Mobile App Analytics: Tracking Your Mobile Apps
So you have the perfect Mobile App, or at least you think you do! But to genuinely understand how well an app is performing, it needs to be measured. The goal; to get unique insights via data that only App Analytics can offer. Read on to see what App Analytics are and how they determine the importance of an App.
When we develop an app, we want to show it to the world for users to explore its amazing functionalities and services. We also want to understand how well our app will perform and if it will attract the desired users.
App analytics tools are essential in providing key metrics, allowing us to understand what areas of our app need improvement to enhance user acquisition. And because of this, more and more companies are increasingly investing in data analytics to guide them in understanding how effective their mobile apps truly are.
In the following article, we’re focusing on:
- What App Analytics is and the insight they offer
- How App Analytics compares with Web Analytics
- The types of app analytics tools
- How the metrics work
- The MJV App measuring method
What is App Analytics?
App analytics, or mobile app analytics, refers to software that collects data about user engagement. App analytics are a common concept in the mobile app world in which app marketers collect valuable data that represent user behavior and app performance.
Applications, whether mobile or web, rely on monitoring typical user activities within an app, such as swiping, searching, and “liking,” also known as “events.”
The rapid increase in the number of applications has naturally led to a parallel growth in analytics tools built on the analysis of “events”.
App analytics use data to understand how users engage with your applications, gathering information about users’ behavior in an application. There are literally thousands of things apps can study, which obviously depends on the app’s purpose. Still, to get a rough idea, through app analytics, the following questions can be answered:
- What is the app’s most popular feature?
- What is the app’s retention rate?
- How many active users does it have?
- What percentage of users purchase a paid plan?
- Are product KPIs declining or growing?
- The time a typical user spends in the different application areas?
- The last screen that a user viewed before leaving?
What insights can we extract from app usage?
With the correct utilization of mobile analytics platforms, marketers can transform data into valuable information that provides insight into products while offering an improved understanding of your audience’s user journey.
With App analytics, issues that customers may experience when using an app can be spotted; something that could be potentially holding your app back from becoming a sensation can be corrected. Most app developers are aware of the importance of analytics for monitoring traffic, bugs, and user activity, and spotting these issues is of huge value to them.
Mobile app analytics also offers insights into an application’s highest conversion areas and the most frequently visited pages.
TIP: One area that is sometimes overlooked is that it is possible to use app analytics to not only analyze what’s going on with their apps now, but to also plan ahead for them.
App Analytics vs. Web Analytics — what’s the difference?
Recent shifts in technology changed how users interact with their favorite applications and websites. Now, about half of global web traffic comes from mobile users, and there are many differences between how people navigate a webpage versus a mobile application.
App analytics focuses on unique users and capturing demographics, behaviors, and interactions within an app’s user experience. It then groups that information with that of similar users to better track trends.
Whereas web analytics relies on page view data offering insights on:
- How many clicks a page is getting
- When there is the most traffic
- Viewer demographics
The central differential is that app Analytics offers less opportunity to work with page view-related data but provides far more insight into the already explained “event-based” data.
Another consideration is that user journeys have become more sophisticated and often shift between desktop, mobile, and apps. Mobile apps are integrated with a lot more hardware. For example, cameras allow for a greater variety in user behavior that traditional web analytics web tools struggle to decipher.
Companies need to match this ever-increasing sophistication by investing in the right mobile apps and tools, allowing them to track more advanced actions and capabilities.
What are the types of app analytics tools?
Every company requires different data sets to analyze, but not all mobile analytics platforms are created equal. Many metrics are available to determine what to change, where maintenance is required, and what is actually working for an app.
We can divide App Analytics tools into multiple categories; below, you’ll find a brief description of each type:
In-app analytics: clarifies everything a user does within an application. Implementing mobile analytics tools for this category provides data on how users behave and interact within your app. In-app analytics tools allow you to zoom in on key metrics, such as device information, user demographics, and user behavior. And user demographics can obtain data on language, gender, and location.
Essentially, User behavior is crucial, as it illustrates how users behave within your app and how their interactions lead (or don’t) to conversions.
App performance analytics: this category focuses more on the ‘machine’ itself. So it is the groundwork upon which all other app analytics types rest.
Performance analytics tools conduct audits searching for errors that may occur while apps are running, optimizing them. Without them, it would be almost impossible to retain users, as if an app doesn’t work correctly, users will quickly tire and look for alternative options.
Mobile App advertising analytics: involves using mobile device data to measure campaign performance and identify new opportunities for advertising initiatives.
The main benefit is campaign optimization. By measuring and testing various elements of a campaign, including messaging, ad layout, and “calls to action”, it is possible to uncover commonalities and patterns in customer behavior and use those insights to hone campaigns.
Application Development KPIs
So, we have an idea of the mobile app options available to us, but how do we best measure them? Let’s take a look at some crucial metrics and KPIs that need to be taken into consideration when using mobile app analytics:
Retention rate: As the name suggests, this describes the percentage of users you retain and those lost. Holding on to loyal users is vital and is at the core of your app’s success. It is all about avoiding high rates of churn; which leads us onto:
User churn & uninstall rates: Provides a ratio between the number of loyal app users, recorded after a certain period of time ( usually a month), and users who have stopped using your services. By deciphering the point at which someone uninstalled an app can provide clues as to why they left. (Perhaps you tried something new within that app at that point).
Return on investment (ROI): That old classic; ROI rates represent what has been spent against how much you have actually earned, evaluating the efficiency and profitability of your investments and efforts.
User growth rate: The number of new users acquired within a specific period, another classic metric needed to measure the success of an app.
Session length: The time actively spent by a user on your app. A metric that provides details on the length and frequency at which a user interacts with your app, highlighting potential trends.
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU): Reports on how much revenue your app generated per user, which is extremely important, as it shows how much money you are making from each user within a specific timeframe.
This metric is calculated by dividing the total revenue of your business within a selected period by the average number of users within the same set time frame.
TIP: Track only relevant metrics. Focus on the metrics that matter and don’t waste time and money on data that are not part of the functions of your app; metrics are less likely to add value to your optimizations and enhancements.
Measure What Matters: The MJV Way
To make an app great, it’s essential to understand how it will be used and how it can contribute to your business. That requires asking the right questions, measuring the right success metrics, and having the right software to dig into these metrics and behaviors to understand their drivers.
It’s tricky, time-consuming, and expensive, especially if you get it wrong. This is where MJV can be of service.
The MJV Mixed Model
MJV prides itself on being a technology and innovation expert that offers App Development Outsourcing. We’ve helped hundreds of companies reach their goals in the design and technology fields and are well suited for the current context in which modern app development finds itself. MJV operates in several countries, providing native-language outsourcing, no matter where you’re located or what language you speak.
MJV has a large pool of talented professionals in all areas of IT, including app development, who work in unison following an Agile Product Management approach. Agile methodologies offer project management powerful tools for managing teams, activities, and actions. By adopting them, companies solve challenging problems and enable increased productivity, improved communication, employee engagement, team efficiency, and faster delivery. This makes companies achieve better and more consistent results and stand out in the market.
But, it is no good accessing all those wonderful insights and having a well-oiled Agile machine if the information is not easily transferable and attainable. At MJV, our understanding of how to present information through our user-friendly Data Viz capabilities is one of our calling cards. We see the role of data visualization as sifting the information to present the essentials, and we can do just that for your mobile app.
For a more in-depth look at our vision and approach to outsourcing, take a look at our IT Outsourcing guide.
No matter what your app development challenges might be, we are more than equipped to lend a hand.
Remember, you don’t have to go it alone.
