\While getting your mobile app downloaded is the first step in a long journey to success in this highly competitive app marketplace, true success comes from understanding how users engage with your app after that initial tap. Mobile App Analytics is much more than just download counts. It enables you to dig deeper into the story your app’s users tell you through their behaviour, the app’s performance, and growth over time.
For app developers, marketers, and business owners, learning how to interpret Mobile App Analytics will provide you with the insight to drive engagement, retention, and revenue.
Why Downloads Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg
It is tempting to measure success by download numbers. It’s often exciting to see downloads increase, but this is often an incomplete picture. A downloaded app is not a used app, and a lot of people download apps only to never use them again, a couple of minutes later upon downloading.
That’s why Mobile App Analytics is important; they allow you to understand not just who is downloading your app, but also how they are using it, how often they make a purchase, and why they may have left.
To better manage this, the app owners are using Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) to help understand this situation. Tools like Apptrove are powerful and flexible MMPs that can visualize and track the app lifecycle from a download to an in-app action during the lifecycle of the app.
Core Mobile App Analytics Metrics That Matter
Tracking the proper Mobile App Analytics metrics will provide the insights you need to make educated decisions. Here are a few especially important indicators to focus on:
1. Retention Rate
Retention rate measures how many users return to your app after they have seen it for the first time. If you have 1,000 downloads but 100 are still active a week later, something is not working. Retention represents intrinsic value – how useful/engaging do users find your app after their initial curiosity?
2. Daily Active Users (DAU) & Monthly Active Users (MAU)
DAU and MAU allow you to more accurately define the core group of users. DAU tells you how many people used the app each day, while MAU gives you a broader scope of how many people once engaged with your app each month. Together, these metrics can help you define stickiness (DAU ÷ MAU), or how often users return to your app.
3. Session Duration and Frequency
How long do users spend on the app during any single visit? How often do they come back? If you find sessions are short and infrequent, you may have a usability problem or your app lacks compelling content. These mobile app analytics metrics reveal how well your app holds attention.
4. Conversion Rate
Whether it is making a purchase, signing up for a subscription, or completing a profile, conversion events are valuable
App Growth Analytics: Scaling with Insight
When your app starts to gain a sizable user base, you can begin to expand. This is where App growth analytics come into play. App growth analytics track how the app brings users into the app, engages them, and retains them over time. Data points like virality, sources of installs, and ROI on campaigns tell you where your growth comes from and how to optimise for it.
A cohesive Mobile App Analytics strategy to track users based on their behavioural traits, based on their demographic traits, based on where they came from, or a combination of all three, provides the insight necessary to tailor marketing campaigns and personalise user experiences in order to both improve ROI and improve growth.
Studies have shown that personalized mobile application experiences improves engagement rates by as much as 80% and improves click-through rates on push notifications warrants increases of 4x if the campaigns were based on user behavior.
Optimizing Mobile App Metrics for Long-Term Success
Not all metrics are created equal, and it is easy to get lost in vanity numbers. It is important to focus on Mobile app metrics that connect back to your business goals. For some apps, that is lifetime value (LTV), for others it is churn rate or customer acquisition cost (CAC). Regardless of your goal, Merenda’s Mobile App Analytics strategy will align you, not only collecting data, but actually using it for growth.
It’s also important to measure performance between devices and platforms. A slow-moving Android app may be disastrous to your ratings when your iOS app is perfect. As you develop your Mobile App Analytics strategy, begin to look at tracking technical KPIs as well (crash rate, load time, device compatibility).
Conclusion: Make Analytics Your Competitive Advantage
When thinking about competing in today’s app market, it is too simplistic to think that success is just a function of being “above the fold”. Success is defined by being used, enjoyed, and recommended. With so many apps trying to obtain our attention, your use of Mobile App Analytics operationally, strategically will distinguish the best from the rest.