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As Apple famously said back in 2009, “There’s an app for that.” Actually, 8.93 million of them available today around the world on the Google Play and Apple App stores.* According to a report by Statista, in 2022, users downloaded a whooping 255 billion mobile apps globally.*
Clearly, mobile apps have become an integral and constant part of our daily lives. From exercise to entertainment, social media to productivity, there’s an app for almost every want or need imaginable, with thousands of new apps being created every day.
And the average consumer has 80 apps on their devices,* proving how much they rely on apps to make their lives easier, more fun, more productive. But this popularity begets competition, and so digital brands, app developers, and marketers are constantly on the lookout for how to improve their mobile apps in order to better attract and retain users.
Mobile app analytics is the result of gathering, measuring and analyzing data, generated by app users while they interact with an app. App analytics measure various aspects of an app, such as user acquisition, retention, engagement, conversion, return on investment, and more. This analytical data is the key to understanding an app’s performance, how users engage with it, and where the areas for improvement may lie.
Given the abundance of choices, picking the right tools and metrics according to your business type and your specific needs can be a challenging task. But if you adhere to best practices and use data-backed insights optimally, you can leverage app analytics to:
There are many types of app analytics that can be utilized to measure different aspects of an app. However, they can be broadly categorized into four types:
Technical analytics measure the performance of an app, like crashes, errors, latency, battery consumption, network usage, and more. Technical analytics can help ensure that an app is stable, secure, responsive, and functions efficiently.
User behavior analytics measure a user’s interaction with your app via sessions, events, screens, funnels, flows, cohorts, and more. They help you decipher how users navigate through your app, the actions they take or don’t take, even what features they use or ignore.
User feedback analytics measure how users feel about an app, through ratings, reviews, surveys, NPS, customer satisfaction, and others. User feedback analytics can help brands collect feedback directly from users.
Business analytics measure the business outcomes of an app with aspects such as revenue, retention, conversion, CLV, CPA, ROI, and more. Business analytics enable you to track and optimize your key business metrics and goals.
Now let’s delve into how to set up and utilize the power of mobile app analytics.
1. Define goals and KPIs: Collecting and analyzing data randomly will not help. Clearly define the app goals and KPIs, they should be in sync with the app’s value proposition, target audience, and business model. For example, the primary goal of a gaming app could be to increase user engagement, retention, and revenue, so the key performance indicators could be daily active users (DAUs), average session length, and average revenue per user (ARPU).
2. Choose the right mobile app analytics tool: Different tools provide different features, costs, compatibility, and ease of use that should be compared and evaluated depending on the goals and metrics to be tracked. Choose the tool that can efficiently analyze data and meet the requirements and expectations for your app. Bonus points if it comes with a user friendly dashboard.
3. Integrate with the analytics tool: Once the appropriate analytics tool has been chosen, the app needs to integrate with it by following the instructions from the tool provider. This usually requires adding code or an SDK to the app’s source code and configuring settings in the tool’s dashboard. The app should also comply with any legal or ethical requirements regarding data collection and privacy, such as obtaining user consent, anonymizing user data, and more.
4. Collect and analyze data: Post integration with an analytics tool, apps can start data collection and analysis. Statistics, reports, charts, graphs, and tables that present metrics about the app and its users can be viewed on the tool’s dashboard or console. This data can further be filtered, segmented, exported, or shared with internal teams. Alerts, notifications, and triggers can be set up to inform marketing and sales teams of significant changes or events in the app’s data.
5. Optimize apps and achieve goals: It’s now time to take action. The analytical data at hand can help you identify any problems such as app crashes, glitches, bugs, low engagement, high churn, and more. Knowing these problems lets you take the necessary action to fix these issues.
You can also experiment with different designs, content, and features to find out what works best. Your sales and marketing teams can build data-backed strategies, keeping the user preferences in mind. The data can also help you measure and evaluate the impact of any and all actions on the app’s performance and outcomes.
How do you use mobile app analytics to optimize the app and achieve your goals?
App analytics is an evolving process. It requires continuous monitoring and frequent trials to ensure that your app is optimized and your goals are met. You can make the most of this analytical data by remembering the following four principles:
Metrics matter – Your priority should be analyzing those metrics and KPIs that directly impact the app’s goals; the rest can be disregarded.
Segment and target – Your users are a heterogeneous group. Distributing users in different segments according to their demographics, psychographics, interests and preferences can help you provide them with a personalized experience.
Iterate and optimize – Continuously monitor and optimize your app based on user feedback and analytics to ensure its long-term success.
Privacy and Data Security – It’s crucial to handle sensitive user data responsibly. Be transparent about the data collected and how it will be used. Take the necessary permissions and ensure compliance with relevant data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
Choosing the best mobile app analytics tool for the app depends on various factors, such as the app’s goals, features, size, budget, and platform. Different tools have different features that must be compared to find the one that best fits your app. However an analytics tool is imperative for any app that aims to scale and thrive.
CleverTap’s all-in-one engagement platform gives you the ability to glean actionable insight from your analytics— all to drive user engagement and retention. By leveraging CleverTap’s capabilities, brands can create personalized and effective mobile app experiences. Learn from the success stories of CleverTap’s customers.
Mastering Mobile App Engagement & Retention
