You got their attention, you got them to download your app, how do you keep them coming back? App user retention is vital for the health of your app business. You want users to be satisfied with their experience enough to keep using the app so your app can prove to be effective in its category and create organic marketing when loyal users tell their friends about your mobile application. This post outlines some strategies, also discussed more in depth by Alon Even at Appsee, you can put in place to help your app increase user retention.
Design it
First things first: the design of your app is its first impression on a user so make it bold and simple. Users who feel overwhelmed with options in menu screens or option tabs often do not return to those apps. Your app should have fluidity of manageable amount of options and easy functionality. Mobile applications which adopt a minimalist design achieve this very well.
Reward users
Another strategy with an emphasis on increasing a user’s LifeTime Value (LTV) is incentivized engagement. Many game apps already have this model in place. You can reward your user with extra content, more features or a limited time premium experience if they achieve a specific goal in the app that can only be achieved through a high return rate. This has been known to effectively increase the user’s LTV.
Coupons
Monetary incentives are also a strong pull for app users to return. Coupons allow you to reward your user for returning and using your app in addition to creating loyal users who feel appreciated. It also creates an opportunity for your mobile application business to build relationships with other businesses and create more opportunities for the future.
Notifications
Alon Even identifies and explains an important pattern regarding app retention:
“In the first month after downloading, when users typically drop out of using an app, users who opt-in to receive push notifications have just over a 25% higher probability to continue using the app than those who do not. Beyond the first month, users who have opted-in are retained at twice the rate of those do not get notifications. Additionally, users who opt-in in also open those apps at twice the rate for those who did not opt-in during their first month. This app engagement percentage increases over time.”
Thus it is important to consider how you want to notify your users of activity on your app. Any notifications that are overwhelming will cause the user to uninstall the app, however, a notification system that reminds the user of the app is vital for a frequent return rate.
Besides the tactics discussed it is also extremely important to monitor your users and see how they use the app. Observations collected through monitoring your returning user’s habits will help you update your app to become more user friendly and operate more effectively for your user. It may even inspire new features for future upgrades.