• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, May 8, 2015

There are significant differences in the ways men and women use mobile apps, according to a new reportfrom Liftoff, which tracks downloads and usage and compiles the data in its quarterly Mobile App Engagement Index.

For its 2015 Q1 report, Liftoff tracked the cost-per-acquisition and conversion rates for 22.5 million app installs and 550 million subsequent actions across six main app categories: dating, finance, shopping, social, travel and utility. Actions tracked included downloads, registrations, purchases, social sharing, reservations, and paid subscriptions.

One key takeaway: women be shoppin’! Seriously, women are 32% more likely than men to make a purchase through a shopping app, and the cost of acquiring a female user is markedly lower for women than for men. The cost-per-purchase also tends to be lower for women, at $144.50, compared to $190.70 for men.

Overall, 72.5% of e-commerce app downloads convert into registered users. Women also lead men in social apps, with 36% more women sharing content via apps than men; overall, 76.3% of social app installs convert into registered users.

On the other hand, men are more likely to use financial apps, and the cost-per-acquisition for male users is accordingly cheaper, with a cost-per-install 15.25% lower for men than for women, and a cost-per-registration 16.3% lower.

On the dating front, men are more likely to create accounts on dating apps, with 52% of men who install an app going on to set up a profile, compared to 41% of women. However 31.6% more women go on to convert to paying subscribers on dating apps than men.

Of course gender isn’t the only factor influencing mobile behaviors. On that note, Liftoff also found that although Android users are more likely to register or share content, iOS users are much more lucrative for payment-related transactions like purchasing, subscribing, or making a reservation. Thus the cost for advertisers is 20.4% less for purchases made on iOS apps than Android, while subscriptions cost 22.4% less.