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Mobile app analytics: performance metrics and analytics services

Mobile apps are an integral part of everyday life. In 2020, users from all over the world downloaded 250+ billion applications. If you are currently developing or hosting your first application, it’s time to think about a system for working with analytics. How to calculate the effectiveness of mobile applications? How can I find out about errors in sessions? When should you start attracting a new audience?

First, let’s take a look at what performance indicators of a mobile application should be guided by.

Number of downloads and number of registrations

The first two metrics that you should definitely pay attention to are the number of downloads and the number of registrations. The indicators are important for subsequent calculations. The number of downloads does not reflect the effectiveness, but the metric can reflect the quality of the promotion. 100,000 downloads will not tell you about the usefulness of your application, as there is no guarantee that everyone who downloaded it will use it.

The optimal share of users means the amount that you expect to receive every month. This is the average indicator that you will earn from the application, and not go to zero. The number of registrations by itself does not yet form an objective picture of your target audience. For example, a user signed up with one account on two devices. Metrics will count two app downloads and one registration.

Let’s move on to the main indicators by which you can track the performance of your application. This data can be found in analytics systems.

Activity in the application

A metric for the number of unique users in the service. Activity is measured by periods:

• DAU, or Daily Active Users, is a daily visit. The metric reflects the days when customers launch the app more often.
• WAU, or Weekly Active Users, is a weekly activity. The segment shows user behavior seven days after installing the program.
• MAU, or Monthly Active Users – monthly user activity. The indicator gives an understanding of the frequency of application launches.

Average session duration

Average Session Length (ASL) – the number of hours spent in the mobile application. Using ASL, they track the audience that is worth focusing on. The indicator is tracked in analytics systems, at the end of the article we will consider popular solutions for working with data.

The session indicator is important for owners of commercial services: if the application is useful to the user and it is in demand every day, customers are likely to purchase the full version.

ARPA, or Average Revenue per Account

If your application is focused on direct sales from registered users, you can calculate ARPA, or Average Revenue per Account. The metric is used to calculate the average income from one account.

Equation: ARPA = Revenue / Number of Accounts.

The metric is suitable for online stores, banks, communications (payment for utility bills).

Cost of attracting one user

CAC, or Customer Acquisition Cost, is an indicator for assessing the effectiveness of investments in promotion.

Equation: Amount of expenses for AC / Number of attracted clients.

This calculation is made for each advertising channel: the lower the cost of acquisition, the better the channel works for itself.