Successful mobile app? Here’s How You Can Measure App’s Success!

When building a mobile successful mobile app, it’s essential to understand that you’re not making it for yourself. You’re building it for the users that will (hopefully) install it. This means that you will have a successful mobile app once your users are happy with it. 

Of course, every mobile app owner will want to look at their app and feel good about it. They want reassurance that their app is performing well and is seen as a successful mobile app. 

The problem here is most mobile app owners don’t properly know how to measure the success of their app. On the other hand, the solution is to pay attention to the various KPIs and metrics that give you that data. 

Believe it or not, there are thousands of different KPIs and metrics out there. To properly measure the app’s success, you need to know which KPIs you should be paying attention to and, more importantly, what that KPI is telling you. 

Don’t worry; we’re going to have all the answers you need listed below. By the time you’re finished reading this, you’ll know exactly how to measure the success of your mobile app.

What are the different types of mobile app KPIs and metrics?

Since there are so many different KPIs and metrics out there – to the point where you could create your own (if you wanted to) – we will only discuss the ones that matter.

When listing these KPIs and metrics, we’ll break them down into six different categories. These will include: common KPIs, user engagement, revenue, user experience, marketing, and app store performance. 

Let’s get started!

Common KPIs and Metrics

The first category includes common KPIs and metrics – such as downloads, subscriptions, upgrades, and growth rate. These will likely be the metrics you already follow daily, whether you know it or not. 

We wanted to list these first because they’re often the most important on the surface, though they don’t give much detail or context. Here’s a closer look:

1. Downloads – we all want downloads, don’t we? This metric will largely measure your app’s popularity and will be a great sign of whether people are giving your app a chance. 
2. Subscriptions – if you offer subscriptions on your mobile app, you’ll want to know how many people are testing that service out. Of course, more subscriptions means more revenue. 
3. Upgrades – going a step further than subscriptions, upgrades show that your mobile app is growing. This can be a good sign of user experience and is a way of people telling you they want more.
4. Growth Rate – checking your growth rate during different periods of time can show you when your app is most popular, and when it’s not getting enough attention. 

While these four common metrics will be on every mobile successful mobile app owner’s mind, there’s plenty more you’ll want to manage. So don’t stop there!

Measuring User Engagement

The second category we’re going to discuss is measuring user engagement. It displays how well your users are engaging with the app. Some of the main things you’ll want to see here are users that use the app daily and minimal uninstalls. 

We’ll take a look at another four key KPIs and metrics related to user engagement, including daily active users, sessions per user, uninstall rate, and user return rate. 

1. Daily Active Users – wouldn’t it be nice to know that your users are opening your app on a daily basis? This is a good sign that your successful mobile app has become a part of their daily life or daily routine. 
2. Sessions Per User – every time a user opens your app, it counts as one session. A higher session per user means your users are opening the app several times per day (or week, month, etc.).
3. Uninstall Rate – this might be a negative metric to follow, but you’ll want to keep an eye on it so you know how well your app is being perceived once installed. Keep that number as low as possible!
4. User Return Rate – if you create a valuable mobile app, there’s a good chance you see a user return to your app even after they’ve uninstalled it. While they left, your app was worth it enough for them to return.

With positive user engagement, you’ll provide your users with a quality and exciting environment. When this happens, it’ll be that much more difficult for your users to leave.

Generating Revenue

Revenue, revenue, revenue, that’s all a successful mobile app owner wants to know – how much money am I making? This is essential because most mobile apps don’t come cheap, and any owner will want to see a return on that investment. 

The four KPIs and metrics we’ll be interested in here are revenue per customer, cost per customer, and lifetime value per customer, and return on investment.

1. Revenue Per Customer – when a customer downloads your app, you want to know how much that money that customer will spend on your app. If this number isn’t high enough, you should consider adding more revenue options.
2. Cost Per Customer – not every customer that installs your app will come free. Sometimes that customer takes labor, marketing, ads, time, etc. Measure the cost of each customer by dividing overall revenue by overall cost. 
3. Lifetime Value Per Customer – once you know the revenue and cost per customer, you can figure out the lifetime value per customer by subtracting the two. 
4. Return on Investment – now the metric that really matters, your ROI measures how much money you’ve made after subtracting the cost of developing and maintaining the app.

One of the greatest advice we can give a mobile app owner that’s seeing great success in this category is always giving back to the customer. Invest some of the revenue back into the app and give users an even better experience. 

Measuring User Experience

1. Devices – knowing which devices your users are downloading your app on can be crucial. It will help you market the mobile app and make updates to it in the future. Think about brands, screen sizes, etc. 
2. Operating Systems – much like the device your user is on, the operating system is also another metric to follow. How many of your users are on iOS? What about Android? This will be crucial to your marketing strategy as well.
3. Loading Time – when someone opens your app, you don’t want them to have to wait long before the app is open. Load time is essential to the user experience, as most users are extremely impatient.

User experience is something you’ll have to consider from the beginning of your app’s lifespan. It’s not only crucial to the success of your app, but the very creation of the app as well.

Marketing KPIs

Anytime you have a product or service, you need to have an effective way of marketing it to the target audience. Things are no different with a mobile app, and there will be a variety of ways to do it successfully. 

When measuring the success of your marketing, you should consider the following KPIs and metrics — user’s location, user demographics, installation source and channel source. Let’s take a closer look.

1. User Location – when building marketing campaigns for your mobile app, you’ll likely want to target that campaign down to the location. Knowing where your users are located will make this much easier. 
2. User Demographics – much like the user’s location, you’ll want to know a little bit more about your users. This will help you customize the marketing to their wants and needs. How old are they, what race are they, gender, occupation, marital status, etc. are all important here.
3. Installation Source – do you know where your users are installing your app? Are they paid traffic or organic traffic? These are answers you need in order to create an effective marketing strategy. 
4. Channel Source – you’ll want to know the specific channel that user came from. Did they come from social media, email, text message, etc.?

Without a solid marketing plan, you’re going to have a tough time growing your mobile app. It will take much longer to grow when you’re purely relying on word of mouth. 

App Store Performance

Finally, we’ve come to our final category – your app’s performance in the app store. This will largely have to do with the app’s ranking. However, it will also have to do with your customer service and how well users perceive your app. 

The three KPIs and metrics we’ll look at are user reviews, user ratings, and keywords being used:

1. User Reviews – users take reviews extremely seriously when deciding whether they should install an app or not. Often, user reviews will be just as important as a personal recommendation from a friend. The better reviews, the more installs you’ll get.
2. User Ratings – since most people won’t take the time to do a full review, ratings are extremely important. A successful mobile app with a high number of good ratings will do well, even if there aren’t many reviews.
3. Keywords – the keywords you’re using when listing your mobile app in the app store will play an essential role in how much organic traffic you receive. Keep in mind that organic traffic is free, so it’s okay to spend a little more time focusing on keywords.

When it comes to measuring your mobile app’s success, you’ll have to pay attention to many different KPIs and metrics. That’s why we broke them down into six major categories – common KPIs, user engagement, revenue, user experience, marketing, and app store performance.

Now that you have a better idea of which KPIs and metrics are involved in each category, you can successfully and properly measure whether you have a successful mobile app. Of course, if your metrics aren’t where you want them to be, you can always give us a call. We’ll be happy to see how we can help!

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