While getting new customers to your app is essential, retaining existing users for the long term is a more accurate measure of success. Much has been written about user retention strategies for mobile apps. Ultimately, however, every product is different — and the best marketers offer a bespoke approach based on the specifics of your product, your users and your industry.
Unless your product is working to keep users engaged, retention will be a challenge. But what does that look like in practice? User retention is a complex topic, but its fundamental concepts include:
Some organizations measure retention by the number of users who reopen an app within 30 days of installing. Others look at repeat usage over a longer period. Some companies get more granular and track retention rates differently by demographic. Determining how to measure user retention is the first step in managing it.
An engaged user is a retained user. It's easy to forget about an app on your phone — push notifications, when used judiciously, are a simple way of staying in your users' consciousnesses. Personalization is another way of making deeper connections with your users, and so is gamification. We cover the benefits of these and other engagement strategies on our App User Engagement page.
The best way to keep people coming back to your app is to give them a reason to return. If your app is buggy, hard to use or visually unappealing, it won't retain users. A forward-thinking design and development company can help you create a product that reflects your vision and delivers seamlessly on its promises.
Paying attention to ratings and reviews can give you valuable feedback about your product that will help you make it better. It's also worthwhile to perform ongoing competitor and market analysis for your mobile app. By looking at your competitors, you'll get a better sense of what works and what doesn't, so you can refine your product accordingly.
Great apps evolve with time and yours should, too. Adding features or expanded capabilities is one of the best ways to reignite interest in your product. Updating an app can be a time-consuming process — and you need to be sure any changes you make will deliver real value to users.
With these concepts as a foundation, it's possible to approach the problem of app user retention from a data-driven, big-picture mindset. However, you need to work with a partner who can synthesize these insights into a coherent strategy.
At Wve Labs, we do it all by leveraging the latest technology together with insights gained from conversations with your team. One of the main benefits of this holistic, full-cycle commitment is that, because we were involved in your app's creation, we'll be better positioned to market it effectively. With a nuanced understanding of your goals, we'll help you tailor engagement and retention strategies for your audience.
To learn more about how we help our clients around the world, contact our office using the form on this page.
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