Implementing the 80/20 of mobile app analytics
Focus on the essentials: the most critical analytics
Mobile app analytics can indeed be overwhelming. However, by focussing on the essentials, you can quickly gain valuable insights that can help you make the right decisions for your app. Remember, the 80/20 principle (Pareto principle) suggests that 80% of the results come from 20% of the efforts. Same is true for Mobile App Analytics. By focusing on the most impactful metrics, you'll streamline your analytics process and find product market fit.
The real goal: revenue and user problems
Generating revenue is a key goal for your app. It's crucial to remember that creating a product users love and are willing to pay for is the real priority. Your app should solve users' problems. Mobile analytics can help you find that problem-solution fit more efficiently while keeping an eye on the key metrics and make better decisions.
Key metrics to keep an eye on
To effectively implement the 80/20 of mobile app analytics, you should focus on these essential metrics:
- Revenue - Assess your app's financial performance through in-app purchases, subscriptions, or ad revenue.
- Daily Active Users (DAU) and Weekly Active Users (WAU) - Gauge user engagement and find usage patterns that can inform your product strategy.
- Registrations and Sign-ups - Monitor your app's growth and marketing efforts, and keep an eye on the registration funnel to spot areas for improvement.
- Onboarding Conversion - Identify pain points in the onboarding process and optimize it for new users, increasing their chances of sticking around.
- App Installs - Get a clear picture of your app's growth, evaluate your user acquisition efforts, and measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
- Conversion of Free Users to Paying Users - Assess the efficiency of your monetization strategies and identify areas that need optimization.
Beyond metrics: user interviews
Quantitative metrics are helpful, but qualitative input from user interviews can offer invaluable insights into user needs, preferences, and pain points—especially when starting out. Chat with your users regularly to gain a deeper understanding of their experience and expectations.
Making the most of mobile app analytics
Instead of getting lost in endless data, focus on the most critical metrics and activities that will help you improve your app:
- Prioritize revenue and solving users' problems to create a product that users love and are willing to pay for.
- Track key metrics like DAU, WAU, registrations, onboarding conversion, app installs, and free-to-paying user conversion to understand user engagement.
- Choose a mobile analytics tool that fits your goals and doesn't force you to become a data scientist. You should focus on building great products, not analytics.
- Conduct user interviews to collect qualitative input and get a better understanding of user needs and pain points.
- Always respect user privacy and comply with data protection regulations like GDPR.
By following this approach, you'll be well-equipped to make informed decisions that will help you create a product that strikes the right balance between revenue generation and solving user problems.