How to Use a Retention Report to Decode Long-Term User Value?

Mobile analytics typically measure growth in discrete quantities: installs, clicks, surges in traffic, and such; however, the true strength of a product is best illustrated by how a user engages with it once the initial burst of excitement has passed. In this regard, a retention report is an essential tool. While acquisition reports indicate who was brought to an app, a report showing retention provides information about who chose to remain using it. 

Apptrove provides the ability to view this information in a structured, cohort-style manner. Where cohort views enable you to compare how different groups of users are returning over time, a retention report is a lens into user intent and product value.

Why a retention report has more importance than acquisition metrics:

Acquisition metrics measure how effective your marketing is at bringing users onto the platform; retention metrics measure how compelling your product is once it is on the platform. 

When users return to the app, without being prompted or incentivised to do so, they have signalled that they are satisfied. This type of signal is a significantly more reliable predictor of revenue generation, user advocacy, and long-term growth potential than the number of users who downloaded the app. 

Retention reports can be used to help answer key business questions, such as:

• Are users creating a routine around using the app
• Do users come back to the app after their first engagement
• Is user engagement declining slowly, or has it stopped suddenly
• Which user cohorts are maintaining vitality without ongoing reminders?

These types of insights cannot be gained from surface-level metrics.

Reading Patterns Inside a Retention Report

Retention reports are supposed to be read slowly rather than just scanned.

Identifying Stability vs. Volatility

There are examples within the report of user return rates being continually stable over time. Stability suggests that a consistent value has been provided to the user, whereas volatility shows that the user’s experience has not provided continuity.

Observation of Time Between Returns

Returns do not happen daily for all users; for example, some users may return about every 1–3 days or weekly, which may differ from other users. Retention reports enable us to see natural rhythms in the returns of these users so that we can adjust product “nudges” accordingly.

• Spotting Silent Declines

A gradual lightening of the retention cells over time typically means there is a decline in interest rather than an abrupt decline due to dissatisfaction, and should be treated differently; re-engagement instead of redesign is the approach to take.

• By Source of Acquisition

Users from different sources often have different behaviours post-install, and retention reports can help us compare how paid campaigns, referrals, and organic discovery affect long-term retention.

• By Action Taken

Grouping users by whether they completed key in-app actions provides insight into how different user segments behave. Users who take a meaningful in-app action early on will generally have much higher retention numbers.

• By Device or Platform

There may be performance-based differences in user retention that relate to differences in the user’s experience across devices/platforms.

Turning a Retention Report Into a Product Feedback Tool

Retention Reports are typically viewed as marketing metrics rather than product diagnostic tools by many teams. You can use retention reports to map user drop-off points to their user journey stages. When you see a big drop-off on a specific day, you can look at when other typical behaviours happen to users in the app at that time (i.e., first time using the app). 

You may see this correlated with:

– When the user discovers certain features

– When paywalls might show up too soon (i.e., providing an incentive to continue usage)

– When new content is no longer relevant to the user

– When the navigation gets complicated after the first session

If you look at a feature in a retention report and find that users who use that feature have a higher rate of returning users, the feature is not only needed; it is essential.

You can use a retention report to ensure you are prioritising what features to build instead of what features not to build. When you see different behaviours from existing and departing cohorts, rather than adding new features, maximize chances for existing features already proven to provide return use. By doing this, you can eliminate feature bloat, but also keep your development process flowing in the direction of evidence of user activity.

Retention Reports can also help you create re-engagement strategies. A retention report allows you to see exactly when users are losing interest, so you can contact them at the right point in time.

To help with the identification, send alerts or messages to users before they are scheduled to drop off. Re-engagement should never be a one-size-fits-all approach; instead, use retention reports to help identify specific users and not just a random group of users.

Contextual Messaging

Create messages targeted to the member prior to them leaving. To do this, you will need a retention report for their behavioral time history.

Historical Cohort Comparisons Using Retention Reports

One of the great underrated uses of a retention report is historical cohort comparisons. 

By comparing baseline cohorts by month or by promotional campaign, you will be able to determine:

1.) If you improved onboarding processes to create greater stickiness

2.) The impact of recent feature releases on return rates

3.) possible seasonal impacts on member engagement

With this information, a retention report becomes a tracking device to determine the progress towards achieving greater success in your products and/or marketing initiatives.

Using a Retention Report to Identify High-Value Users

The highest value members of your segment will usually be identifiable by their consistent appearance over extended periods of time, regardless of their number of appearances (in volume).

A retention report allows you to find and isolate these members so you can:

1.) evaluate their usage patterns,

2.) establish lookalike targeting strategies, and

3.) Create experiences specifically designed for customers that match their profile.

Mistakes Made with Retention Reports

A retention report should not be evaluated on one day of results alone. In isolation, longitudinal performance metrics can often appear misleading.

In addition, a small but continuous retained cohort is usually more valuable to your business than a large cohort that has minimal return activity. Simply having volume without continuity will rarely result in sustainable business growth.

Making the Retention Report Part of Weekly Analysis

Please write messages to your members based on their behaviour history before they make the decision to leave your service. This is accomplished using retention reports on your members’ behaviour history.

Use Retention Reports for Historical Cohort Comparison

One of the many under-utilised uses of a retention report is to compare historical cohorts, either by month or promotion, to see:

1. If you improved your customer onboarding process and, therefore, created a more ‘sticky’ product or service,

2. What effect new feature releases have had on the rates at which your members return to your product or service,

3. If there are any apparent seasonal effects on how your members engage with your product or service.

This information, tracked with a retention report, will mark your progress towards achieving higher levels of success with your products or marketing initiatives.

Using Reports to Identify High-Value or Pre-Qualified Users.

Your overall high-value members within the segment will be the ones that consistently appear to you over extended periods, regardless of how many times they have appeared to you during that time (i.e., their volume).

You can locate and identify your greatest value members, so you can:

1. Analyse their usage patterns,

2. Build lookalike targeting strategies, and

3. Create unique experiences for customers that fit their profile.

---

We are delighted to have assembled a world-class team of experienced professionals who are ready to take care of your queries and answer any questions you may have. Feel free to reach out to us at any time by emailing us at support@apptrove.com or by using the in-platform chat feature. We’d love to hear from you!
​

from Apptrove https://apptrove.com/how-to-use-retention-report-in-apptrove-dashboard/
via Apptrove