There’s a common problem often faced by businesses in various industries: the lack of useful metrics that would help them measure their growth, identify opportunities and fix issues. We live in an era of data overabundance, yet too few companies measure their business processes effectively. Find out what metrics to use to minimize hidden costs, predict userbase growth, and more.
Making a business successful is a bit easier said than done. The modern business landscape is littered with competition, which is why you have to find a way to make your company stand out.
Recent studies found that the open rate of push notifications from an app are nearly triple that of emails. This means that when a person downloads your app, you will have an open line of communication with them.
Some business owners think they can set and forget their app, but this is not the case at all. Just like any other piece of technology, this tool will require constant care and maintenance to stay successful. Monitoring certain app metrics can provide you with helpful information that you can use to optimize this piece of technology.
Here are some of the most important app metrics you need to be monitoring.
Assessing Conversions is Crucial
An app’s conversion rate is much more than just downloads. Most apps have a number of specified marketing messages or offers embedded within them. The number of consumers you get to act on these offers is something you need to keep a close eye on.
Often times, low conversion rates will be caused by app instability or even the way offers are presented to the user. If you are noticing your conversion rates have become stagnant, it may be time to shake things up a bit.
A 1 to 2 percent conversion rate is considered good for most apps. However, if you provide gaming apps, you need to shoot for a 10 percent conversion rates. Apps that are developed for the travel industry generally have around a 5 percent conversion rate.
Adequately identifying your conversion goals is essential before you begin monitoring this metric. You need to also keep in mind that a conversion will not always come from a purchase being made. Many apps have social interaction offers and even articles that are meant to inform their audience. Converting app users into consumers of this type of content is also important to the overall success of your program.
What Is Your App’s Churn Rate?
When first releasing your app for mass consumption, you will probably experience an influx of new traffic. However, you will undoubtedly lose users over time. The percentage of app users you lose over time is generally referred to as your churn rate.
You may be asking yourself, why does churn rate matter so much? When you consider that acquiring a new customer is nearly 25 times more expensive than keeping existing ones, you can quickly see how important it is to monitor your churn rate.
There are a number of things that can cause higher churn rates like:
- The overall cost of your app
- A less than stellar onboarding process
- A bad user experience
- Your app is devoid of features
If any of these previously mentioned problems apply to your app, now is the time to fix them. The longer you wait to address these problems, the harder you will find it to avoid losing users.
Customer Acquisition Cost
The key to having success with a new mobile app is creating a detailed marketing plan. Using things like social media and video marketing can help you spread the word about your new app. As time goes by, you need to monitor your customer acquisition cost to ensure you are getting a good return on your marketing investment.
Taking a look at key performance indicators like the amount of competition in the market and the overall penetration of your app is crucial. You will also need to ensure all of the marketing methods being used adequately represent your brand. Failing to monitor customer acquisition costs can lead to you spending a lot of money on marketing methods that just aren’t producing results.
How Many Downloads and Installs is Your App Receiving?
If you are concerned with assessing the overall level of success your app is achieving, you will need to monitor the number of downloads and installs it receives. When monitoring this metric, you need to be aware that this will not tell you the full story of the consumer experience with the program. While having a high number of downloads is a step in the right direction, you will need to dig a bit deeper.
You need to make sure the people who downloaded your app are actually using it. Many consumers will download an app and forget all about it. If you see that people are not engaging with the app, it may be time to go back to the project’s board for a redesign.
Getting an Idea of How Many Errors Are Occurring
Providing users with a functional and reliable app should be one of your main concerns. This is why keeping an eye on the number of errors being generated by your program is so important. If your app is constantly crashing, it will usually result in users deleting it. One of the best ways to stay “in the know” about these errors is by using log4net logging and Papertrail log management{:rel="dofollow"}.
Ignoring your app’s problems will lead to it becoming blacklisted by consumers. While finding and fixing these issues may be difficult, it is definitely worth the effort you invest.
The Average Daily Sessions
Are you curious about how much active users of your app are engaging with it on a daily basis? If so, you need to keep a close eye on the daily average sessions of your loyal users. While you want users to engage with your app on a daily basis, you should focus more on providing them with a unique and user-friendly program. One of the biggest mistakes app developers make is designing programs that are boring or cumbersome to use.
If you want to avoid problems with your app, then allowing a select group of users to beta test it. With the feedback from this beta testing, you will have no problem optimizing your app before it is released to the general public.
Developing a Great App Takes Times
Getting impatient during the app development process is a recipe for disaster. You need to focus on taking your time to ensure the app you release is reliable and easy to use.
Having the right metrics and business processes in place is a great start, but you also need an amazing app with good UX, and an effective way to track your results.
Deliver top experiences to your users by making sure your app is fast, flawless, and fun to use. We can build it for you.
