Boo – it’s Halloween! To commemorate today’s frightening festivities, we’re sharing 5 scary statistics about mobile (along with what you can do about them).

1. 23% of users abandon an app after just one use!

Yikes, talk about nightmare fuel! After all that effort to obtain a new user, almost a quarter of them go dark after their first use!

You don’t need to sit back and accept this grueling fate though – there are a number of strategies you can use to combat the churn ghouls:

  • Create a killer onboarding process. Set up a great onboarding experience to help users understand how to use your app
  • Re-evaluate your acquisition sources. Some acquisition sources will prove more valuable than others. Take a look at which sources delivers the highest rate of app abandoners, and invest more in mediums that deliver users who stick around.

2. 80% of users churn after 3 months

This scary statistic shows that time is no guarantee of love. Many of us have stuck through less-than-ideal relationships (or at least lackluster internet providers) a bit longer than we should have just because it’s easier than going through the effort of saying sayonara.

Apps can be similar – users keep you around out of laziness, but sooner or later they’ll realize they one of you isn’t delivering on this relationship and will hit the road.

Gaming apps have the toughest time holding onto users after the 3-month mark. This isn’t a terrible surprise – many of us have experienced that rush of obsession upon first downloading a fun new gaming app, only to get exhausted after a few months (PokemonGo, Clash of Clans, Farmville, it’s certainly not a new experience for me).

So how do you keep users past the 3-month mark? Many of the tidbits we listed above apply, but you can also go deeper into the dark woods.

Make use of predictive marketing to understand the behavior pattern of churners vs. converters. Predictive marketing can help highlight what marketing actions you can use to build loyalty by examining what’s worked for your app in the past, and what can be done to stop future abandonment.

3. 50% of app users find push notifications annoying

Users think push is obnoxious? Say it isn’t so! Push notifications are the bread and butter of many a mobile marketer – they provide an instant tap into a user’s attention, delivering important info straight to a user’s screen, wherever they are.

Push is a valuable tool, but it’s easy to abuse. And when you abuse push, your users will run for the hills. Be smart with your push messages – don’t drown your users in them, and only send them when you truly have something to offer.

You’ll also want to avoid broadcast push notifications like the zombie plague. Instead, send personalized push notifications tailored for an individual user’s behavior, purchase history, and other data to make sure they’re getting notifications they’ll truly appreciate and enjoy.

4. 57% of users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site

While this stat from CMS Report specifically refers to users’ reception of mobile sites, the lesson is clear – users will not put up with ugly interfaces, and this goes for apps too!

The solution? Make sure your app design is easy on the eyes. Create an attractive app that users delight in using.

Conduct app user testing to make sure your app is natural to navigate. Remember that you are not your audience, and that you’ve been working with the ins and outs of your app, while others have not – developers may think that their UX is superb, but a real user might not find it quite so fantastic.

5. Offers made through mobile wallets generate a 26% increase in average order value over static mobile coupons

This info from Juniper Research is likely only a scary stat for those who haven’t implemented compatibility with mobile wallets! If you have, you can rest easy. If not, jump on that wagon before the holidays, as it could provide a significant bump to your average order value!

Navigating smartphones, especially with codes that need to be typed, copied, or pasted, can be quite cumbersome. Setting up compatibility with mobile wallets means users can make use of discounts with just a couple of taps.

Some of these stats are pretty spooky, but you don’t need to have a Final Destination-style fate – use the advice we detailed here to combat mobile horrors and drive those goblins away!