6 Strategies To Increase User Retention: Learn The Secrets To Your App Success

So you have developed and launched your app. Congrats.

In the coming weeks, more and more people will be downloading your app from the app stores. And as the download numbers pile up, you’ll start feeling more and more successful with your app. But is the download number everything?

Turns out that download numbers are not everything. When it comes to the success of a mobile app, you need the combination of a high number of downloads and ‘user retention’.

User retention is basically getting the users to come back to your app again and again. Many users download an app and use it once; only to uninstall it and never to use it again.

Let’s face it, we have all done it at least once.

So how are you going to bring the users back to your app again and again? How are you going to make sure that they open your app every day? Well, here are six strategies for you to gain and retain users seamlessly.

1. Easy Onboarding Process - Go Easy On Your Users

The onboarding process is the first impression the user is going to have of your app.

It is all about how the user starts using your app. The onboarding process is all about signing up and creating an account, going through that first part of tutorials where the user tries to understand how your app is going to work. The onboarding process is the first step to retain users.

Which is why you need to make the onboarding process easiest. Too many steps to sign up, or too many information fields while creating the account is only going to make the user feel overwhelmed, and they are sure to abandon the app on the very first five minutes of using it.

So when developing, remember the three most important things about the onboarding process-

1. Make the onboarding process as easy and simple you can.
2. If possible, introduce social media sign up. This way, the user can sign up with one tap.
3. Do not overload the user with too many information at the very beginning. Give them all the information about the app as they go on using it, not at the same time.

2. Relevant Content For Your Users At Relevant Time

No one likes to be overwhelmed with too many information all at once.

Especially when they are using an app. You might feel like you need to provide the users with all the information to make the user experience nice for them. And you might just end up doing the exact opposite.

But that doesn’t mean that you are not going to give the users any information about the app and how it works, leaving them to figure it out all on their own. To increase user retainment, what you need to do is to provide the right information at the right time.

Say they are at the home screen and as they explore the app, you can provide the information relevant to the section of the app they are at. Giving them information on how to edit their profile while they are on the home screen of the app is not going to help them.

So, now you know how to use the information to retain users for your app through information. Do not overwhelm your users with loads of information all on one go. Provide them useful information at the right time.

3. Push Notifications- Use Them Properly. Don’t Overwhelm

One of the most important elements of increasing user engagement is the feature of push notifications. It is also the element that can make you lose users if used in an improper way.

What is the improper way of using push notifications you ask? Well, the improper way would be to send the users notification every five minutes of the day. The users don’t like receiving too many notifications, as they can be quite distracting and disruptive. So doing this will make them uninstall your app as soon as they can.

So send them push notifications, but sparingly. You don’t want the users to be so annoyed with your app that they uninstall your app.

Also, give them an option to turn off the notifications through the settings. This way they will be able to handle the notifications flow themselves.

4. Personalization Elements In Mobile Apps

When it comes to personalization elements in mobile apps, we do not mean changing the app theme to something the user will like. When it comes to the personalization, it goes deeper than how the app looks. It is about the content of the app that is being shown to the user.

Personalization helps to increase user retention. The more relevant the content is to the user, the more they will come back to your app again.

So give the users the option to pick the kind of content they want to see. This way they will engage with your app more and use it almost every day. Otherwise, you can use machine learning to recognize the kind of content the user is interacting with, and show them relevant content they might like.

Along with this, give the users options to handle and change different elements in the app, such as notification settings, app brightness, the viewing section, etc. you can also use the user’s name on the homescreen messaging to give them an extra sense of comfort when it comes to using your app.

Tailoring your app to the user is not only going to get you more users, but it will also work to retain those users for you, giving your app a better chance at success.

5. Rewards For Engagement

Everyone likes to be rewarded.

From a five-year-old child to a fifty-year-old man, everyone like to get rewarded. And this is a strategy you can implement in your app. By rewarding the users for engaging with your app, you can increase the retention rate.

The rewards, however, depend on the kind of business model your app employes. If your app contains in-app currency, then you can reward the users with a bundle of the in-app currency for opening the app every day. By offering them premium services for free for referral, coupons or special codes for any e-commerce app will be the perfect way to have them come back to your app every day. After all, as we mentioned at the very beginning of the point: everyone like to be rewarded. So if you have an app idea and want to hire services for mobile app development NYC or any other city, you have to make sure that you get more user retention through rewards and engagement.

6. Two-way Communication

Just like you want your app users to use your app, the users too want you to listen to their input about your app.

Which is why your app needs a two-way communication channel. So that the users can talk to you directly in case of any problems with the app rather than leave negative comments on the app store.

Addressing any questions and doubts they might have about your app is the perfect way of getting loyal users who will be more prone to use your app for a long time.

The Takeaway

Succeeding in this competitive app market is not an easy task. Getting more and more downloads is not enough, you need more users who would use your app regularly rather than using it once and never using it again. So what are your app struggles? What do you think about user retention? Comment below to discuss further!