Essential Mobile App Metrics
In this world of data overload, it is easy to lose focus on what really matters. As a Product Manager, your focus is on ensuring that your product is successful and that the customer is delightful at every experience they have with the product. But if you’re overwhelmed by the sheer number of metrics around you, you’re not alone! Here’s a quick reference for measuring what really matters for your mobile app’s success. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but a good place to start. With the right metrics in place, it should be pretty simple to identify problems and solutions.
1.ACQUISITION METRICS
It is important to know where your current users come from in order to acquire more users. This means it is important to track downloads and attribute them to specific acquisition channels. As an example, if $500 on Google AdWords gets you 100 downloads over 4 weeks, and the same investment on Google Play Store gets you 5X that in a week - you know which one has a better ROI and thus which acquisition channel to invest in.
Key Acquisition Metrics to track:
- New Downloads – # of new downloads (daily, weekly, or monthly)
- Download Attribution – Which channels are new users coming from? Use this data to optimize marketing spend and improve ROI/customer LTV
- Cost Per Install – Total Ad Spend / # of New Installs Counted by Advertiser’s Server
User Acquisition Strategies:
- Convert web visitors to mobile app users: Encourage web visitors to download your app through content marketing with a clear CTA i.e. a “Download the app” button. Offer some incentives - a discount on the first app purchase, bonus points or anything else to sweeten the deal.
- Launch a referral program: As per a Neilsen study[1], 92% of people trust referrals from friends or people they know. Incentivising current users to recommend your app to their social network can help expand your user base by creating social proof. Uber and AirBnb have used referrals as powerful acquisition engines.
- App Store Optimization: Make sure you are using search keywords in the title and app description, so that your app ranks high in searches. Using catchy images and videos in the app description gives prospective users a look and feel for the app and may get them to download the app. Users are more likely to download an app that is updated regularly, so don’t forget to update this information in the app store.
2. ACTIVATION METRICS
Ensuring a great onboarding experience, and minimizing the data that you require the user to enter are very helpful in activating users. The right iconography, a style that resonates with the user, avoiding typos and confusing icons help in building trust with the user. Ask the user to enter only the information that is absolutely critical, avoid lengthy registrations. Letting users poke around a bit before asking them to register or enter information helps increase activation. Does your app not allow users to proceed without filling up a registration form? You may want to rethink what information is absolutely critical to ask the user to fill up to proceed. You may also want to experiment with delaying the registration process to after the user has spent some time experiencing the app.
Key Activation Metrics to track:
- Activation Rate – # of Activations / # of Downloads x 100
- Download to Launch Rate – # of First-Time Launches / # of New Downloads
- Install to Registration Rate – # of New Registrations / # of Installs
- Average Cost Per Registration – Total Ad Spend / # of New Registrations
User Activation Strategies:
- Incentivize activation: You can do this by offering rewards, points, vouchers - anything that the user would value enough to convert into an activated user.
- Effective onboarding: Ensure that your app is easy to use, and that you communicate the value, benefits and key features of the app clearly. You could use an enticing launch screen, splash screen or create a push notification campaign.
- In-app exclusives: Offering in-app exclusives like better deals, early access, or exclusive content will incentivize the user to become and stay active.
3. RETENTION METRICS
Okay, so you’re doing well with acquisition and activation - but what about retention? You don’t want a leaky bucket - the average app loses 77% of its Daily Active Users (DAUs) within three days of install! Retention also has a direct effect on profits - improving retention by 5% can boost profitability by 25-95% as per a Bain study[2]. So, what are some effective ways to keep retention high? First off, don’t look at users as one big group - segment them into cohorts. Get actionable data by tracking retention cohorts. Track the behavior of these cohorts over time and draw useful insights into onboarding flows, UX and product market fit. Use these insights to improve your product! The goal should be to not only increase retention, but also influence user behavior to increase Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).
Key Retention Metrics to track:
- N Day retention= Percentage of users that launch your app on a specific day (N)
- Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) = Annual revenue generated from customer X x Average number of years customers are retained – Initial cost of customer acquisition
- Net Promoter Score= [Number of Promoters (rating of 9 or 10)— Number of Detractors (rating of 0-6) / (Number of Respondents) x 100]
Retention Strategies:
This is such an important topic, that it demands its own detailed article - I’ll publish that soon, but in the meantime, here are a few retention strategies that are worth considering. The key is to provide the user continuous value to keep them coming back!
- Interesting Content: Sharing new and interesting content that is in sync with the mood of the times is something that could keep users coming back for more.
- New features: Releasing new features that add value to the user’s everyday life plays an important role in keeping users engaged and retaining them within your ecosystem.
- Loyalty Program: Give your users an additional reason to keep coming back and reward them for their loyalty through a loyalty program, rewards points, special discounts and deals. A recent research[3] indicated that as much as 83% of the participants said that loyalty programs make them more likely to continue to do business with certain companies.
- User Experience: Ensure that your UX is nothing short of amazing, is personalized and makes your users feel valued. Ask users for feedback and fix the points of friction before users ditch your app. If you have Customer Support, then make sure that they are customer obsessed and empathetic.
4. ENGAGEMENT METRICS
There is a strong correlation between user engagement and revenue growth[4]. Engaged users have a higher lifetime value, they are more likely to be your evangelists and they are likely to buy more. But guess what, you’re on a clock and have a limited window of opportunity to engage your users before abandonment - statistics say that half of all apps are used just 10 times before they are abandoned[6] - so make it count!
Key Engagement Metrics to track:
- App Stickiness = DAUs/MAUs (depending on your app)
- Daily/Monthly sessions per DAU to gauge how often people launch your app
- Session length
- CTRs for push notifications, emails, and other messaging campaigns
Engagement Strategies:
- Cohort analysis: Assess how engagement looks like for different cohorts. If engagement is low for a particular cohort, find out why and then figure out how to get them more engaged. It could be through discounts, bug fixes, or new features.
- Engaging content: Providing valuable engaging content can increase user engagement.
- Push notifications: Using push notifications the right way can help increase engagement - users who have opted in to receive push notifications exhibit 88% higher app engagement[5] than those who haven’t. Push notifications are useful in capturing a user’s attention at just the right moment to send them straight to your app to perform a specific action.
- Personalization: Personalization helps provide a more unique, relevant experience to the user. The more aligned the experience is with a user’s needs and preferences, the more likely they are to continue to use the application.
- Incentivization Programs: Mobile-specific rewards, specialized content access, coupons, special promotions, and other offers will help drive conversions[7] and encourage engagement. Starbucks does a great job at this through their app.
5. CONVERSION METRICS
Conversion is perhaps one of the most important metrics that companies track. Simply put, conversion is the number of users who perform a particular action as a percentage of the number of users who could have taken that action. Conversion rates for various actions will help you identify how successful they are in moving the needle.
Key Conversion Metrics to track:
- New user conversion rate
- Returning user conversion rate
- Cost per conversion
- Conversion ROI
Conversion strategies:
- Optimize the experience by removing conversion barriers: Take a user centric viewpoint and identify what annoys users, slows them down and make it easy for them to move down the funnel. Remove unnecessary steps, buttons, data requirements and streamline the UI.
- Look for dropoffs in the funnel: A common point where you would see dropoffs is the checkout page where customers need to enter payment details. But there could be other areas where customers are dropping off - keep an eye on those since they may point to a UI issue or bug.
6. CHURN METRICS
As per Statista[8], most apps lose 80% of their new users in the first 90 days. While you should focus on engagement and retention, you should also keep a close watch on churn. Some common issues that lead to churn are bad UX, bugs, latency and battery drain.
Key Churn Metric to track
- Number of uninstalls
Re-engagement strategies
- Discounts and deals: A Google study[9] found that 38% of app users would re-engage with an app if offered a discount
- Feedback surveys: User feedback can help overcome blindspots and also show users your commitment to improving the app experience, and you may even get a shot at winning them back
- Retargeting ads: You could retarget lost users on social media with valuable content or discounts and increase your chances at winning them back
[1] https://www.business2community.com/marketing/referral-marketing-matter-0944226#O45S3rLLYOsDtRLi.97
[2] https://www.bain.com/Images/BB_Prescription_cutting_costs.pdf
[3] https://www.invespcro.com/blog/customer-loyalty-programs/
[4] https://influitive.com/blog/customer-engagement-loyalty-revenue/
[5] https://info.localytics.com/blog/push-messaging-drives-88-more-app-launches-for-users-who-opt-in
[6] https://www.slideshare.net/adobe/2016-mobile-benchmark-report
[7] https://owdt.com/maximizing-mobile-device-conversion-rates/
[9] https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/mobile-app-marketing-insights/