User engagement and app retention are major metrics defining the success of any app. However, achieving the desired app engagement for mobile apps is quite difficult given that there are several competitors in the same niche pitching to the same target audience. You need to work as a team and prepare proper app retention and user engagement strategy to ensure that your user app stays ahead of its peers.
App Retention And User Engagement Strategies
Some of the top app retention strategies that have been tried and tested by small and big businesses alike, showing positive results, are listed as below:
Incentivize
If your app is such that you can have some loyalty programs, rewards, or offers for the users, go ahead with it. It does not just make your app more interactive for the users, but also shows your company in a better light. By providing incentives for the users, you promote your brand to them and they tend to understand the importance of it. Freemium products, discounts, in-app purchases, and rewards can be good ways of engaging the users and monetizing the situation.
In fact, mobile betting apps use this technique to provide information to new sports betting players in countries such as Africa, where sports betting is now just becoming popular.
Having in-app games, quizzes and other methods of rewarding can also prove to be beneficial in case of user retention and engagement. Weight out the various strategies and options available and decide which of them work best for your app. Mix and match multiple processes to create better app retention, user engagement and create more sticky customers.
Simplify The Onboarding Process
The onboarding process is the first thing that the user goes through after installing your app. This process needs to be as smooth and as user-friendly as possible so that they can complete it within a couple of minutes. The more complicated the onboarding process is, the better are your chances that the customer will stay on your app to complete it and go on with the further procedures.
For this, you can reduce the number of steps for the onboarding process or have a video-assisted demo to guide the users through the onboarding process. You can also have some videos or images to reveal some of the app features they might be experiencing.
Have In-App Messages
You can go for in-app messages and notifications for the users as a call to the action method. It is easier for the user to keep track of the next course of action and the actions pending on the app to complete an event. It is an effective way for most top brands to communicate with their users. Make sure that the user’s expectations from the app are taken care of. Over time you will be able to understand what the user requirements are in a better way. It can be a stepping stone for you to make your app better and re-launch it for a better version of itself.
Making The Best Use Of Push Notifications
Push notifications can act as an added mode of communication with the users. It has proved to be a good way to keep in touch with the users and let them know that you are by their side all along their journey through the app. You can have a welcome message template ready for your customers that is sent as they complete their onboarding process. There could be push notifications to inform them about various actions on the app as well. Interacting with the users can also help you re-engage them in the app if they were planning to abandon it for whatever be the reason.
Keep All Communication Channel Open
Make sure to build your app in such a way that it makes you approachable to the user. It is a good idea to keep two-way communication open. You can have a ‘Call-back’ button, an official Email ID, a query form, or other modes in which the customer or the app user can communicate with you in case of any issues or requirements. It will allow you to understand the problem statement better and provide a better solution for the customers in the future. Two-way communication will also help you built a relationship with the user and help you grow sticky customers. Researches have shown the customers tend to respond better if they know you can. If you make your product/service approachable for the customers, you will see that the customers are more interested in them and interact more on the app.