Best monetization options aside from subscriptions or one-time purchases?
What are the best monetization options that you've found online – that values the quality of your experience directly? Keen to hear if you've found another way for episodic experiences.
- Subscriptions are a big commitment for users – frequent use required
- One time purchases – big up-front sale
- Affiliate – lose trust, earn from someone buying something else
- Ads – lose trust, earn from someone buying something else
- Brand – volume game + lots of work and not direct from the customer
I'd focus on #2.
Keep making big upfront sales month after month.
Like you said, one-time sales are a lot easier to make than MRR/subscription revenue.
Pretty sure you can still make a sustainable business out of that, even in this SaaS age.
Have you considered usage based pricing? Any experiment with that for tiny amounts to get started after freemium?