I'm not sure. One first step would be to define whether you're talking about simply revenue models or business models. (I see revenue models as how you make money, wheras business models also incorporate elements like marketing. So "freemium" is a business model but not a revenue model, because being freemium doesn't make you money, but it does help you find customers).
I'd probably focus on pure "revenue models" as they're easier to define. Then you can ask: who pays you (all your users / some of your users / someone other than your users), how often do they pay you, and how much do they pay you? The benefit of this scheme is you can plot different revenue models on a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional graph. Eg, if all of your users regularly pay you a little, you have a B2C subscription business. If someone other than your users occasionally pays you a lot, it's likely you're selling user data or high-end advertising. If your users pay you a one-off, medium amount, it's likely you're in ecommerce or equivalent.
I'd also look at the most frequently used revenue models first, because I think people are sometimes tempted to find "innovative" ways of making money when boring old banner ads would do better. Advertising, subscriptions and selling physical or virtual products seem to be the most proven business models. Affiliate marketing or transaction fees can work, but they're harder to pull off. Stuff like "selling user data", contrary to popular belief, only works if you really know what you're doing (I briefly worked on one of those "subscription food service" ideas with the bright idea of selling customer feedback data - turns out there's a ton of enterprise companies like BrandView already selling far more detailed customer data).
That kind of info is more useful imo because it actually helps people figure out a model that's more likely to work.
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I am wondering how you really apply MECE in a complex environment like this. Any suggestions on how to adjust the list so it becomes MECE?
I'm not sure. One first step would be to define whether you're talking about simply revenue models or business models. (I see revenue models as how you make money, wheras business models also incorporate elements like marketing. So "freemium" is a business model but not a revenue model, because being freemium doesn't make you money, but it does help you find customers).
I'd probably focus on pure "revenue models" as they're easier to define. Then you can ask: who pays you (all your users / some of your users / someone other than your users), how often do they pay you, and how much do they pay you? The benefit of this scheme is you can plot different revenue models on a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional graph. Eg, if all of your users regularly pay you a little, you have a B2C subscription business. If someone other than your users occasionally pays you a lot, it's likely you're selling user data or high-end advertising. If your users pay you a one-off, medium amount, it's likely you're in ecommerce or equivalent.
I'd also look at the most frequently used revenue models first, because I think people are sometimes tempted to find "innovative" ways of making money when boring old banner ads would do better. Advertising, subscriptions and selling physical or virtual products seem to be the most proven business models. Affiliate marketing or transaction fees can work, but they're harder to pull off. Stuff like "selling user data", contrary to popular belief, only works if you really know what you're doing (I briefly worked on one of those "subscription food service" ideas with the bright idea of selling customer feedback data - turns out there's a ton of enterprise companies like BrandView already selling far more detailed customer data).
That kind of info is more useful imo because it actually helps people figure out a model that's more likely to work.
Just look for mutualy exclusive things:
Who gives you money?
Are you subscription based or transaction based?