Both user acquisition and user retention are very important to a mobile app. While a lot of people focus on acquisition, they are forgetting all about user retention. Here are some tips on how to make your users stick around.
The most common problem is that a lot of developers don’t look further than acquiring users. They spend a lot of time and money on attracting new users, but once the users are there, nothing happens. What developers should really do is get new users and turn them into long-term customers.
The main thing you should remember is that your users should never feel abandoned. They need to have the means to communicate with the developer and be able to see that their feedback counts. You can achieve this by setting up a communications channel and updating your app frequently. Don’t forget that a lot of users like communicating with the app developer via social media, so it’s a good idea to set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account for your app. The more your users feel that you listen to them, the more they will trust you as a developer.
Another thing you should remember is that everybody likes to be rewarded. While rewards may not work well for any app, game developers know how their users like receiving points and occasional freebies. Work out what kind of rewards you can offer and don’t forget to notify your users about them. For example, push notifications work well for announcing in-app store daily deals.
The goal of user retention is to create a community around your app that will become your app’s ambassador on social media, blogs, and ultimately all over the Internet. Experiment with different strategies and you will find a way to turn people who download your app into your loyal followers.
