The must-know mobile app KPIs for every vertical

As the name suggests, key performance indicators (KPIs) are essential to understand how your mobile app is performing and how to optimize your app. There are dozens of KPIs apps can measure, but depending on your app vertical which KPIs mean the most to your business will likely change.

From customer acquisition cost (CAC) to retention rates, some KPIs are universal, but the weight each app gives an individual KPI depends on their goals, competitive benchmarks, and other individual factors. So let’s explore which mobile app KPIs are most important to apps in individual verticals.

Fintech app users are notoriously loyal and long-term retention rates are typically good, so it may seem counterintuitive that retention rates may not be at the top of a fintech app’s KPI list. People don’t check their banking or payment apps the same way they check social media apps — instead, app users log on when they have a task to complete. Consider monitoring these KPIs to have a good handle on how your fintech app is performing.

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) — Understanding how much it costs you to acquire each customer is a foundational building block of nearly everything else you do. From determining marketing budgets to understanding each users’ true value.
• Average Time to First Transaction — Every app wants users to take an action, but that’s especially important to fintech apps. Whether your goal is for users to set up direct deposit, buy stocks, or simply do their banking online, knowing how long it takes your users to complete those actions can help you optimize the process and decrease that amount of time.
• Monthly Active Users (MAUs) — Rather than get hyper-focused on Day 1 - 7 retention rates, MAUs may be a better indicator of how happy and engaged your fintech users are. Are they coming back to make deposits, send money, or even apply for new products?

Crypto apps — used to buy and trade digital currency — have a lot in common with fintech apps. Trust is paramount for users, however, because of the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, users tend to be more engaged and active in-app.

• Average Time to First Transaction — You want your users to do more than just install your crypto app — you also want them to actually buy and sell currency. An engaged user is less likely to churn and speeding that time to the first transaction can help keep the users you have worked hard to acquire. Try offering a free first trade to get the ball rolling.
• Churn Rate — While fintech users tend to be loyal, the cryptocurrency market is hot and competitive. If your churn rate is higher than the average, you may need to tweak your user journey or start making personalized offers to keep users opening your app.
• Monthly Active Users (MAUs) — While fintech users may not be highly engaged, crypto users tend to be more active. Part of the fun is buying and trading, right? Tracking your MAUs can tell you if your user numbers are trending up or down, and how active your loyal users are. With this information in hand, you can better understand how much time to spend on user acquisition and/or retention strategies.

With e-commerce apps the key to success is happy, repeat customers — who hopefully have deep pockets!  So what KPIs do you measure to make sure your customers are happy?

• Lifetime Value (LTV) — How much are your users worth over their lifetime? Answering this question allows you to understand who your highest value users are, what they have in common, and how to find more of them.
• Sessions per User — Every retailer wants happy customers who come back regularly. The digital equivalent of visiting a store is a session. Whether a user is just window-shopping or is looking for something specific, you want your customers to come back regularly. If you find they aren’t coming back regularly, a well-crafted push notification strategy including deep links can help bring shoppers into the app. These same tactics can help you improve retentions rates, which tell you how many users you manage to keep over time.
• Conversion Rate — A conversion is different for every app, but in the e-commerce business, apps probably want to look beyond a simple install to a first purchase. If your conversion rate is low compared to other e-commerce apps start thinking about ways to increase sales. Push notifications or emails about abandoned carts can help, as well as strategically placed discount offers or notifications about sales.
• CAC — Customer acquisition cost goes hand-in-hand with LTV, and optimizing this particular metric is also key to maximizing your return on ad spend (ROAS).

Food delivery app users can be fickle. According to global consultancy McKinsey & Company, “once customers sign up, 80% never or rarely leave for another platform.” The good news is that user intent is high with 8 out of 10 searches resulting in a purchase — which is no surprise, as hungry people looking for takeout tend to be eager to pull the trigger. While re-engagement campaigns with well-timed discount offers can help improve retention, there are other metrics that can tell you more about your app and help you optimize the user journey.

• App Not Responding (ANR) — The last thing you want is a “hangry” customer who gets so frustrated by an unresponsive app that they move on to a different app. If your app has a high ANR rate, you must address this quickly.
• Quit Rate — Are your users dropping out before they complete onboarding? Or are they only quitting the app after they place their orders? Knowing when and where users are exiting your app tells you a lot about their journey and where you need to optimize.
• Retention Rate — Just because retention and engagement rates are low with food delivery apps, that doesn’t mean you can’t strive to improve yours. Personalized offers that encourage users to come back for their favorite foods or at times when you know they tend to be hungry can help boost engagement. Getting opt-in for push notifications and even location tracking can help you make the most of these strategies.

Downloads of health and wellness apps skyrocketed during the pandemic. But this vertical covers a lot of different kinds of apps — from Peloton to Calm — however, they do have a few things in common. Successful health and wellness apps require users to form a habit, and it behooves developers to pay close attention to the KPIs that indicate that your users are engaged and willing to pay for premium features that boost your bottom line.

• Retention — Whether the goal is to get users to meditate or train for a marathon, retention matters. Pay keen attention to how often users are coming back to the app and what features and messaging they like best and keep them coming back for more.
• Churn rate — Churn is the other side of the retention coin. How many of your users do you lose in a given period? Understanding what’s normal for your app is important. Churn may differ at different times of year. For instance, enthusiastic users may sign up after the New Year and then churn once they’ve given up on their resolutions. Knowing this will help you keep things in perspective.
• Session Length — Keeping users engaged longer is also important for health and wellness apps. Whether your users are tracking longer runs or spending more time engaging with virtual coaches, the longer they stay in the app, the more satisfied users you are likely to have on your hands.

Gaming apps have a lot in common with health and wellness apps. Publishers count on users to engage regularly — sometimes more than once a day or for hours at a time. Depending on which segment of the gaming vertical you operate in, the regularity with which your users engage may even be critical to your monetization strategy.

• Engagement & retention — These two metrics go hand-in-hand, and are integral to free, ad-supported gaming app’s success. Not only do you want to make sure your users don’t uninstall your app, you want to give them a reason to play regularly and engage with ads. Daily rewards or challenges are a great way to encourage users to open the app every day.
• LTV — Even if your app is free, your users have an LTV. Whether they create value by engaging with ads, making in-app purchases, or by subscribing, calculating LTV will help you refine UA strategies and maximize your ROAS.
• Cost per Install (CPI) — How much does each install cost you? This is important for all apps, but it’s especially true when a “mobile game is considered successful if its day-1 retention is above 35%.” When more than half of the users you acquire will churn, it’s important to get the cost to acquire them down as low as possible.

Armed with the right metrics, any app can optimize its ad spend, build a better user journey, and create a better overall experience. To learn more about KPIs and benchmarks, read our Mobile App Trends 2022.