The mobile application development market is getting intense day by day with the release of hundreds of mobile app in the app stores. The introduction of AR and VR technologies has accelerated the app business growth. However, to develop an app that stands out of the crowd and gets users addicted to it requires extra effort on the basic factors of the mobile application development. According to the latest reports on mobile app user retention rates presented by Statista, 55% of mobile app users will abandon an app one month after downloading it, and the number continues to grow to 68% after three months. This has led to low user retention which should be taken into account during the mobile application development process.
The user retention rate is the most reliable and effective way to measure how your mobile app is performing. It serves as a key indicator of your app’s user experience, active users, and performance. It points out whether your app is growing, stable, or indicating signs of decline. These fluctuations are directly affected by the decisions that you make during the development phase.
This article highlights a few essential tips on analyzing and monitoring the key elements to boost your user retention rates and optimizing your mobile app’s UX design. Before diving into the topic, let us first understand what user retention is and how to calculate it.
What is User Retention Rate?
An app’s user retention rate is the percentage of users who are using your app after a certain number of days they first opened it. For example, if 100 users open the app for the first time on day 1, and then 60 reopen it the next day, then the app’s retention rate for Day 1 is 60%. If 10 users are interacting with the app at the end of the month, then the retention rate is 10% for this month.
5 Tips to Better Optimize Your App for Maximum User Retention
1. Start Using Analytics
When it comes to optimizing your app’s UX and increase your user retention, then you need to integrate an analytics platform before publishing. By integrating an analytics tool in your app, you will gain valuable insights into your app’s performance, usability, feature requests, and other metrics that matter to increasing the retention rate. This will help you make more informed decisions for your mobile app.
You may use the action cohorts alongside user session recordings for analyzing user retention and understand how each user interacts with your app. You may hire a reputed mobile app development company for their mobile app development services so that you can get your app integrated with the necessary analytics tools to measure the performance of your app.
2. Optimize the Onboarding Experience
You only have 20 seconds to impress your users, so make sure your app provides a fast and easy onboarding experience. Here is a list of a few dos and don’ts to deliver an excellent onboarding experience for your app users.
Dos – Keep onboarding process short and simple, highlight your app’s USPs, display number of onboarding screens that remain with a progress bar. This keeps your users informed, engaged, and excited to get started with your app.
Don’ts – Do not annoy your users right at the initial phase by bombarding them with too many in-app messages. Never ask your users to rate your app before they have had a chance to complete the onboarding process. Do not force your users to sign up before they have had a chance to explore your app.
3. Analyze Gesture Usability
With the rapid technological advancements in mobile devices, measuring gesture UX can be a big challenge for a mobile app development company or individuals. Making your app’s gesture UX is a crucial aspect of your app’s overall performance.
When resolving gesture UX issues, you must first know who your target audience is. For example, if your target audience is people on the move (online food delivery app or running app), elderly group, (health and fitness app) or children (a gaming or e-learning app), you should make sure that your app’s UI and gestures are optimized according to their dexterity levels. To deliver comfortable user experience, you should consider having all the key elements within thumb reach.
Also read: 7 Top Digital Marketing Strategies To Promote Your Mobile App
Another common problem that arises with mobile app gestures is gesture-based usability issues. One of the best examples of gesture-usability issues is unresponsive gestures. These problems occur when a user taps, swipes, or pinches the screen and expects the app to function in a certain way, but it does not. Unresponsive gestures usually frustrate the user and if not handled, they are likely to abandon the app, thereby leading to a low user retention rate. Using gesture usability analysis tools such as Touch heatmaps is the best way to monitor the physical gestures and not only the interaction.
4. Ensure Smooth and Easy Navigation
The user retention rate is directly affected by the navigation system of your app. Users use an app to perform certain tasks. If they find it difficult to navigate through your app, they will stop using your app and look for alternatives. The first thing you need to keep in mind is the simplicity of navigation. Avoid menus with too many or too few options, show important navigation links clearly, and keep navigations gestures and icons that are known to the user. Always keep your user’s journey in mind and make your app’s navigation simple, smooth, and user-friendly.
5. Run Multiple A/B Tests
A/B test is one of the best ways to improve your retention rates. It is a simple and efficient way to know and understand the decisions your users make in your application. This helps you make well-informed decisions for your app’s improvements that might increase your user retention. Therefore, you should consider having multiple A/B tests running in your app at a given time. You may use a powerful analytics tool with your testing tool to make the most out of your A/B tests.
It is always best to approach a professional mobile app development company that can help you with all the mobile app needs for improving the performance of your app.
Final Thought
Today, most of the retention-related decisions are based on guesswork, knee-jerk reactions, and gut feelings. This means all the efforts are wasted on details that will not really improve the retention rate. To ensure an effective iteration cycle is to treat each element and interaction as part of the complete user journey, which in turn will encourage users to use your app daily. No matter how feature-rich your app is, users will never experience it fully if your retention rate is weak. Make sure you follow these tips to optimize your user experience for maximum user retention.
We, as a leading mobile app development company, understand the importance of user retention for a business and therefore, create stunning app user interfaces and user experiences that keep your users engaged with your app for long hours. By availing our mobile app development services, you are assured of a high-performing, intuitive, user-friendly mobile app enriched with the latest interface designs, features, and functionality that will boost up your user retention rate.
FAQs
Are usability and user experience the same?
Usability involves effectiveness, user satisfaction, and efficiency where users can complete specific tasks easily, whereas, the user experience covers a wider aspect of the user’s interaction with your application.
How much does it cost to design an app’s user experience?
The UX design mainly focuses on the app’s usability which takes a lot of effort. Therefore, standard app design can cost you between $2000 up to $35000 and more. We, at Mobi India, offer reasonable prices for UI and UX designs without compromising the quality.
How much does it cost to build an MVP mobile app prototype?
A standard app prototype with mock-ups may cost about $500. An MVP mobile app having five screens of complete design may cost $1.000 and above. Generally, a design per screen is within $50-70. To get a complete estimate of prototype design, get in touch with our experts today!
