Developing a mobile app for your business is a challenging endeavor. It oftentimes consumes a lot of time, money, and energy. Regardless if you’re venturing into iOS app development or Android app development, even if you’re going platform agnostic, the road is challenging.

The satisfaction, however, of seeing your idea of becoming a reality is unparalleled. But it doesn’t stop there. Our experience has shown us that it’s just as important to take care of your mobile app after it’s done.

There are countless metrics that you can track in order to determine the performance of your mobile app. Not all of them are essential, however. We’ve taken the liberty to narrow down the list to 10 metrics that matter for your mobile app. Following and working on these will surely make a difference, so let’s get started.

#1 App Downloads. Shocking!

It probably doesn’t come as a shock to you that the number of app downloads is absolutely critical for measuring its performance.

Strictly speaking, this represents the number of times your mobile app has been installed and, hence, it’s the first signal of how your mobile app is performing. If you’re seeing few or no downloads at all, it’s quite obvious that you’d have to put more effort into marketing it.

One thing you can do is take advantage of audience-centric communities. Here, we’ve discussed how to increase mobile app downloads with the help of communities.

#2 Active Users of Your App

That’s a bit different from the downloads metric. It measures the number of users who are actively using your app, rather than downloading it and not using it on a regular basis.

This is something you can segment even further through a variety of tools. For instance, you can monitor the daily active users (DAU), as well as the monthly active users (MAU). The first type of user is someone who’s had at least one session per day, while the second shows the users who’ve had a session in the last month.

#3 Average Visit Time and Screen Views per Visit

These are important metrics which reveal how engaged your audience is. The average visit time is obviously how much time your users spend on your app on average. Screen views per visit is a metric which tracks how many app screens the user is interacting with during the session.

Naturally, the longer time your users are spending in your app and the more screens they are interacting with, the better your mobile app is performing. As mobile app developers, we can guarantee that engagement is one of the things you have to prioritize.

#4 User Retention

This metric indicates how many of your users return to your mobile app after they have visited it for the first time. Retention is one of the more important metrics. In general, this is a challenging thing to achieve, but if you get 25% retention or more, you’re golden.

#5 App Rating

Regardless if it comes to iOS app development, Android app development, or platform agnostic mobile apps, they have to be well-perceived. Your app rating is what you want to look at to determine this.

The different app stores have different ways of displaying rating, but generally, they’re using the star system. The more the stars, the better for you.

#6 App Store Reviews

Again, your reputation is everything. One bad customer review can cause massive damage to your app, so you want to make sure that you address every concern.

Bad reviews can also be good – don’t get desperate. Make sure to talk to the person leaving you the bad review and show to your audience that you’re willing to work harder in order to make your mobile app flawless.

#7 Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

Money, it’s all about money. The ARPU metric shows you how much revenue the average user is generating for your mobile app. This is one of the most important metrics for your investors.

If you’re looking to understand how to grow your mobile app and raise more money for it, your ARPU needs to be in-line with your investment goals. Strong ARPU shows success, which is what people are looking for. In addition, you can use this metric in order to determine whether or not you’ll be meeting your revenue targets.

#8 User Acquisition Cost (UAC)

User acquisition cost, or cost per acquisition – it doesn’t really matter, is the metric which shows you how much money you have to spend in order to get an active, paying user or a potential subscriber.

This metric usually tracks how much cash you spend on advertisement, marketing, PR, technology costs, infrastructure, salaries, and so forth. It’s important to know this number not only for potential investors but also for properly sizing the price of your services.

#9 Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

How much money can you make from a certain user before he stops using your mobile app? That’s what this metric determines. It also takes into account the cost per acquisition.

This metric is going to help you determine how much time you have to spend retaining a user in order to profit from him.

#10 In-App Revenue

A lot of the current mobile apps are making money from in-app sales. The in-app revenue tracks exactly how much you’re making. One thing to consider here is that you can use this metric to highlight high-profit sales while putting those which make little to no money down the priority lane.

Conclusion

These are pretty much some of the most important mobile app performance metrics you’d have to keep track of. As we said, there are many more, but being aware and properly optimized from the above will definitely get the job done.