Retention rate is an important metric for all mobile marketers and a crucial factor for user lifetime value or LTV. The best way to make people stay in your app is to create a good quality user experience, but other strategies can help you increase retention and also boost revenue and brand loyalty.
What is a retention rate?
Retention rate is the percentage of users using your app after a set period of time, usually measured after Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30. The longer a user stays, the more likely they are to increase revenue. Also, a high retention rate for mobile apps is a positive sign that users are having a good experience. A low retention rate can mean that there is an issue with your app.
Retention vs. user acquisition
Retention and user acquisition are like two sides of one coin: Mobile marketers must obtain users to achieve important growth but it is also significant to retain as many of those users as possible. It is necessary to identify which channels deliver the highest value users so that you can spend on retention strategies to keep them in-app for longer and maximize their lifetime user value.
Which category of the app has the highest retention rate?
Retention rates amongst app categories can vary rapidly, thanks to user behavior and the built-in nature of the apps in the subject. For example, a weather app — will have high retention as users check the weather daily. On the other hand, certain travel apps will have low retention because people install an airline’s official app to get a boarding pass, then uninstall it after the trip.
How to increase app retention? 10 possible ways to try!
1. Tracking data as early as possible
To precisely measure retention rates and improvements to this metric over a period of time, you need to start keeping track data of the data as soon as possible. This will give you everything you need to understand the performance and identify which strategies and features have been making an impact.
2. Beta test your app
If their mobile app has been beta-tested through an invite-only audience, developers are more likely to start with an elevated retention rate. This is a smart way to make sure there aren’t game-changing issues or bugs within your app that will lower your user retention. When beta testing your app, you should invite users to provide their valuable feedback and use this to optimize your user experience. By this process will ensure your app is in its best shape by launch day. An additional advantage to beta testing is that you are giving early admission to enthusiastic users and building brand loyalty even before your app becomes available in the App store.
3. You can soft launch your app
If you have not already launched your app, you can use soft launches to A/B test and optimize your user experience and the app’s performance. A soft launch is making your app public within a smaller region that will allow you to identify ways to optimize your mobile app before launching in a larger region.
4. Make sure that product and marketing are aligned
While developing your marketing strategy for your mobile app, decisions need to be associated with what the product has to offer. No matter how efficient your marketing is, your retention rate will experience a downfall if the user experience doesn’t match what is promised. Deceptive or misleading ads may work momentarily for the app, but they are damaging in the long run. It is more effective to line up product and marketing so that you can attract high-value users that won’t uninstall after their first session as an outcome of misrepresentations in your marketing. For instance, showing your mobile app’s in-game video in an ad is a better depiction than paying for graphics that can’t be enjoyed while using your app.
5. It is time to optimize your user onboarding
Onboarding is a serious step in the user journey, and perhaps the most significant for achieving a high retention rate. You have already done the work of getting the user and they have opened your app, so it is very important that you guide the user through your app during their first session. When optimizing your user onboarding, think of the following:
• Keep it simple: It is important to emphasize core features during onboarding. However, you should avoid overfilling your user with too much information. It is more helpful to provide key insights into your knowledge to ensure that the user can comfortably steer through your app, with additional options to receive help when and where needed. For instance, you can add question mark icons for the users to click on, to learn more whenever needed.
• Be visual: At times an image or animation can be a good way to get a user’s attention or show them how to use your app. Consider using attractive visuals to make onboarding as easy as doable for your users.
• Identify which feature has become second nature: If your app shares feature with extensively popular apps, you may not need to explain how they work. For instance, most users will be well-known for likes, shares, and comments as an outcome of using other apps.
• End onboarding with a CTA: You can boost retention by ending your onboarding with a call to action or CTA. For instance, you could ask them to join a mailing list or to allow push notifications. After having shown your app’s value throughout your onboarding, this is a major opportunity to loop users into your retention policy.
6. App Store Optimization (ASO)
ASO or App Store Optimization is the practice of making changes to your app store entry to get a higher ranking. This can help you increase retention rates by attracting high-value users and giving them a crystal clear representation of what to expect when they install your mobile app.
You can carry out ASO by focusing on your app’s name and portrayal, keywords for iOS, screenshots, and videos. Most of the highest-ranking apps use bullet points in their description to make it easy for users to use and know what to expect. By perfecting App Store Optimization you are bringing organic traffic to your app: frequently the most valuable users who are retained for longer have shown interest in your mobile app without having to expose to an ad.
7. Personalization
Personalization is an influential tool that can be used by mobile marketers to increase retention rates. About 91% of the users are more likely to purchase from brands that offer personalized offers and recommendations, and about 90% of U.S. customers find personalization attractive while browsing. Personalization is acquired by employing user data to address people by name, make related suggestions, and any other way you can customize your app’s offering based on a user’s preference. These personalized changes will get better over time and make users most likely to keep returning to the app.
When implementing personalization needs, it is important to have the right balance. Firstly, you should recognize whether it improves the user experience. Some personalization can make your users uncomfortable so it is important to be selective about how and when you get personal.
8. Push notifications
Push notifications can be directly sent to the user’s device and will come into view on a user’s lock screen. Although users need to opt in to get push notifications from an app, this type of messaging can be an efficient way to bring users back to your app and boost your retention rate. Opt-in rates will differ depending on the app category.
9. Email marketing
Mobile marketers are using email marketing to strengthen brand loyalty, boost engagement and increase retention rates over time. By building a mailing list of precious subscribers — you can bring users back to your app by sharing exclusive discounts, sales, and other promotional activities. This is an efficient strategy regardless of the company’s size and budget. Whether you are a small company running your own business or a medium-sized company, this method is effective for both, regardless of the budget you have for investing in the proceedings of your app.
10. In-app messaging
Earlier we have discussed push notifications. Just like push notifications, in-app messaging can be a great way to keep people occupied. Mobile apps that use in-app messaging to communicate with users, get to see a surge in retention rates.
Conclusion
Nevertheless, if you are implementing many retention strategies you should avoid overfilling users with the same information. If a user gets a push notification and an in-app text for the same deal every time you have an update, this can irritate the user and lead them to opt-out of push notifications. You should also section users based on their preferences so that in-app messages are optimized to be useful to the user. This will improve your retention rate by accumulating more value to the user.
Title: MOBILE APP ONBOARDING: 10 PROVEN METHODS THAT ENHANCE USER RETENTION AND ENGAGEMENT
Desc: Are losing your customers and want to Stop losing them then check out MOBILE APP ONBOARDING: 10 PROVEN METHODS THAT ENHANCE USER RETENTION AND ENGAGEMENT
Author Bio: Dilip Tiwari is an SEO Expert at Universal Stream Solution. Universal Stream Solution is a web development company in Atlanta. That helps startups to enterprise companies in mobile & web technology.
Author mail-id: dtiwari@universalstreamsolution.com
