Once your apps are launched in the App Store and Google Play Store, you will gradually acquire users through different channels. It can be both paid and organically through your own channels or through a correct ASO strategy. From this point on, you are faced with the most complicated question: how to increase user retention? So, in this article, we will provide you with four different app retention strategies for mobile apps.
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How to Increase User Retention?
Every day, new apps from all business verticals are created and uploaded to app stores. This means that more and more competitors will come into play when it comes to users choosing our app over the others. You must prepare and execute a 360º strategy that keeps us on top. Not only in terms of visibility but also by offering a robust and reliable product and communicating with our users to understand their needs. This will help you evolve and change each day and always provide a lot of value for your users.
Therefore, today we will talk about four strategies for increasing user retention on mobile apps. We must consider these app retention strategies when it comes to retaining users and making them return to your app to the point of gaining their loyalty. A loyal user is a user who subscribes, makes a purchase, and prefers your app over the others.
1. App Quality – For Mobile App User Retention
The first point we will develop in this post is the most important one. After all, the product we offer is (or “should be”) the first reason to retain our users.
You must have your value proposition clear and know there is an opportunity to satisfy a specific target audience’s needs. So, you have to correctly execute your ideas, not only at the design level but also at the level of usability and user experience. These disciplines have become two of the most important when it comes to having a competitive app.
Nowadays, there are various “job positions” where people with studies and experience in design, programming, and analytics. They are responsible for figuring out how to increase user retention by improving conversion rates and guiding users to use the core of our app.
Therefore, we must always take care and be up to date with what concerns the user experience of our app. Since trends in design and usability are constantly evolving, so our app must evolve with them.
User Onboarding
A very popular method used by leading apps across most businesses is user onboarding, usually done during the first session. Your app onboarding is the first contact between a user and your app. A positive first interaction is vital to building a bond between your mobile app and the user. If the user opens the app for the first time and is not attracted to it, they will most likely uninstall it, and it will be difficult to get them back.
Typically, the main goal of onboarding is to teach the app its main features and benefits. This allows the user to register their login details and collect data that you can use to make your message more personal and valuable to each user.
AB Testing
Another method we recommend using is AB testing screens, which are crucial for your business, such as the paywall. AB testing can be done at all levels, and there are different tools, such as Firebase Remote Config. This tool allows you to perform this type of testing without having to update your app in the stores. Our recommendation is to make screen AB testing a work habit in the product and marketing departments.
Try to depend as little as possible on the technical department, which will probably have more crucial tasks to attend to. One of the most popular AB tests is the payment screen or paywall, as we have mentioned before. Here, you can play with the design with the copies of the premium benefits that you provide to users. It can include prices, promotions, location of elements on the screen and everything else you can think of.
AB testing must follow some guidelines and carefully analyze the data you receive. Keep in mind the volume of users who participate in it as well as the period of time in which you will execute it. A poorly implemented AB test will only provide you with doubts and data with which you will not be able to make decisions. Therefore, it is important to test by category in order to find out how to increase user retention. For example, if you are testing copies, you should not test design changes at the same time. You must go step by step.
2. Communication – Key App Retention Strategies
The second point that has a high impact on the retention of your app’s users is the communication you carry out with them. In this aspect, we are not only talking about how you communicate with them during navigation in the app, but also on social networks, in in-app communications, push notifications, mailing, web, etc. All your communication must be consistent, so you must maintain the same discourse on all channels. Use the same tone. On the other hand, it must be aligned in terms of design.
The first aspect we must consider is the use of multi-channel app retention strategies. This will allow you to explore different communication channels until you find which communication objective is best associated with which channel. For example, you will use push notifications to alert your users of those actions that directly affect their in-app behaviour.
This could include a new challenge in your game, a user who has commented on your photo, a daily training reminder, a % discount on a specific product, etc. You will also use the email to inform them about seasonal promotions or to confirm or follow up on transactional actions. For instance, tracking an order placed, information about changes in policies and legal terms, etc.
In-App Messages (IAM)
As for in-app messages (IAM), they are usually used to get users to take more impulsive actions while browsing the app. They can also be used to ask the user to rate your app in the stores or to ask for feedback on the product. Learning from our users’ opinions is crucial to improving your app and detecting possible bugs.
Once you have developed the communication strategy, it is advisable to personalize the message as much as possible. If you can collect qualitative data from your users from the moment they register in your app or while they are browsing it. It is your duty to study the different habits and behaviours of your users. It will help define the audiences to whom you will address in order to offer them what we see as adding value to them.
Personalization & Deep Links
The more personal the message you send to your users, the more you will attract their attention. So the more likely you will be to have them interact with your app again. It is also advisable to practice AB testing in communication, as most communication tools on the market allow it. Test different copies with different instructions for the user, with emojis, without emojis, button colours, different calls-to-action (CTA) etc.
Finally, you must keep in mind the development of deep linking in your app. With deep links, you can ensure that when a user clicks on your message, they are redirected to the section or destination they expect to find within the app. And not to the main screen, where they will have to navigate until they reach their destination. Deep links are an important strategy to promote engagement with a mobile app and to improve the user experience.
3. UA (User Acquisition)
If you have a generous user acquisition budget, you can test different channels on both operating systems: Android and iOS. If you have a mobile attribution tracker (AppsFlyer, Adjust, etc.), you can access retention analysis categorized by channel and campaign.
One of the most popular techniques among UA managers is the study of those channels that provide you with greater user retention. It means those that provide you with higher-quality traffic to your apps. Once you have obtained sufficient data from the different acquisition channels in which you have launched and optimized different campaigns. It is time to analyze the behaviour and retention at seven, fourteen-, and thirty-day intervals after installation.
This may uncover aspects that may shock you, such as discovering that your budget is oriented towards a channel that offers you good installation costs. But the users you capture through it do not perform in-app actions after downloading, or they do not even keep the app installed.
This is a clear example of how cheap often ends up being expensive. It is important that you do not limit your analysis of retention data to the channels. But rather delve deeper into the campaigns that have been launched on each of the channels. It’s because you can also detect that a message or creative generates users of better or worse quality. From here, you direct the message and the creatives of your campaigns to those slogans that give you better quality users and with a greater predisposition to carry out in-app events after downloading.
4. Content – Key to App Retention Strategies
The last aspect to consider in order to increase user retention in your app is creating good content. It is true that the generation of content might not be important for all businesses, but it can help you at different levels:
- Viralization
- SEO and visibility
- Community building
- Meet new user needs
- Improve brand image
- Attracting new users
- Approaching our target
- Educate current and potential users
- Serve as a reference or expert in the field
- Connecting with our users on an emotional level
Conclusion on Mobile App User Retention
Now you know how to increase user retention for your app using different app retention strategies to help your business grow. However, if you still have any questions, do let us know. If you still don’t have an app and want to build an app for your business, Appstylo helps you do it without coding within minutes.