Top 10 Mobile App Performance KPIs You Must Measure in 2023

If you have developed a mobile app and it’s already live on Google Play and App store, and you’re promoting it actively—you should now focus on tracking the most important mobile app performance KPIs.

Most marketers, you see, place a high priority on application performance measures. Monitoring your app’s performance is critical as marketers employ mobile analytics to improve mobile app usage and performance.

Nevertheless, if you don’t track KPIs, You won’t be able to make effective decisions for your mobile applications, which may lead to app failure. And honestly, no one wants a fallout when all that is required is the examination of vital data for mobile apps.

To guarantee that your user acquisition campaign operates as expected, you must track various measures, including acquisitions, engagement, activations, reachability, uninstall, etc. However, in addition to the essentials, consider the following mobile-specific KPIs to help speed up the success of your mobile app.

Metrics and KPIs for Measuring Mobile App Performance

To achieve your ultimate objectives, you must first decide on the set of KPIs that you want to track. Key performance indicators and measurements are used to assess app performance, and you can only do so if you know what you want to achieve. These variables are required to estimate and measure prospective success rates.

Below is a list of critical mobile app performance KPIs for any app. These metrics indicate how well an app functions, how appealing it is, and how much revenue it generates. Similarly, these KPIs boost your knowledge of your target audience and assist you in developing the app’s business success.

1. Retention Rate

Your retention rate represents the number of users who continue using your mobile app after the install. In essence, the higher your retention rate, the higher your individual consumer value.

Depending on your industry, various milestones will have several meanings and implications, but measuring retention overall may still give valuable information about your business’s viability.

You may try to increase your retention rate after you have a fundamental grasp of it. Think about changing your content to address customer demands better, A/B testing your application, and paying special attention to the onboarding experience after someone installs your app for the first time.

When it comes to this mobile app performance KPI, the formula is simple:

Retention rate = number of monthly active users/number of monthly installs

2. Customer Lifetime Value

Every consumer is valuable, but how can you determine how beneficial they are?

Customer lifetime value tells you how much each user contributes to your bottom line over the length of their smartphone app consumption, including in-app transactions, in-app ads, and subscriptions.

CLV can assist you in determining whether you are investing too much (or too little) in marketing. For instance, the cost of acquiring each user is not balanced by app transactions and services.

It may also help you properly segment and tailor your marketing tactics in order to boost ROI by catering to prospects with greater CLV.

Regarding this mobile app performance KPI, the formula is as follows:

CLV = (average purchasing size) x (amount of purchases) x (transaction time frame)

3. Average Session Duration

For example, you would like to know how frequently people sign in, but you also desire to know how long they stay on each visit.

The average session length mobile app performance KPI formula is the following:

ASL = (total session duration of the user) / (number of launches during session)

Most app advertisers may go further, segmenting based on demographic data such as device kind, among other user criteria.

A short session length might suggest an issue and a high drop rate. Suppose you have many people logging in but don’t remain long enough to benefit your business. In that case, this may indicate an issue with the user experience (for example, a bad user onboarding process). Use such data to improve app features and services in the future, which will result in higher ROI.

According to Adjust study, the average session duration in Q1 2022 was 19.1 minutes.

4. Monthly and Daily Active Users

Many users will fall midway between total churn and dedicated usage. They will vary in frequency—some could be everyday users, while others may sign in just sometimes.

Tracking data for each of these people may give your company important and diverse insights. How does your smartphone app meet the demands of different customer profiles?

Establish your own Daily Active User (DAU) or Monthly Active User (MAU) mobile app performance KPIs, as they will differ from one company to another. Once you’ve decided how your business identifies these distinct types of active users, you may experiment with various data frequencies and ranges.

Ultimately, DAU and MAU can help you anticipate your success and business. If you have an increasing number of engaged and devoted users who interact and check in at many touchpoints during the day, your company is on the right path.

Download our ultimate tracking and MMP setup checklist. Our expert consulting team worked hard on every single detail. Therefore, you will be 101% sure that you are on the right path.

5. Cost Per Action

CPA, or cost per action, estimates the cost of a user doing an activity that results in a conversion, such as a transaction, or a sign-up, among other things. Assume you had an effective $10,000 ad campaign that resulted in 500 conversions.

That way—one of the mobile app performance KPIs—the CPA would be:

$10,000 / 500 = $20

CPA offers a vital business viewpoint that may assist you in evaluating the effectiveness of your campaign. Nevertheless, the great majority of marketers ignore cost optimization in favor of sales acquisition and traffic.

By minimizing costs and lowering the cost per acquisition, you may significantly boost your return on investment (ROI) in a short amount of time.

6. Conversion Rate of a Specific Action

Tracking your smartphone app conversion rate is as critical as tracking your blog conversion rate. How else will you understand the specific advantage of this option? It is entirely up to you how you monitor conversion—some may want to analyze installations, while others may prefer sales, for instance.

Ultimately, the goal is to thoroughly understand how clients use and engage with your mobile app.

Your company’s conversion rate will be determined by your business model’s distinct conversion goals—there is no standard “ideal” figure.

Nevertheless, this mobile measurement may give important UX insights and pinpoint conversion events in the sales life cycle. Monitor conversion rates to get access to new touchpoints along the client journey.

The conversion rate formula is the following:

Conversion rate = number of users who did an action/number of users who could have done the action

7. Cost Per Install

The cost per install measures how much you pay to gain users when they view an ad for your app.

The approach places a greater focus on tracking purchased installs than organic ones. As an outcome, CPI can assist you in determining if your paid ads are profitable and sustainable.

For this mobile app performance KPI, the formula is the following:

CPI = Complete ad spend / total installs

8. Churn Rate

Churn refers to users who quit using your mobile app. Certain people remove entirely (uninstall) the app, while others just do not log in. Nonetheless, this rate is a crucial measure of app success and any adjustments that may be required.

The churn rate is also directly related to your company’s bottom line—the more your acquisition expenses, the greater your churn rate. In-app event tracking may assist in determining when churn begins, delivering vital info about your user journey.

Regarding mobile app performance KPIs, this time churn rate precisely, the formula goes:

Churn rate = 1 – (amount of active monthly users/amount of monthly installs)

9. User Growth Rate

The percent change in users over a certain time period is referred to as the user growth rate. The measure reflects whether the pace of growth is constant, quick, or slow. Studying this mobile app performance KPI allows you to investigate options such as marketing efforts or pricing campaigns.

10. Return on Investment

ROI calculates the amount of revenue gained per any cost spent on marketing or other activities. Tracking ROI is vital to your app’s growth path, regardless of sector, because ROI offers a solid idea of the app’s performance and economic potential.

The ROI is favorable when your acquisition and marketing expenses are less than the app’s profits.

The return on investment formula goes as follows:

ROI = (gain from the investment – price of investment) / investment cost

Conclusion on Mobile App Performance KPIs

To accomplish your desired sales goals, you must first understand where you are starting from. Mobile applications put you in touch with an entirely new set of customers, but just like any other channel, you must evaluate the data you gather.

Tracking mobile app performance KPIs like the ones described above can provide you with a comprehensive, detailed picture of your mobile app’s function in your entire strategy.

Do you want to know more about which KPIs you should be tracking? Or what are the best approaches to grow your app swiftly? Get in touch with our team of experts to get the most out of your app marketing activities.