Where did the app users leave?
Every year at Localytics, we study data to calculate the number of users still interacting with the application after the first download. We are not surprised to find that over time, applications are increasingly losing many users. This is evidence that brands still have a lot of work to do to retain users or otherwise become victims of Mobile Engagement Crisis.
Research method: Localytics is the leading mobile engagement platform with more than 2.7 billion devices and 37,000 mobile and web applications. Each month, Localytics carries out 120 billion point data. Localytics surveyed users who still interact with the application within 30, 60 and 90 days after downloading. High-performance applications are defined as applications with more than 1 million MAUs (Monthly Active User – Monthly active User). The time frame of this study is 06/2015 – 06/2016.
Applications are failing to deliver high quality experiences that meet user expectations. Although mobile still holds the position of interacting with many brands, brands do not fulfill their responsibilities. As a result, users are changing dramatically.
From last year's annual data, the retention rate for users for 1 month after downloading, fell from 42% to 37%. By the 3rd month, the number of users changing the app increased from 75% to 80%.
According to the above data, Media & Entertainment applications have the highest user retention rate over the first 3 months with 40% of users returning to the app in the first month. This is not surprising because the advent of web and mobile applications is leading the way in listening to music, receiving information, watching videos / TV and reading news. Meanwhile, Game applications continue to struggle to keep users, when there is the lowest average retention rate in the first 3 months.
According to the data, there is a clear difference between high-performance applications and the general market. These are popular apps, trusted by many people and build a large user base.
In particular, Travel & Lifestyle applications have been able to assert themselves in the same industry and retain a large number of users within 3 months after downloading the app. A recent TripAdvisor study found that: 42% of travelers around the world use smartphones to plan or book tickets. So if Travel apps want to keep users successful, these apps need to continue to develop personalized campaigns for different user segments.
Source: IDE Academy via Localytics