How to Leverage User & Product Analytics: A Guide to Boost App Engagement

You’ve poured your heart and soul into developing an exceptional mobile application, with some of the most sophisticated
features, user-centric design, and seamless navigation. You uploaded the app to various app stores and then waited with
bated breath to let thousands of users visit your app, and interact and do business with your app.

But nothing happens. You spent thousands of dollars on marketing to bring in traffic, but still, nothing happens. What’s
the problem here?

The problem is ignoring analytics and lack of action based on hardcore user insights, which is sabotaging your mobile
app-based business.

The solution is measuring, observing, and benchmarking analytics data, to drive engagement and value addition. In this
blog, we will showcase how you can maximize app engagement and drive sustained growth through user analytics, product
analytics, and strategic analytics consulting services.

Understanding the Importance of Tracking User Engagement for Mobile Applications

In the highly competitive digital realm of today, tracking user engagement stands as a paramount factor influencing the
success or failure of your mobile application. With countless applications vying for the attention of users,
comprehending your app’s performance metrics and harnessing the insights to make informed, data-driven decisions to
refine user experiences is crucial. This is precisely where product analytics and user analytics play a pivotal role.

As a certified partner of Mixpanel – a globally recognized user analytics platform – TechAhead is at the forefront of
leveraging premier analytics tools. With our proficiency in the realm of user analytics and data visualization, we guide
businesses on how to employ these powerful insights to amplify app engagement and catalyze sustainable growth within
their digital and mobile ventures.

But first, what is user engagement?

User Engagement: The Holy Grail of Marketing & Growth

User engagement refers to the level of interaction and involvement that users have with a mobile application. It
measures how users interact with various features, functionalities, and content within the app. User engagement goes
beyond just app downloads and active users; it focuses on meaningful interactions, such as the time spent on the app,
the frequency of usage, the depth of engagement, and the completion of desired actions.

Why Measuring User Engagement Is Critical?

User engagement is crucial for the success of a mobile application for several reasons:

Retention and Loyalty: Engaged users are more likely to continue using the app over time, leading to higher user
retention rates. When users find value, satisfaction, and enjoyment in using the app, they develop a sense of loyalty,
which increases the chances of them becoming long-term users.

Monetization Opportunities: Engaged users are more likely to make in-app purchases, subscribe to premium features, or
engage with advertising content. They generate higher revenue for the app and contribute to its monetization strategy.

Positive Word-of-Mouth: Engaged users are more likely to recommend the app to their friends, family, and colleagues.
Positive word-of-mouth can lead to increased app downloads and user acquisition, creating a virtuous cycle of growth.

Brand Perception: A highly engaged user base reflects positively on the brand and the app’s reputation. When users have
a positive experience and actively engage with the app, it enhances the brand’s image, credibility, and perceived value.

Feedback and Improvement: Engaged users often provide valuable feedback, insights, and suggestions for app improvements.
Their feedback helps identify pain points, uncover new features or enhancements, and drive continuous improvement,
resulting in a better user experience.

Competitive Advantage: In a crowded app marketplace, user engagement can provide a competitive edge. Apps with higher
engagement rates tend to stand out from the competition, attract more attention, and gain a larger market share.

Understanding User Analytics: Unveiling Insights into User Behavior

User analytics serves as the foundation for maximizing app engagement. By analyzing user behavior, you gain valuable
insights into how users interact with your app, identify bottlenecks, and uncover opportunities for improvement. With
robust user analytics capabilities of analytics platforms (like Mixpanel in our case), any business can track user
actions, measure user retention, analyze user journeys, and segment your audience based on their behaviors.

Monitoring Performance Analytics For Stunning Results

Performance analytics play a crucial role in understanding the technical behavior of a mobile app and optimizing its
performance. Here are some key pointers on the importance of performance analytics for mobile apps:

Identify and Fix Issues:  Performance metrics help uncover any unusual behavior of the app that may lead to user
frustration, app abandonment, and low retention rates. By analyzing performance metrics during both the testing phase
and after the app’s release, developers can identify and fix bugs and incompatibilities, ensuring a smooth user
experience.

Testing Phase:  During development and testing, the QA team analyzes the app for bugs and compatibility issues. While
this process can be manual or automated, it is impossible to catch all issues in pre-production testing. Performance &
product analytics tools like Mixpanel, AppSee and HockeyApp can be embedded in the app to collect real-time performance
metrics, allowing developers to identify any performance issues that arise in different user scenarios.

Correlating Data Points:  When collecting performance metrics, it’s important to correlate them with relevant data
points. This includes device details of the user behavior such as:

• Device type
• Model
• Operating system
• Hardware configuration

Analyzing app operations, such as resource consumption, touch gestures, and session length, provides insights into how
the app performs during various activities. Additionally, considering factors like WiFi conditions, signal strength,
carrier, and location information helps understand app performance in different network environments.

Third-Party Tools and Add-ons:  There are various third-party analytics tools available, which offer comprehensive
performance analytics for mobile apps. These tools collect, correlate, and analyze performance metrics in real time,
providing developers with valuable insights for optimization. Some mobile app development platforms, like Xamarin and
Kony, also offer add-ons that enable logging of all performance metrics, ensuring timely bug detection and improvements.

Monitoring Behavioral Analytics For Laser-Focused Action

Behavioral analysis of mobile apps plays a crucial role in enhancing user engagement and retention. By understanding how
users interact with the app and identifying areas for improvement, businesses can create a seamless user experience.

Here are some relevant pointers on the importance of behavioral analysis for mobile apps:

Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Determine the metrics that align with your business goals and focus on the
ones that drive app improvements and contribute to overall business outcomes. Discuss with stakeholders to identify the
true metrics that matter.

Usage Heat Maps

Analyze tap, swipe, and pinch gestures to gain insights into the most important pages or segments of
the app for users. Heat maps can also highlight areas where the app’s UI/UX can be improved. For example, if users
continuously tap on an image that resembles a button, it indicates a misconception in the app’s UI.

Retention Analysis

Measure how frequently users return to the app, as it reflects the app’s retention rate. Analyze the
time period between app installation and usage frequency in a day, week, or month to understand user engagement and
retention.

App Funnel Analysis

Evaluate how well the app performs specific actions or goals, such as responding to search queries,
displaying filtered results, processing payments, and tracking product delivery. Analyzing the user engagement rate at
each stage of the app funnel helps identify areas for improvement. Leading analytics platforms also offer data
visualization features, that makes app funnel analysis even more interesting, and result-oriented.

Connect with TechAhead, a leading Analytics Consulting company and discover how we can trigger higher user engagement
and loyalty by leveraging the power of analytics for your mobile application. Schedule a no-obligation consulting session with our Mobile App Engineers right here.