Congratulations! You developed a mobile app and it’s live on App Store and/or Google Play– you’ve really come a long way. Now, it’s time to see some measurable results and update your strategies accordingly. We know that there are tons of KPIs and it may be challenging to prioritize them. We’ve gathered the top 15 KPIs that will help you create strong growth strategies, and guide your journey in accelerating your app. Here we go!
1. App Downloads
App Downloads are one of the keystones of mobile app marketing KPIs as everything begins with the very first download! Most other mobile app performance metrics are built upon app downloads metric and it is a strong indicator of popularity. But, bear in mind that app downloads don’t necessarily mean a successful app– you also need good engagement metrics to ensure your app’s success which we’ll mention in a bit.
2. Cost Per Install
Cost per install is a measure of how much you are spending to acquire customers after they see an advertisement for your app. There is more emphasis on tracking paid installs than organic ones in the system. As a result, CPI helps you determine whether or not your paid advertisements are viable and sustainable.
CPI is calculated as such:
CPI = Total ad spend / total installs
3. Retention rate
Being an essential KPI for especially gaming apps, retention is related to user loyalty. Retention rate is the percentage of users who keep engaging with your app over time. You can track retention at 1 day, 7 days, 21 days or 30 days. The latest data from Adjust shows that, over a 30-day period, 6% for Android and 7% for iOS are the averages.
Due to the increasing competition of apps, and the decreased attention span of users, retaining users is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve and will continue to be a valuable metric. The retention rate is calculated as:
Retention = number of monthly active users/number of monthly installs
4. Churn Rate
The churn rate shows the number of users who stop using or uninstall an app within a given period. It is the opposite of the retention rate. The lower churn rate is a good indicator of a healthy mobile app. You can calculate the churn rate with this formula:
Churn rate = 1 – (number of monthly active users/number of monthly installs)
5. App Open Rate (Sessions)
A high open rate means stick users! This metric shows how engaged your users are with the app. Ideally, the open rate varies from app to app, but a steady increase shows that users are starting to find more reasons to come back to your app. It can also help you track high and low traffic.
6. Session Length
Session length means the amount of time the user spends on each session. You need to know if their app’s mission is best served by keeping users in the app for as long as possible or by returning them as quickly as possible. This can be determined by session length. You can calculate session length as:
Session length = Time user becomes inactive – time app was launched
7. Session Interval
A session interval is the amount of time between sessions. In general, shorter session intervals are better. Longer intervals mean that your users don’t have a reason to return and engage with the app. Just like App Open Rate, this metric shows the ‘’stickiness’’ of your app and gives you instant feedback on user engagement.
8. Post-Install Performance Metrics
Specifically important for food & drink, shopping, and finance apps, post-install performance indicates the events after the app has been installed. These could be installed to first purchase, installed to sign up or installed to order, and so on. You should analyze your post-install event, choose the one that has the greatest prospect of future revenue, and work on increasing that specific KPI.
9. Daily Active Users
Pretty self-explanatory, DAU indicates the number of users on a daily basis. DAU can help you measure the potential for growth and popularity of your app– showing you whether or not your users find it useful to open your app every day. The definition of an ‘’active user’’ is different from let’s say a gaming app and a social media app. So, first, you need to know what active users mean to you and start measuring from there.
10. Life Time Value (LTV)
Probably the single most important KPI for measuring gross revenue and performance is LTV (lifetime value). It’s easy to get engrossed in downloads, CTR, impressions, and session time, and these metrics are very significant. However, if your customers don’t convert, don’t spend money in the app, or don’t subscribe, all of these interactions are unproductive. By calculating and evaluating your LTV, you can set realistic CPA, CPI, and other mobile advertising caps and limits to help optimize your marketing and advertising efforts.
11. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
Also known as cost per conversion, CPA measures the cost of a user taking an action that leads to conversions such as a click, a purchase, a sign-up, or an app download and many more. Let’s you had a successful ad campaign that cost $1000, and you received 50 conversions. Your CPA would then be:
$1000 / 50 = $20
CPA provides an important business perspective that helps you determine whether your campaign is successful. The vast majority of marketers, however, don’t consider cost optimization and focus on traffic and sales acquisition. You can increase your return on investment (ROI) within a relatively short period of time by optimizing cost and reducing the cost per acquisition.
12. Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI measures the amount of revenue generated per any given cost (or investment) on marketing or other services. Regardless of the industry, you are in, monitoring ROI is an essential part of your app’s growth journey, as ROI gives you a good ides of the app’s success and financial potential. When your acquisition and campaign costs are lower than the app’s earnings, the ROI has a positive figure.
ROI is calculated by; (Gain from Investment – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment
13. Conversion Rate
One of the most beneficial mobile marketing metrics is the conversion rate, which represents the rate at which you meet your objectives. While conversion means any desired action, the conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors. There are two types of conversion rates: organic and paid.
The organic conversion rate refers to the rate at which an unpaid discovery leads to a conversion. Organic search, app store listings of related apps, word-of-mouth marketing, and influencer marketing are all included in the organic rate. If any of them lead to your app being found, it is an organic conversion.
A paid conversion rate is a conversion rate generated through paid discovery. A paid marketing activity can be anything from a banner ad on a website to a sponsored post on social media.
14. User Growth Rate
User growth rate indicates the percentage increase in users within a given time period. This metric indicates whether the growth rate is steady, fast, or slow. You can explore solutions, such as advertising activities or pricing campaigns, by analyzing this mobile app performance metric.
15. Average Revenue Per User
Being a vital metric or marketers, product managers, and executives; ARPU stands for average revenue per user (or unit) and is a measurement that determines, how much money mobile apps generate from a single customer on average. When you know the ARPU of your lowest and highest valued users, you can optimize your marketing activities based on which campaigns are performing well. Additionally, ARPU complements metrics such as cost per install (CPI) and cost per action (CPA). You can calculate ARPU as such:
Revenue generated in the previous month/number of users
There you have it, folks! Understanding each of these metrics is essential if you want to select the most appropriate ones for your mobile app. As AppSamurai, we not only help your app accelerate growth, but we also assist you with determining what would be your most critical KPIs and which kind of campaigns you need to launch to achieve them.
Want to learn more? Get in touch with us!