• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, January 2, 2014

According to a new study by Urban Airship, analyzing customer data in aggregate to identify apps with at least six months of opt-in and opt-out user data that had sent at least 100 cumulative pushes in one month during the study period, on average, all apps retain users opted-in to push messaging at nearly double the rate of those opted-out. The opt-in users are much more engaged, with 26% more average monthly app opens per user. Due to greater retention of opt-in users, the vast majority of an app’s total opens over time will be from users that receive push notifications.

App User Retention Rate by Push Notification Opt-In (% of Users Opening App in Months After Download)
Months	Opt-in	Opt-out
Month 1	55%	29%
Month 2	41	21
Month 3	34	18
Month 4	30	16
Month 5	27	14
Month 6	25	13
Source: UrbanAirship, December 2013

Previous studies, measuring the additional lift of a best practice push messaging approach, found that apps practicing high push engagement had nearly four times more total app opens from opt-in users compared to opt-out users.

For many industry verticals, the engagement and retention lifts were much larger than the overall sample’s averages. Retail led all industries with opt-in users generating 40% more average monthly app opens than opt-out users, and these opt-in users were retained at well more than double the rate of opt-out users.

Push Notification Opt-In Rate by Industry
Industry	Minimum	Average	Maximum
Gambling	28%	46%	60%
Media	23	50	96
Entertainment	11	45	87
Retail	16	46	90
Games	16	35	92
Sports	16	48	75
Source: UrbanAirship, December 2013

Media and Sports apps had the first and second highest long-term retention rates and highest average opt-in rates respectively, but the lowest average engagement lifts across industries. Clearly push is valued for Media and Sports apps, concludes the report. However, in some cases the push itself is the media (i.e., breaking news headlines and sports scores) and these apps may be driving cross-channel objectives in getting opt-in audiences to tune-in via TV, for example.

That said, the data suggests a missed opportunity to drive more app opens by deep-linking pushes to related in-app content that offers additional perspectives and deeper information, suggests the report.

For additional information from Urban Airship, please visit here. Or, for access to the PDF file, go here.