What causes low engagement, 8 strategies to increase app engagement and the 3-step plan to know which will work best for your product
Are you losing users?
Or maybe they’re logging on and just not really engaging in-depth with your product?
Engagement is important, because it shows that people are (or are not) unlocking value through your product. And there are numerous ways to increase app engagement – we’re sharing 8 of the ones that address the most common causes of low app engagement here.
At the same time, knowing which of these strategies will actually work for your product is important, too. So we’re giving you a helpful discovery framework for being more strategic about how you increase app engagement.
User engagement in an app refers to how users interact with and use the application. It encompasses a range of metrics, from active users to app opens, session length, intervals between sessions, behaviour flow, conversions, in-app communication and user retention rates. See how to increase active users.
If you’re seeing low engagement, it’s a red flag that something’s wrong, and it might threaten your entire product. See how to use analytics for better app user engagement and then learn how to perform in-depth customer feedback analysis.
The ideal app engagement varies significantly across industries and is heavily influenced by the specific objectives of each app. In the gaming industry, an average engagement rate of around 30-40% is considered good. Other industries might have an average engagement rate of about 10-20%.
There’s a specific formula for it: Engagement Rate = (Number of Engaged Users / Total Active Users) x 100. You’ll find a step-by-step guide in our guide on how to calculate app engagement rate.
People stop using apps because of an unclear value proposition, confusing steps and onboarding, technical issues and bugs, and unoptimised features. Find more in-depth explanations on these and 5 more in our post on the most common causes of low app engagement.
Each including steps to discover whether it’s the right for your product…
Analysing user behaviour is a continuous and data-driven process to increase app engagement because it provides valuable insights into how users interact with the app, where they encounter challenges, and what features resonate most with them.
By gathering feedback from users, you can gain deeper insights into their preferences, pain points, and expectations, which you can then use to tailor your app experience to meet their needs. These data-driven improvements can help you foster a loyal user base, which boosts app engagement.
Want to ensure you get great, usable feedback? See our guide on how to do customer interviews.
When an app is fast, reliable, and efficient, users are more likely to stay engaged and have a positive overall experience. So ensuring your app runs smoothly helps foster long-term engagement and app success.
This is a key driver of app engagement because a unique and tailored experience fosters a stronger connection between users and the app. It basically makes it more fun and attractive to use, so generally personalising each user’s app experience helps them want to use it more.
Users will feel more confident and willing to use an app if they know exactly how to work and navigate it. A well-designed onboarding process can help users use the app more effectively.
By blending game-like elements with the app's core features, users are motivated to interact, explore, and achieve, leading to higher retention rates, increased user satisfaction, and a more successful app overall.
By integrating social sharing features and encouraging users to share their experiences and content, the app may gain visibility and attract new users, while at the same time also creating heightened app engagement from existing users.
Incentives create a sense of value for users and encourage them to stay engaged, complete desired actions, and return to the app regularly.
As you see, there are many different strategies for increasing app engagement. The trick is knowing which one will work for you. Now, we‘ve helped 100+ startups and numerous corporate ventures in many different industries and regions around the world. And here is a simple framework we’d suggest for your user engagement strategy:
If you see a sudden drop-off in usage, the simplest and easiest self-check you can do is to just research if any new competitors have launched in your industry, or if any existing competitors have released any new features or updates.
If people can suddenly get your product’s service for cheaper or free elsewhere, that’s probably where they’re migrating to. To address this, you’ll have to reevaluate your product and value proposition, etc.
Just to be honest, we offer UX Audits as a service. But we’re not just trying to sell you here, it is seriously the fastest and cheapest way to rule out 75% or more of the possible causes of your low engagement in one go.
See, after changes in your competitive environment, doing data analysis and then getting user feedback are the next NB steps. And, since these are included in a UX Audit, it’s simply the fattest and cheapest way to identify or rule out the bulk of possible causes for low engagement.
Only if the recommendations on the UX/UI don’t solve the problem, it’s time to invest more time and effort into your value proposition, positioning, external marketing and user acquisition strategies, user demographics, behavior shifts, etc. Do some customer interviews to get additional insights.
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