Mobile apps have become an integral and constant part of our daily lives. From exercise to entertainment, social media to productivity, there's an app for almost every want or need imaginable, with thousands of new apps being created daily. The average consumer has 80 apps on their devices, proving how much they rely on apps to make their lives easier, more fun, and more productive.
But this popularity begets competition, so digital brands, app developers, and marketers are constantly looking to improve their mobile apps to attract better and retain users. How do they know what works and what doesn't? How do they measure the impact of their efforts and optimize their strategies? How do they understand their users' needs, preferences, and behaviors?
The answer is simple: by using analytics and feedback.
## What are analytics and feedback?
Analytics and feedback are two types of data that can help you measure and improve your mobile app. They can be broadly categorized as follows:
- Analytics are the result of gathering, measuring, and analyzing data generated by app users while interacting with an app. Analytics measure various aspects of an app, such as user acquisition, retention, engagement, conversion, return on investment, and more. This analytical data is the key to understanding an app's performance, how users engage with it, and where the areas for improvement may lie.
- Feedback is the result of collecting and analyzing app users' opinions, feelings, and suggestions, either directly or indirectly. Feedback can be obtained through various methods, such as ratings, reviews, surveys, NPS, customer satisfaction, etc. This feedback data is the key to understanding how users feel about an app, what they like or dislike, what they want or need, and how they perceive the app's value.
Both analytics and feedback are essential for mobile app improvement, as they provide complementary insights to help you make data-driven decisions and deliver a better user experience. However, they need to be more on their own. It would help if you used them systematically and continuously to identify and prioritize the areas for improvement in your app.
## How do you use analytics and feedback to improve your mobile app?
The process of using analytics and feedback to improve your mobile app can be summarized in four steps:
1. Define your goals and KPIs. Before you start collecting and analyzing data, you need a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your app and how you will measure your success. For example, do you want to increase user retention, engagement, or monetization? Do you want to improve user satisfaction, loyalty, or advocacy? Depending on your goals, you need to define the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you track your progress and evaluate your results. For example, some common KPIs for mobile apps are daily active users (DAU), monthly active users (MAU), session length, churn rate, retention rate, conversion rate, average revenue per user (ARPU), net promoter score (NPS), customer satisfaction score (CSAT), and others.
2. Collect and analyze data. Once you have your goals and KPIs in place, you must collect and analyze the data to help you measure them. For this, you need to use various tools and methods, depending on the type of data you want to collect. For analytics, you need to use mobile app analytics tools that can help you track and measure various metrics and events in your app, such as user behavior, app performance, user acquisition, user retention, user engagement, user conversion, and more. Some examples of mobile app analytics tools are Google Analytics, Firebase, CleverTap, Mixpanel, Amplitude, and others. For feedback, you need to use mobile app feedback tools that can help you collect and analyze various types of user feedback, such as ratings, reviews, surveys, NPS, customer satisfaction, and more. Some examples of mobile app feedback tools are App Store Connect, Google Play Console, Survicate, UserVoice, AppFollow, and others.
3. Identify and prioritize areas for improvement. After you have collected and analyzed the data, you need to identify and prioritize the areas for improvement in your app. For this, you need to compare your actual results with your expected results and look for gaps, trends, patterns, and anomalies in the data. For example, you can use analytics to identify which features are most or least used, which screens have the highest or lowest retention, which funnels have the highest or lowest conversion, which segments have the highest or lowest engagement, and more. You can use feedback to identify which aspects of your app are most or least liked, which problems or issues are most or least reported, which suggestions or requests are most or least made, and more. Based on these insights, you can create a list of potential improvements for your app and prioritize them according to their impact, urgency, and feasibility.
4. Implement and test improvements. Finally, after you have identified and prioritized the areas for improvement, you need to implement and test the improvements in your app. For this, you need to use various tools and methods, depending on the progress you want. For example, you can use mobile app development tools that can help you create, modify, or update your app's features, design, or functionality, such as Appabrik, a no-code mobile app development and management platform that allows you to build and launch high-quality apps quickly and easily. You can use mobile app testing tools that can help you test and optimize your app's quality, performance, or usability, such as TestFlight, Firebase Test Lab, Appium, Selenium, and others. You can use mobile app experimentation tools that can help you test and optimize your app's UI, UX, or content, such as Optimizely, Firebase Remote Config, Apptimize, Leanplum, and others.
## Conclusion
Using analytics and feedback to identify and improve your mobile app is not a one-time activity but a continuous cycle that requires constant monitoring, evaluation, and iteration. By following the four steps outlined above, you can use data to make informed decisions and deliver a better user experience for your app users.
Suppose you are looking for a tool to help you with the first step of mobile app improvement, namely mobile app development. In that case, you should check out Appabrik, a no-code mobile app development and management platform that allows you to build and launch high-quality apps quickly and easily. Appabrik is a cloud-based platform that offers a range of features and support for mobile app development, operation, and analysis. Appabrik integrates seamlessly with various services, such as CRM, loyalty systems, EC platforms, etc. Appabrik is a secure, reliable, and flexible solution that can help you easily create and manage your mobile app. To learn more about Appabrik, visit their website or start a today.