer look at each of them to find out about how to make money in healthcare.

• Freemium

The term consists of two words — free and premium. Their combination transforms into an app monetization model which implies that an application is free to download. But while using this app and getting educated about special features of its premium version, users decide to purchase it.

Depending on app type, there are certain freemium restrictions:

1. access only to basic features
2. access to a full app version for a limited time (for example, for a week)
3. access to all features for a limited number of times per hour or day

As you choose this way to monetize your medical mobile app, you gradually help users understand how useful a premium version can be and why they should buy it.

• Access to advanced content

This monetization strategy is a perfect match for apps focused on offering valuable content to healthcare sector employees. In apps, there’s always some free certified content available after downloading. And this content amount is always fixed. To receive more content, regular updates, and news on niche advancements, users need to pay.

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• Localized ads

This mobile app monetization strategy is amongst frequent choices since it’s quick and easy to implement. However, this strategy also generates discussions because it can negatively affect user experience. To avoid any disruptions, your medical application should offer only relevant advertising.

Choose brand partners that use GPS, Wi-Fi, or beacons to localize ads. Say, when geographically close to a pharmacy store, app users get push notifications about discounts on some popular items or things they buy most often.

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Before going this way, inform users about a localized advertising feature for them to decide what notifications to receive.

• Subscription fees

Medical app users aren’t likely to pay to download an app. To ensure the download, offer them free access to all features for a fixed time. As this specific time comes to its end, users will need to choose their subscription plan and make fixed payments monthly.

Since the use of an app requires regular financial input, users are significantly engaged in using it. And since app owners have a constant stream of revenue from users, this monetization strategy is getting more popular.

But like in the case with freemium, with a subscription strategy it is tough to define how much content users can access before subscribing.

• Promotions

The following mobile app monetization option can make users more loyal to your medical app. Thus, by incorporating it you are likely to generate more revenue. Let’s get into details.

Use the released application for special offers or discounts promotion. For this, collaborate with third parties searching for options to promote their services. To ensure the success of this strategy, investigate your audience first to see the type of services and goods they find interesting.

• Data monetization

As companies are looking for ways to get quality data to create innovative services and products, user data collected by means of your app becomes a goldmine for healthcare industry professionals.

Medical app data monetization is the process of gathering, processing, and sharing valuable user information. And this process is legal. It’s not that you collect any personal or financial data. Say, your app helps people with heart issues track their habits, food, and medications. Collected data about their lifestyle and needs is essential for creating statistics and writing articles in medical journals. This data is valuable to healthy lifestyle experts and pharmaceutical companies.

• In-app purchases

This is another popular way of how to make money from mobile apps. Even though most medical app features are free, users can either buy real-life services or upgrades right in the app.

For example, you can give users an opportunity to buy supplements, receive refills on their usual prescriptions, or pre-pay medical visits.

In any case, your app should remain fully functional even if users don’t choose an in-app purchasing option.

• Sponsorship

Did you know that 25 out of 100 medical application entrepreneurs choose this monetization model? After the release, an app owner lets insurance companies as well as pharmaceutical brands offer their services or products through the app to users. Thus, apart from running simple ads, an app features sponsors’ logos or icons on the footer. Also, apps can have any other sponsored content integrated.

But to make this strategy successful, you need to find sponsors that share the same target audience

• Gamification

Welcome the most adaptive app monetization model — gamification. It works for most app environments. In the case of a medical mobile app, incorporated games help app users stick to their medication and exercise routines or attend regular appointments.

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You can make the gamification approach even more creative by allowing users to get bonuses, discounts, and other rewards that they can exchange for some medical services. Moreover, in-app games help parents entertain their kids under treatment.

How to choose the right medical app monetization strategy?

It all starts with the type of medical app that you want to develop. Types are diverse, so are their features. Do research first to define the app’s architecture and acceptable monetization models. Using one main medical app monetization model doesn’t mean you need to abandon secondary options. By successfully combining several revenue-generating strategies, you can achieve optimal results.

If the entire process looks like a challenge, we can apply our experience to help you build a secure medical mobile app. Our team is ready to consult you on your idea. Contact us to tell more about the app idea on your mind and we will guide you through the processes of development and monetization.