Mobile Retention

What Is Mobile Retention?

Mobile retention is the continual engagement an app has with its users.

How Does Mobile Retention Work?

Studies show that just 21 percent of us continue to use an app after more than one day, posing a particular challenge for marketers who want to see a good return on their app investment. There are a number of mobile retention strategies that marketers can use to encourage users to carry on using an app, and this is relevant at every stage in the customer lifecycle, from the point of initial app download to incentivizing dormant users to re-open the app and convert.

A hugely important factor to consider is personalization. Studies have shown that conversions can increase by 18 percent in those users who have been targeted with personalized notifications, even something as simple as using their first name in an email. However, personalization can go much further than this, for example, changing an app‰’s homepage depending on user location. This will provide more relevant content for users and assure them that messages have been tailored for their specific needs, thus increasing the chances of long-term retention. Once marketers have set up personalization, based upon data gleaned from user habits and demographics, they can then go on to automate these notifications to save time.

Marketers should also be wary, however, of keeping an app fresh, this means alerting users to app updates and continuing to provide an engaging user experience. These new features should be announced across multiple channels to guarantee the best user engagement, for example push notifications, in-app messages and emails.

These channels have been proven to be effective for retaining mobile app customers, for example, studies show that simply implementing push notifications can increase app retention rates by 20 percent. Moreover, whilst personalization has been proven to increase conversion rates, studies also show that retention rates can be up to seven times higher when users feel targeted based upon their individual traits or behaviors.

What Does Mobile Retention Mean For Marketers?

For marketers, customer retention is fast becoming more important than customer acquisition. As the mobile app market becomes more competitive, the first step to acquiring more customers grows more expensive every day, so it is a better investment for marketers to have five returning customers than 10 dormant new users. So, a user who has been targeted personally will feel more incentivized to engage and convert, providing a better ROI.

That being said, mobile retention strategies can, in some cases, also have an indirect effect on organic acquisition, for example, by inviting current users to rate an app, more mobile users will see 5-star ratings, thereby increasing download rates.

Ultimately, then, mobile retention strategies are the perfect platform for announcing changes to your users, helping to keep an app constantly optimized and engaging for users of all different behaviors and tastes.

Discover the secrets behind mobile retention and ROI with Leanplum‰’s Retention, Revealed: Need-to-Know Facts Behind App Retention & ROI guide.