With a quarter of app users disengaging after the first session and even more dropping off within the first month, re-engaging users to drive subsequent sessions is critical for mobile app developers. A recent app marketing report by eMarketer revealed the top four reasons mobile app users are likely to re-engage with an app they’ve otherwise stopped using:
From this data, it is evident that 77% of users can be enticed to return to an app through means in the publisher’s control, including:
- Offering a discount or coupon toward the next purchase or in-app item
- Offering exclusive or bonus content
- Notifying the user of new features
Choosing the Incentive
For brand and retail app publishers, offering a discount to return is nothing new. Abandoned shopping cart triggered notifications offering free shipping or a small percentage discount have been commonplace for years.
However, for gaming app publishers, deciding what to offer isn’t always clear, and it may often make more sense to offer free access to exclusive or bonus content than to offer a discount on an IAP. When doing so, it is helpful to follow the same best practices one would use for rewarded video, which are:
- Make the reward unique. This shouldn’t be something the user can get through another means.
- Make it immediate. The user needs to be incentivized to return now.
- Make it easily visible. Use creative visual effects to show the benefit of the reward.
Leveraging Video
Of course, users must be enticed with these promotions. While text-based notifications are straightforward, they fail to convey what makes the new content or promotion exciting. To this end, top publishers rely on mobile video to re-engage users with the power of sight, sound, and motion. In this regard, mobile video becomes a tool for publisher retention as users are shown short clips serving as:
- Sizzle reels showcasing new features
- Action clips showcasing exclusive content
- Demonstration videos illustrating the benefits of a promotion
To attest to the effectiveness of this strategy, another recent study found that 83% of users find video helpful toward making a purchase decision. Thus, for publishers looking to engage up to 77% of their users longer and drive additional sessions and in-app purchases, utilizing mobile video as a retention tool is a strong strategy not to be overlooked.
(Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that AdColony was highly ranked by AppsFlyer for mobile user retention.)
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