#117: App Subscriptions Best Practices with Tobias Boerner, Co-Founder at Admiral Studio

08/08/22 • 22 min

It’s been a while since we talked on this podcast about App Subscriptions - the latest business model for mobile apps that powers revenue generation for so many apps today.

It all started with video and audio streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify but then....it turned out that the model actually works for so many other apps.

But popularity doesn’t necessarily mean that app brands actually know how to make the most of it. In this episode, we have Tobias Boerner, Co-Founder at Admiral Studio talking about the best practices for App Subscriptions.

Today’s Topics Include:

What is Admiral Media/Studio all about? Connecting Web3 world with NFT space
NFT: Non-fungible token concept is out of this world and over the heads of most
App Businesses: Rely on three models—app ads, purchases, and subscriptions
Switch to subscriptions? Tobias recommends adding not switching revenue streams
App Subscription Mistakes: Not enough or no A/B testing in place for conversion rates
App Subscription Successes: Duolingo uses a world-class gamification approach
Pay Subscription Plans: When 1 revenue stream doesn’t meet financial needs to grow
Future of App Subscription Model: More flexibility and creativity for app businesses
Android or iOS? iOS
What features would Tobias miss most? To be connected
What’s missing from mobile app technology? AR and VR: Connect with the real world

Links and Resources:

Quotes from Tobias Boerner:

“To be very good in things, it’s very important to have a very deep understanding of how this world is working.”

“We believe here, in the studio, that very soon in the near future, a lot of companies need help with marketing approaches and make that happen. We will very soon release a lot of new activities in Web3 space.”

“Apps, they monetize through ads, only start along the journey of thinking, ‘Oh, how can we implement subscription or how is it possible to switch to subscription?”

“I’m a very big fan of subscriptions, but I would not recommend to switch the model. I think it’s an additional revenue stream.”

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It’s been a while since we talked on this podcast about App Subscriptions - the latest business model for mobile apps that powers revenue generation for so many apps today.

It all started with video and audio streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify but then....it turned out that the model actually works for so many other apps.

Today’s Topics Include:

What is Admiral Media/Studio all about? Connecting Web3 world with NFT space
NFT: Non-fungible token concept is out of this world and over the heads of most
App Businesses: Rely on three models—app ads, purchases, and subscriptions
Switch to subscriptions? Tobias recommends adding not switching revenue streams
App Subscription Mistakes: Not enough or no A/B testing in place for conversion rates
App Subscription Successes: Duolingo uses a world-class gamification approach
Pay Subscription Plans: When 1 revenue stream doesn’t meet financial needs to grow
Future of App Subscription Model: More flexibility and creativity for app businesses
Android or iOS? iOS
What features would Tobias miss most? To be connected
What’s missing from mobile app technology? AR and VR: Connect with the real world

Links and Resources:

Quotes from Tobias Boerner:

“To be very good in things, it’s very important to have a very deep understanding of how this world is working.”

“Apps, they monetize through ads, only start along the journey of thinking, ‘Oh, how can we implement subscription or how is it possible to switch to subscription?”

“I’m a very big fan of subscriptions, but I would not recommend to switch the model. I think it’s an additional revenue stream.”

Follow the Business Of Apps podcast Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

Previous Episode

#117: App Subscriptions Best Practices with Tobias Boerner, Co-Founder at Admiral Studio

It’s been a while since we talked on this podcast about App Subscriptions - the latest business model for mobile apps that powers revenue generation for so many apps today.

It all started with video and audio streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify but then....it turned out that the model actually works for so many other apps.

Today’s Topics Include:

What is Admiral Media/Studio all about? Connecting Web3 world with NFT space
NFT: Non-fungible token concept is out of this world and over the heads of most
App Businesses: Rely on three models—app ads, purchases, and subscriptions
Switch to subscriptions? Tobias recommends adding not switching revenue streams
App Subscription Mistakes: Not enough or no A/B testing in place for conversion rates
App Subscription Successes: Duolingo uses a world-class gamification approach
Pay Subscription Plans: When 1 revenue stream doesn’t meet financial needs to grow
Future of App Subscription Model: More flexibility and creativity for app businesses
Android or iOS? iOS
What features would Tobias miss most? To be connected
What’s missing from mobile app technology? AR and VR: Connect with the real world

Links and Resources:

Quotes from Tobias Boerner:

“To be very good in things, it’s very important to have a very deep understanding of how this world is working.”

“Apps, they monetize through ads, only start along the journey of thinking, ‘Oh, how can we implement subscription or how is it possible to switch to subscription?”

“I’m a very big fan of subscriptions, but I would not recommend to switch the model. I think it’s an additional revenue stream.”

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Next Episode

#118: What an app and the Black Mirror movie have in common? with Emily Tate, Managing Director at Mind the Product

At this very moment, somewhere on the planet app development teams are working on new mobile apps. Some of them are thinking through features of those apps, others are ready to launch them on an app store, yet other teams are already marketing their apps to acquire users. It’s non-stop and you bet all those teams believe their apps are only capable of bringing good to this world. Let's try AppTweak. Now, did you watch the “Black Mirror” TV series on Netflix? Can you guess the connection between this movie and the app development process? Well, patience - on this episode - among many things - you’ll get the answer :-)

Today’s Topics Include:

Emily started her career managing software solutions for airlines before taking her experience to the traveler’s side of the journey as the product manager for a leading travel management app, TripCase. She spent 5 years working on TripCase, where her first major project was to redesign the mobile app from the ground up. Then as the app grew, she worked on wearables, including a launch app for the Apple Watch and two different Samsung Gear watches.
The app project Emily loved the most
Challenges of working on apps for wearables
Mobile apps versus web apps
Optimism, negligence, and short-sightedness in app development
What do you do when your app has externalities you didn't anticipate?
How do you break through on the app market?
Android or iOS? iOS
What features would Emily miss most? City Mapper app to navigate and Apple Pay to pay everywhere

Links and Resources:

Emily Tate on LinkedIn Mind The Product

Quotes from Emily Tate:

“It's one of those fun things where you can have a problem that looks similar and the tactic you used to solve it the time before will not work this time.” “Where was one of the launch app for the Apple Watch when it came out. And it was a really fun project, both from the perspective of obviously getting to play with new shining technology. But really starting from the ground level of figuring out what is the use case for a smartwatch in the context of travel. ” “Admitting that you've made a mistake is step one. And I think we're so hesitant to do that, you see it all the time.”

Brought to you by Business Of Apps