Mobile apps introduce great possibilities for businesses, giving your business the opportunity to be in the hands of users; hence, it’s important to make your app worthwhile. If you think developing and releasing a mobile app is “good enough,” you are mistaken. To make your app successful, apply Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Always measure the app’s success to enhance branding, revenue and more user engagement, using appropriate metrics for these target goals.
This article discusses some important key app metrics to analyze and how these parameters will help in calculating the success of your mobile application.
1. App crash rate. If your app is programmed accurately, the chances are it won’t crash. However, app stability also depends on the complete mobile experience including the mobile platform, app type, usage, maturity and more. The average crash rate of an app is two to three percent. At present, the crash rates of Android 6.0 and iOS 9 are 2.52 percent and 2.70 percent, respectively.
2. Application latency. Latency refers to the round-trip time from a request for a response. The rule of thumb is to optimize to a one-second response time. Along with tracking API latencies, you should watch over the complete response time for applications that are powering the APIs. (Tip: Choose a third-party application whose response time is quick.) The data show that moderately 60 percent of users abandon the transaction or may even delete the app if the total response time is over three to four seconds.
3. Application load. The app load parameter refers to the transaction number and calls during a specific time interval. You need to look not just at how to grow the application faster but also how to handle large numbers of users at the same time. As the load increases, the performance of app shouldn’t decrease. You need to know how to handle dramatic changes in load during app usage spikes without compromising on speed. (Tip: Choose a high-speed, dedicated cloud server to avoid real-time app load problems.)
4. DAU v. MAU. App loyalty is critical in measuring the success of your app. Do you know 50 million apps are downloaded daily and 95 percent of apps are discarded in a month? This is alarming! You need to evaluate daily active users (DAU) and monthly active users (MAU) trends. This way you will have an important statistic on active and engaged users’ app usage behavior. The data will not just help determine how in-app offers would sway mobile app usage pace but also will conclude the functioning of new features and marketing campaigns.
5. App retention rate. App user retention is currently the biggest challenge of mobile apps. The retention rate metric will allow you to analyze the app’s success and what features are ineffective in engaging app users. To make your app successful, you need to strive for longevity of installed apps in users’ devices and pay attention to the app’s retention rate. It will help you improve your app as per the requirement to retain as many users as possible. You can use “cohort analysis” to measure mobile app retention; it’s available in most mobile analytics tools.
6. App star ratings. App star ratings are an effective way to measure mobile app loyalty metric in mobile app stores. Research finds that, before downloading or purchasing a mobile application, mobile app users seek not less than a four-star app. Apps with higher star ratings are more predictable to be downloaded in contrast to apps with lower star ratings. Star ratings give a good indication of an app’s quality, speed, interface, user friendliness and more. Hence, it’s a great way to evaluate and drive the success of mobile applications.
So, there you have it: six important mobile app metrics to measure your enterprise mobile app. Now you know some important parameters to gauge your existing app’s performance, start tracking data to improve your app performance and, most importantly, take action to fix the errors and shortcomings of your app to make it a big hit in the app stores.
Ravi Sharma is a Sales & Business Head at Girnar Software (SEZ) Private Limited, an offshore mobile app development company. He has over 16 years of experience in software development, mobile app development, project management and channel sales management. You can reach him on Twitter.