Key indicators of mobile application business

"What is the most important indicator data for mobile applications?" a netizen asked. This is a good question, to answer it, it is difficult to say, simple and simple

In fact, for mobile applications are good or bad, there is no common key performance indicators (key configured indicator, short KPI) can be used to judge, in this, science and technology blog site Mashable that 9 content can be used as a basis for judging indicators.

As we all know, for all application providers, the application download volume is a key data, but if there is no content to support, download volume is just a piece of paper. "Downloads are a triumph for winning the application, but that does not mean a real success," said Bleint Debo, Interactive, executive vice president of Bite, the action application. Now there are too many brands that still use it as a TV ad, using ' attention ' to determine the success of the application. ”

Application strategy

Apps offer a unique opportunity for branded companies, but they know that apps and application sites are two different things. The best application has the "stickiness", lets the user realize the application own value. Imagine that your brand has the opportunity to use it all the time, so don't waste the possibility. Your application should provide fresh and stimulating content to enhance customer experience, enhance user loyalty and enhance brand affinity. For example, the United States Professional Football League (Major League as, referred to as MLS) and mobile application development company Double Encore to develop an application, and users only through the application to view the score, watch the game. Conversely, if the application is developed as the ultimate partner of the fans, let the user enjoy the football culture and bring the information and experience that the website cannot provide. "In this way, the application has the ' viscosity ' and the user can get an unexpected experience," said Amily Grossman, a encore internal marketing and community manager. ”

Said ' viscosity ', you will think, compared to the application of download, the application of the importance of the rate of how much, you know, the application of the use rate represents the user's enjoyment, application efficiency and value. In the process of downloading, opening, registering and using the application, the user churn rate is very large. Brands should focus on those who complete the above steps and interact with the application on a regular basis.

Of course, user participation data varies according to industry category. Independent social Media marketing agency Engauge company Mobile innovation Strategy analyst Ashley Twist (Ashley Twist) said that for applications, each enterprise should have specific goals, and then the most relevant to the target data as a measure of the success of the application technology. For example, the key data indicator for H&rblock, the US's biggest tax-service provider, is how many subscribers make an appointment, but a business application focuses on the average size of the purchase and when the user abandons the purchase.

"There is no right or wrong on what data the enterprise should analyze," Twist said. "She believes that enterprises should start from a strategic sense, for the application of specific functions and application of the overall set goals to determine success criteria."

In addition to goal materialization, keep in mind that you want users to be able to register, recommend to friends, share content, buy items, bind to social networks, and so on. "These need to track the data to find out what steps the user has successfully completed." More importantly, know what the user has not done, and what their alternative behavior is. Henry Cipolla, co-founder and chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Localytics, a mobile analytics firm, said Henry Sibora.

So, less gossip, here are 9 key data that can be used to evaluate the success of mobile applications.

1. Utilization Rate

People in the use of the application, to obtain value, such as whether the application can order meals, can be used to kill time, or whether to improve efficiency and so on. "A truly successful application provides users with a clear solution to the problem and succeeds in ensuring that users reuse the application." "Debo said," and by the user ' seal ' for the application is dead. ”

However, in addition to pure use, it is also necessary to understand the user's age distribution, frequency of use, use, time spent, equipment and systems and other information. Through these interactive data, the brand can know the use of the application, see their strengths and weaknesses, help the brand resource allocation, strengthen the application, improve user participation, and thus improve revenue.

2. Lifetime value

"Lifelong value is the most time-tested data in active marketing, as it is for applications," Grossman said. "In short, lifetime value is the value of mobile users over non mobile users." If the loyalty and expense of mobile users is higher than that of ordinary customers, this means that your mobile strategy is feasible.

How to quantify ' value ' depends on your purpose. A music application may be measured by the length of the content, the value of the retail application may lie in the purchase, and the game may depend on the purchase in the application. The point is that understanding the value of the application to different consumers means you can compare users, find out which features are more popular, and what needs to be improved.

3. Retention Rate

If your app is hot, it's great, but don't be proud of it because there's always a day of heat fading. Therefore, to prolong the application life, pay attention to the retention rate of application, especially the daily, weekly and monthly retention rate. "For today's mobile applications, tenure is one of the biggest challenges, and 65% of users will no longer be using apps for 3 months after the installation," said Sai Rie Piezac, marketing director for start-up Appboy, Cezary Pietrzak. "And early tenure data can demonstrate the viability of the application in the marketplace."

In addition, the application store rankings become more sophisticated, more focused on application retention and participation, so the "flash" of the number of applications will begin to reduce. This is a good thing for consumers, because the retention rate and participation can better demonstrate the quality of the application, and in order to climb the forefront of the application list, you need to develop a wonderful application.

4. Active Users

Everyone can download apps, but it's not easy to push people to use them on a regular basis. Monthly active Users (MAU) and day active users (DAU) are the primary users. They like your application, often used, even to the degree of dependence. You need to know all the information about the fans and how they are used, so that you can develop more interactive applications and make more users active.

5. Time of Use

The two are different when you are queuing to open applications and commute using the application software. Like page traffic and web browsing time, the user's application time allows the mobile policy analyst to "quantify the relationship between the user and the application." Applications to be sticky and attractive, the user's use of time will increase.

6. Average per-user income (ARPU)

It's good to have a fixed user base, but you need to develop an application to get revenue. From 100 active users you may be able to earn 10000 dollars but your user base has 15,000 people, so 10,000 dollars is not too much. You need to take the big picture and focus on the ARPU value.

"Revenue" from the application price and application of the purchase, and when you decide to use ARPU this indicator, remember that users will buy across the platform. Andrea Koering, Gpsshopper's senior marketing manager, said it was wrong to look at the user's application and ignore the overall increase in user spending. According to her experience with the North Face and Bebe, the two companies, consumer spending is 15% higher than online spending and more than 25% a year.

7. Application Loading/landing time

Your application has 6 seconds to load? The internet tells us "no one wants to take the time to use this app." Load time is the quality of your application, and it is your responsibility to make the application's loading process more efficient and fluid. Users want to be able to load applications, load new pages, and make purchases without having to think "why do they take so long?" or your users could be in the arms of their competitors.

8. User Access

One way to get new users is to study how existing users discover your application through natural search, paid advertising, built-in referrals, or through word of mouth. People look for different applications for different reasons, and it is useful to know how to reach the target user in the best possible way.

9. User Experience/Happiness index

Can users get value from your application after 5 minutes of personal use? or are they trying to find the Web page they're looking for and are frustrated by clicking on the page? You know, using apps doesn't mean they like the app. Of course, this can be learned from application Store application ratings and comments one or two, but you can also use helpshift such tools and built-in information transfer capabilities to obtain user feedback, improve the user experience.