Monetize your app with our Back to school season tips

The lifecycle of an app unfortunately doesn’t solely rely on a great concept. Sure, it’s important to get ahead, get your first downloads and put your project on the map. But, in the long run, even the best apps need regular updates to stay in the game. If you recently added a new feature within the app, the back-to-school season is the perfect timing to put the spotlight on it and focus on how it improves the user experience for your audience. And if you haven’t updated your app in a while we recommend that you use this special time of year to get started on a revamped version of your app. If you need a gentle push, remember that the latest App Store improvements  now implemented quality control for already published apps. So it won’t hurt to run a quick check up of yours if you haven’t run one in a while, to at least fix possible bugs or outdated content.

Some app concepts don’t call for feature updates as much, such is the case for content apps for instance. But, if your app falls under that category, it doesn’t mean you should neglect it. Now's the time to create a novelty effect, with a brand new design. For inspo, you can check out our mobile app design tips or use the science of colors to choose the best colors for your app. 

If you haven’t given our Loyalty card feature a try, as a business, back-to-school season is the perfect opportunity to launch a loyalty program, with users on the lookout for savings! If your loyalty program is already up and running, congratulations! Now's the time to experiment, with spontaneous rewards to surprise customers, or with a Club Card and exclusive privileges. But remember, in the end, for gifts and rewards alike, it's the prize that really makes the difference. So, if your loyalty program isn’t performing as well as you’d imagined, you might want to look into changing the gift, or the pattern (a smaller gift after fewer points earned, or the opposite, a bigger prize after more purchases). The important thing is to keep trying, this is how you get to know your users and what they like.

In addition to a loyalty strategy, or as a standalone way to boost sales, #backtoschool is definitely a trending topic to introduce a coupon feature. Our Couponing Add-On adapts to all sorts of business models: big or small businesses, local businesses with one or several locations, physical as well as online businesses. To promote your couponing campaign, use social media with a special hashtag. With the new way to buy, you have to be present online, whether it's about getting people inside your shop or visiting you online.

Speaking of promotion, use push notifications to engage your users. You can imagine different messages for different targets, such as users who haven’t opened your app in "x" time, people who haven’t downloaded the latest update of your app, new users who will appreciate the welcome gesture... You can also set up notifications according to location, devices used or even handpicked "user groups", to target your user base per interests for example.