Understanding Offerwalls: 6 Frequent Misconceptions Explained

When deciding on the best monetization approach, people tend to overlook offerwalls as a viable source of revenue as well as means for user retention and engagement. In this blog post, we’ll cover the six most common misunderstandings that may dissuade developers from choosing this method of income generation and show how most of those concerns actually bring profitable benefits.

1. Offerwalls are not likely to substantially boost monetization

There is often the question of what methods make the most profit as far as app revenue is concerned. In terms of monetization, there are several ways of going about it. That being said, when offerwalls are the subject matter, developers tend to approach the issue more cautiously, with usual preconceptions of offers being too much trouble for a marginal, if any, boost of income. Conversely, time and time again, this has been proven to be far from true. An offerwall that not only has a rich selection of high-paying offers but also is well integrated and developed constitutes a vital part of the monetization structure of an app, bolstering the app’s earnings beyond expected values.

2. Offerwalls are only made for games

Gaming may be the starting point of offerwalls and the top category when it comes to prevalence, but it certainly is not the only way of integration. 

Nowadays, numerous companies have introduced gamification into their apps, in one form or another. — News, education, entertainment, social, fitness, shopping — you name it. Regardless of the category, plenty of those apps already have a developed point system, which can then be used in a reward structure for offerwalls. These points can be implemented as loyalty tokens, to unlock cosmetic in-app items, spent for discounts, if the app offers purchases, or to unlock certain premium content, potentially granting access beyond the app’s paywalls. The possibility of introducing offerwalls into an app is always there, it just requires a fresh and alternative perspective.

3. Offerwalls hurt IAPs

To some, it may seem like offerwalls affect in-app purchases (IAPs) negatively, yet, in reality, the actual case is quite the opposite. It has always been the case that paying users don’t regularly interact with offerwalls or occasionally use them to top up the in-game currencies. However, research shows that non-paying users are much more likely to engage with in-app purchases after experiencing a piece of the content with currency obtained through offerwalls.

Studies have shown that a significant number of non-paying users that engage with offerwalls eventually decide on making in-app transactions. Namely, offerwall users are over 10 times more likely to engage with in-app purchases as they progress through their games. This, of course, is highly dependent on the app category and genre, as mid-core games tend to attract the highest number of long-term paying users.

4. Retention is adversely affected by offerwalls

Speaking of long-term users, a misconception that occasionally arises is whether offerwalls reduce user retention. 

Be it because the user is simply discouraged due to their dislike of offerwalls or, alternatively, because they just decide on remaining with the app they’ve engaged through the offerwall — both of these cases are actually very unlikely to happen. On the contrary, users who interact with offerwalls are often more encouraged to remain active thanks to the in-app currencies that are awarded through the use of offerwalls. After all, users’ offerwall interactions are initiated with the goal of obtaining a reward, in which case, they are all but certain to come back and remain active.

5. There’s only the CPE offerwall model

It’s sometimes misunderstood that CPE (cost per engagement) is the only model available for offerwalls. Although this is the model that is most commonly used among apps, different alternatives do indeed exist. It is also worth mentioning that CPE may be the only one in some instances among other providers. Even so, here are the possible choices:

• CPI (cost per install)
• CPA (cost per action)
• CPL (cost per lead)
• CPS (cost per subscription)

Monlix, offers all of the above-mentioned model options across all platforms. Leaving it up to the publisher to decide their preferred method.

6. Offerwalls provide a poor user experience

While it is true that offerwalls were once unwieldy and cumbersome, those times are, luckily, long gone. In today’s market, they provide a smooth and optimized UX, proof of which can be found right here at Monlix. Ease-of-use from the first interaction to the reward reception is key when it comes to any modern offerwall.

However, convenience is not solely based on the actual performance. Users also have a wide range of choices when interacting with offers, making the interaction more suited for any individual case.

Another factor that greatly improves the current state of UX, and was almost non-existent back in the day, is customer support. Monlix’s team pays particular attention to this aspect of user experience, making user interactions with offerwalls significantly more convenient and therefore remaining or increasing overall retention, as well as granting complete customizations and control to our publisher partners.