Did you realize there are over 197 billion app downloads each year? For businesses looking to appeal to modern consumers, having an app is essential.
Whether you run a hair salon, restaurant or a dog grooming service, allowing consumers to connect with your business via this type of technology is important. Most service based businesses construct apps that allow consumers to book appointments, look at price lists or even chat with a member of their team.
Once you have constructed and launched a new app, monitoring certain metrics is vital. Here are some of the most important metrics that matter for your SMB app.
How Are New Downloads Being Acquired?
One of the most important things you need to monitor is the customer acquisition metrics your app is generating. Ideally, you want to figure out how many downloads your app is getting and exactly how these consumers are finding out about you. With this information, you will be able to put your marketing dollars in the right place.
Failing to get this type of information will make it hard for you to keep generating new downloads for your app. If certain marketing methods are not generating the results you think they should, cutting them out of your budget is essential.
Your App’s Activation Rate
Most app developers agree that an activation rate around 85 percent or above is good. If your activation rates dip below this number, you need to do some research to figure out why. There are some consumers that download an app and never launch it.
Some of the most common issues that lead to consumers not launching an app after downloading it are typos or even lengthy registrations. Optimizing your app for success will require a great deal of trial and error. By closely monitoring your activation metrics, you can detect issues quickly and get them fixed.
User Retention Rates
Once you have convinced a consumer to download your app, keeping them loyal should be your main concern. The higher your user retention rates are, the easier you will find it to generate revenue from your app. The average smartphone user has between 60 and 90 apps on their device. Generally, these same smartphone users will only use around 10 percent of these apps on a daily basis.
In order to retain users, you need to keep your app up to date and glitch-free. The best way to catch app errors is by installing a logging program. If you install log4net in your app, finding out about errors will be much easier. Once an error log has been generated, you can do some diagnostic work to figure out how to properly fix the issues at hand.
Monitor App Uninstalls Closely
When trying to track the number of app uninstalls you get, be sure to compare them against the number of daily downloads and activations. By doing this, you can get an accurate churn rate number, which will help you greatly as you try to optimize your app. There are a number of problems that can lead to higher than normal app uninstall rates.
Most users will abandon an app if it loads too slowly or if they feel it is not secure. Constantly testing your app is a great way to discover functionality and security issues. While this type of testing will require you to invest both time and money, it is well worth the investment.
The Number of Crashed Sessions Users Have Experienced
If the app you have provided to users is crashing on a daily basis, chances are you will have a hard time keeping retention rates high. Being aware of how many crashes are happening within your app can help you fix the issues causing these problems in a hurry. Not only will these crashes cause users to get frustrated, it can put your business in a bad light.
Measuring these metrics is easy when downloading a program like Crashlytics. This program will give you detailed information about app crashes like what type of device a user was on and what their battery status was. With this information, you should have no problem getting to the bottom of these issues in a hurry.
Tracking Unresponsive Gestures
As a user interacts with your app, they will use a number of different gestures. In some cases, a user will do things like tap on an image that looks like it has a link embedded in it. Seeing these mistakes can help you optimize your app with ease. If multiple users are making the same gestures without results, you need to fix this to avoid confusion.
The last thing you want is for users to get frustrated due to a series of unresponsive gestures. Letting this happen may lead to consumers getting the wrong idea about the functionality of your program. Many app developers and small business owners use app heat maps to find out about these issues. Once you have detected a problem with unresponsive gestures, your main goal needs to be remedying them in a timely manner.
An Unresponsive App is Never a Good Thing
When receiving error logs labeled ANR, you need to sit up and pay attention. ANR means app not responding, which is a very serious problem that needs to be fixed right away. The first thing you need to figure out when receiving this information is what has caused this problem. Did the app just freeze up or was there a gesture that was made by a user that garnered no response?
Once you have this information, you can begin the troubleshooting process. You need to also figure out how often these problems or occurring and whether or not they are affecting your retention rates. When trying to track this metric, you will need to find a program that has a user recording feature. This feature will give you the information you need to figure out how these issues are unfolding.
Is Your App Being Turned Off By Users?
For most smartphone owners, getting optimal battery life out of their device is a must. Many phones have battery saver features that allow users to turn off certain apps to conserve their battery. While some users may turn off your app to save their battery, others may be doing so out of frustration with your app. Monitoring how many users are killing your app can help you understand where changes may need to be made.
While managing your app may be a bit time-consuming, you need to view it as a priority. If you are putting out an app that allows users to directly interface with your business, you want it to be in pristine shape. The only way to keep your app functional is by closing monitoring various metrics to detect issues before they lead to disaster.
How Long is it Taking New Users to Interact With Your App?
Knowing how long it takes users to interact with your app after the initial download is also very important. If it is taking users a long time to interact with your app after download, chances are you are not making what you offering appealing enough. If you are seeing a trend of users not interacting with your app, then chances are it needs some retooling.
Increasing the appeal of your app may be a good idea when experiencing these problems. If you are requiring a lengthy registration process to uses your app, then you may want to fix this. Most users want to use an app right away, not give away all of their personal information. Eliminating the initial registration process can help you get users interacting with your app in a hurry. You can always get the information you want later on down the line after a user has interacted with your app for a while.
Are Users Making Purchases on Your App?
If your app is geared towards getting users to buy a product or service, then monitoring how many sales are being made is vital. Tracking software programs like Amplitude allow you to monitor user activity in a comprehensive and easy way. Once you have established a baseline for the sales made through your app, you can see when these sales begin to drop off.
Usually, a sudden drop off in sales on your app can be caused by functionality issues or a confusing user interface. Constantly expanding and updating your app is an essential part of keeping it successful.
Ignoring the problems that your users are dealing with may lead to your becoming blacklisted. This means that all of the money and hard work you have invested in your program will be for nothing.
Simply launching an app and neglecting to monitor will lead to big problems. As a small business owner, you need to make sure your app is performing for consumers. If an app is slow or unstable, it can give put your company in a bad light.
Author Bio:
Ashley is an award-winning writer who discovered her passion in providing creative solutions for building brands online. Since her first high school award in Creative Writing, she continues to deliver awesome content through various niches.
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