Developing the ‘perfect mobile app’ that fits your business proposition is undoubtedly an impressive feat. To truly reap the rewards of this time and cost intensive investment, however, it is critical for companies to gain and retain their mobile app users.
Mobile App User Retention Rate: Why Measure It?
Retention rate is the percentage of people who continue to use your platform over a given period of time (week, month or quarter). Mobile app user retention rate is a metric for measuring an application’s engagement and predicting its long-term success. The graph below elicits the retention rate on Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 of mobile app installs by category worldwide, as of August 2020.
Mobile app user retention rate worldwide 2020, by vertical
Source: Statistica.com
Interestingly, regarding the Health and Fitness category, while there is 20.2% user retention on Day 1, it falls dramatically to 4% by Day 30. Given the considerably high initial uptake, there is massive potential for companies to better retain these customers. This emphasizes the need to employ tools with a keen focus on building user retention. User onboarding is one such mechanism through which business enterprises can not only gain mobile app users but also retain them.
What is User On-boarding?
User on-boarding is the process of getting new mobile app users to understand and engage with your application enough to keep using it, instead of abandoning it after the first use. According to Fortune, more than 75% of the people that download apps open the application once and never come back. Thus, a flimsy and ill-thought-out on-boarding process can be a dealbreaker for any mobile app.
Here, we discuss some of the ways through which you can ensure that your on-boarding system is top-notch and laser-focused on maintaining as well as increasing your mobile app user retention rate.
1. Highlight your value proposition in a short and concise way:
From the perspective of a first-time app user, it is not advisable to show a laundry list of functionalities. Rather it is essential to focus on the value proposition which would be most important to a new user. Therefore, before embarking on this step, it is crucial for you to know your target audience as well as what they are looking for as they download your mobile application.
Markitech has developed the SenSights.AI digital health app as an intelligence platform for older adults and their home caregivers. After downloading, the app’s welcome page highlights its key value propositions in an eye-catching yet precise manner.
Screen 1 Screen 2 Screen 3
Tutorials are another great way to introduce new users to the application. However, they can be tricky to execute well.
As with the welcome or on-boarding screens, keep tutorials short and crisp, without bombarding the new user with too much information. Lastly, give the user the option to skip tutorials if they prefer. Nothing puts off new users more than being forced to take actions that they would rather not.
2. Keep things simple and minimize user registration:
Since most mobile apps want their new users to register with them, it is essential that the registration process is kept simple and minimalistic. Asking for too much personal information upfront, including credit card details etc, can push away new users who would rather familiarize themselves with and build trust in the app before handing over personal information. It is estimated that 60% of users uninstall an app after finding out how much personal information it would require. Another option to simplify registration is to allow users to log into the application with their social media accounts such as Facebook, Google, LinkedIn etc. to save user time and effort.
Accounting for this, Markitech’s SenSights.AI mobile app has a straightforward registration process asking only for a username and password, followed by an email authentication code. The latter being for user data security purposes.
3. Connect with the user with in-app messaging and push notifications:
In-app messaging refers to receiving a message while the application is in use, allowing users to easily walk through the app experience. This can be used at certain intervals to inform the user about new features and sharing essential information such as pricing. Again, the major purpose of doing this is to pace out the information sharing without overwhelming the new users, while ensuring that the user gets the information when and where they need it.
SenSights.AI’s mobile application populates with simple yet informative alerts regarding important patient wellness informatics such as Infection Risk Score, location tracking, fall detection and threshold breeches in vital signs monitoring.
On the other hand, push notifications are messages that go directly to the user’s home screen. These are critical and if done right with the convincing, yet personalized messaging, ensure that the user trusts in and returns to the app.
Closing Thoughts…
User on-boarding is a critical phase of the mobile app roll-out process and, if done meticulously, can reap immense rewards in terms of soaring retention rates. This can be accomplished by spacing out information sharing and not deluging new users with unnecessary details too early in the on-boarding process. Secondly, you should keep the registration process short and simple, so as to not overwhelm new users. Lastly, connect with mobile-app users through in-app messaging and push notifications to ensure they stay engaged throughout the on-boarding process and beyond.
What is Markitech?
As a niche IT solutions and professional services provider, Markitech is a digital transformation company based in the US and Canada, with software engineers and data scientists primarily focused on developing artificial intelligence (AI) applications for the healthcare and telecommunications industries.
We provide services such as custom application development and prototypes, innovative end-to-end solutions leveraging AI/5G/Cloud/IoT, creative UI/UX designs, iOS/Android mobile, web and wearable app development and staff augmentation tools and training programs.
Markitech has completed several game changing solutions including SenSights.ai, vEYEtals, YourDoctors.Online, Signia, and many more.
Book a free consultation today to see how can help digitally transform your business at https://markitech.ca/our-services/
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Contributor: Mariam Javed
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