App engagement is crucial to an app’s success. A good app is not only measured by the number of downloads but also by the percentage of retention. Your app is not achieving the targeted mark of success if it merely sits in your target users’ device but rarely opened.
Here are the best practices you can engage in for increasing user retention rate for your mobile app:
Build a remarkable product:
The core identification of great app is defined by ‘great user experience’. Your app has made it to the list of remarkable products if the user feels at home. For example, fitness apps such as Google Fit, Freeletics etc. are sense based to track a user’s movement and fitness performance. They have integrated all the features, which a user may require to support his/her fitness journey.
Focus on quality and educate yourself more about advanced OS features, latest trends & updates, tips and best practices. Here are the pre-requisites of building a remarkable app:
- Write good code
- Make quality performance the central agenda
- Run quality tests
- Track bugs and fix them frequently
- Launch periodic updates
- Focus on app improvement
Ensure smooth onboarding:
On-boarding is the first pedestal for users to experience your app. Make sure you leave no
stones unturned to deliver a diligently designed and thoroughly tested app and smooth user
journey to the potential users.
- Manage permissions effectively – ask what’s right at the right point (Delay the
permissions in the case of iOS & Android Marshmallow onwards. Stretch as far as
you can to trigger user retention.)
- Reduce coach marks- more the instructions, less the user interaction, keep it short
- Smart signing- give a sneak peek of key features before asking them to sign in
- Justify signing up – users should know what they are signing up for, elaborate the
benefits. Don’t overload the users with the information.
- Build an Engaging user interface – user experience is based on the UI, build a sophisticated
one.
Test your app for quality:
Your app must go through a meticulous quality assurance process to ensure the user does
not abandon it due to poor performance issues. A user is likely to stop using the app
immediately if it showcases repeated signs of crashes, lags, slow load or any other errors.
Make sure you keep a track of front end as well as backend functioning of the app.
Partner with experienced developers to work on your mobile app project to avoid quality related
issues.
Use push notifications wisely
As per the recent research reports, apps using push notification wisely are experiencing
improvement in user retention from 56% to a 180%. It is a remarkable number in the app
segment and therefore it is recommended that you keep reminding your users about your
app that they have downloaded. Use creative and engaging messages to show up in the
notifications so that users are intrigued but not disturbed.
Launch updates frequently
An app always has room for improvement. As the operating system upgrades and user
expectations increase, it is important that you keep launching updates to keep your app
relevant for the users. Failing to do this may decrease the user retention percentage.
Conclusion:
User retention is as challenging as developing a brilliant app. Overall optimized and
satisfactory user experience are the key factors that retain the users and make them faithful
towards your app. Mobile personalization is one of the key aspects to an engaging app. With
personalization, you are able to offer your users with more relevant and unique experience.
