I've written before about the secret no one in the mobile business likes to talk about: Low app retention rates. A report by Localytics found that the overall average retention rates for apps ranged between 18% and 24% over the last four years. It defines retention rate whether people were still using an app within three months of when they first opened it.
One of the best ways to improve retention rates is to personalize your app --- it keeps people engaged and consistently using it. Personalizing mobile apps is easier than you think. This DZone blog by Justin Perro shows eight ways you can personalize your app.
Best Tips for Personalizing Apps
Rather than repeat every one of the eight steps, I'll highlight what seem to me the four most important ones as detailed in the blog:
Read Alpha Software's survey results that identify the top 10 end-user features for highly adopted and used mobile apps.
One of the best ways to improve retention rates is to personalize your app --- it keeps people engaged and consistently using it. Personalizing mobile apps is easier than you think. This DZone blog by Justin Perro shows eight ways you can personalize your app.
Best Tips for Personalizing Apps
Rather than repeat every one of the eight steps, I'll highlight what seem to me the four most important ones as detailed in the blog:
- Send push messages to users based on their location. Mobile, after all, is all about location. So sending relevant information to people based on where they are will keep them interested and engaged. The information can be about nearby services and shopping, places of interest and so on. For example, ProximIT sends push messages to people based on their proximity to MBTA public transportation in the Boston area, telling them when nearby buses and trains are arriving.
- Track users' recent interactions in the app. There's a good chance that they'll want to continue doing what they did the last time they used the app, so make it easy for them to go to their last interaction. A good example of this is how Spotify remembers the last music someone listened to.
- Suggest content based on past user data. If someone has previously read election news, for example, your app should recommend similar content. Flipboard does a good job of this, taking into account articles that you've "liked" and your preferences.
- Populate the app with previous purchased items. If someone has bought a certain brand of shampoo or vitamins, there's a good chance they'll want to buy it again. So save the items they've bought before and make them visible so it's easy to buy. The master of this is Amazon.
Read Alpha Software's survey results that identify the top 10 end-user features for highly adopted and used mobile apps.
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