90 Day Mobile App Retention Rates = 4%

Feature Image Credit: eMarketer

This Just in: 4% of Mobile App Users...

Return to use an app again after 90 days, per research from Appboy in a new eMarketer report. That's down from 24% on average (23% iOS and 27% Android) for day 1. While this may sound discouraging, there are a few things to keep in mind about this and similar data points:

1. Many apps do nothing to optimize their user retention rates – for apps that do, the story can be significantly different.
2. Even with a 4% retention after 90 days, a top-ranked app will still have nearly 10,000 active users from that single day's newly acquired users. A one percentage point improvement could yield an extra 2,400 active users after 90 days.
3. Retention rates vary by category, with the largest share of apps (games) often skewing aggregated, average retention rates lower.
4. Only ~5% of users make an in-app purchase, meaning that many mobile app businesses are sustained, despite having low numbers of active users. 95/5 is the new 80/20 rule.

The Bottom Line: Rather than viewing optimizing for user retention as secondary to filling the acquisition funnel, app marketers must make improving user retention a priority in order to succeed.

Original Source: eMarketer via @Thomasbcn

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