Localytics: Research shows that mobile in-app notifications can increase user retention by 2.5 times

According to the latest data from analytics and marketing platform Localytics, only one-third of app operators currently use in-app notifications. However, this situation may soon change if the other two-thirds of operators find that in-app notifications can increase user retention by 2.5 times.

By increasing the retention rate by 2.5 times, the percentage of new users who are still retained after 3 months will be as high as 50%. In the highly competitive app industry, users often delete an app after installing it only once or twice, so this number is very impressive.

But the question is, what content should be sent through in-app notifications? "Many app owners are wondering how to create content that is not considered spam and does not distract from the user experience." Localytics business analyst Dave Hoch said, "This may explain why only one-third of app operators use in-app notifications as part of their mobile engagement strategy."

Hawke said that smart in-app notifications are often triggered by user activity to avoid being perceived as spam, which means that such messages are not randomly generated, not just simply spreading promotions, but can be integrated into the user's in-app activities.

For example, you can ask users to give a review after the food delivery is completed.

While the average in-app notification has an engagement rate of only 28%, this tailored notification can increase that to 56%. Once users begin to interact with this triggered in-app notification (e.g., tap a selection or choose an option), their conversion rate is 3 times higher than the in-app notification that pops up at the beginning of an app session.

Localytics studied in-app notifications in its latest report, but push messages are also a popular way to engage users. Of course, push messages do not require users to launch the app and can be displayed directly on the lock screen of iOS and the notification area of ​​Android.

Retention rate is one of the three core challenges for mobile developers: first, user acquisition, second, retention, and finally, monetization. Of course, before that, the most important issue is to develop a truly excellent application in the first place.

Interestingly, photography and sports apps saw the biggest increases in click-through rates, with these apps seeing 19% and 14% higher click-through rates, respectively, when in-app notifications triggered by user activity popped up.