While creating and designing an app is a lot of work, the work isn’t done once you have released your app. There is a lot of work to do when an app is live such as monitoring it, updating it and more.
However, the most important thing to do once your app is live is to be sure to be constantly checking on your metrics. Your metrics will tell not only the health of your app, but also help you answer questions about your app’s success and performance. With that in mind, here are a few of the metrics you should be keeping track of to ensure your app is performing as expected.
Active Users
This is arguably the most important metric to know, as it will show you how many people are actively using your app. Of course, you want this number to be as high as possible. Active users are those who open the app and initiate a session. So just because someone has your app on their device, that won’t make them an active user.
Also, active users can be split up even more. You have daily active users (who use your app daily), weekly active users (who use your app weekly) and so on. Your goal is to turn as many users as you can into a daily active user, as those are the most valuable.
Log Analysis
While this isn’t a metric, per se, it is something that is incredibly important to do throughout the lifetime of your app. Log analysis is the art of making sense out of computer-generated records and there are many reasons why people and companies may perform log analysis.
They can help with troubleshooting, make sure you comply with security and legal policies and even understand the online behavior of users.
If you want to perform log analysis, but don’t know how to start, this link should help you out: Configuring centralized logging from Python apps Papertrail log management
Average Visit Time
This metric measures the average duration of a session on your app. This gives you an inside look at how engaged users are with your app and its functionality. You want users to spend as much time as possible in your app, so you should foster a great experience and UI within your app.
The longer a person is in your app, the more they are engaged and the more likely they are to see more ads, or even recommend the app to a friend. Of course, some apps aren’t meant to spend a lot of time on (such as a weather app) and then some others (like Reddit) have users spending hours at a time on the app. So figure out what is a suitable average visit time for your sector and aim for that.
App Retention
This metric is all about seeing how many users come back to your app after their very first visit. Of course, you want people to come back to your app often, so if your retention is low, it could be cause for concern. You should investigate why this is the case and how you can improve it.
But don’t be too discouraged if your retention is low, as many apps struggle to retain users. With so many apps out there, and the relatively short attention spans of many users, they often cycle through using certain apps like crazy. You should track your retention daily, weekly and monthly in order to get a sense of when/why people are leaving (or staying with) your app.
In conclusion, learning and knowing about these metrics is imperative to the success of your business in the long run. If you ignore the metrics, it will be hard to track whether your business is performing as expected, better than expected or not living up to expectations.