New Localytics App Stickiness Index Measures User Engagement and Loyalty

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Localytics, a marketing and analytics platform for mobile and web apps, has released the App Stickiness Index, a new way for brands and developers to benchmark their app’s engagement and loyalty values against industry aggregates.

The inaugural Localytics App Stickiness Index provides analysis of 25,000 apps through Q1 2014. Localytics defines a “sticky” app as one whose function, content, design, and marketing drive repeat usage, which is critical to achieving conversion and monetization goals.

The new Index reveals the short and long-term trends that impact app engagement. Using this data, app developers and publisher can identify the best opportunities to engage existing users or re-engage latent users with creative, personalized content and marketing campaigns.

To create the Index, Localytics analyzed two important factors for a successful “sticky” app:

1) Power users, those who launch an app over 10 times a month.

(2) Loyal users, those who return to an app within three months of their first session.

Highlights of the report include:

- Loyal user values dropped sharply in January 2014 to 16 percent, reflecting the traditionally low marketing spend in the new year combined with reduced content consumption post-holiday season when people resumed work.

- By the end of the quarter, the index reported an aggregate of 25 percent of power users, 19 percent of loyal users and an overall app stickiness value of 22 percent.

- The games category led with 23 percent app stickiness, with media and entertainment, travel and lifestyle and technology apps all coming in at around 20 percent. E-commerce and retail apps were at 14 percent.

- 22 percent of people only ever open an app once and that there is a 60 percent chance that users who don’t return to an app in seven days will churn.

To learn more check out the full report.