• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, October 28, 2016

More apps need to make in-app messages part of their engagement strategy, according to new research from Localytics.

The study from the analytics firm shows that apps using in-app messaging benefit in two very important ways: higher engagement and higher retention.

“Apps using in-app messaging average 21% more monthly app launches, with almost 17 app launches per month compared to the 14 app launches per month seen by apps that are not using in-app messages,” Caitlin O’Connell, a marketing research analyst at Localytics, notes in the report.

Users who receive in-app messages are also more likely to return to the app. Indeed, apps using in-app messages see 23% of their users return to the app three months after they download it, while apps that do not use in-app messages only see 16% of their users return within the same time period.

That said, O’Connell says that in-app messaging is a great start, but apps need to take an even more granular approach.

With Localytics, in-app messages can be triggered in two ways: by the start of the session (app launch) or through an event (an action a user takes within the app).

Messages triggered as soon as users open the app do not require any information about what they’re doing in the app. They simply have to open the app and a message could appear.

While these types of in-app messages can be effective, presenting an in-app message triggered by an event is a more “sophisticated” and effective approach, according to O’Connell.

 “This allows an app to engage with users based on the actions they take and send more relevant messages to them,” she notes. “For example, if a user adds an item to their cart, an app can trigger a message with a coupon for that item enticing them to check out.”

The results of triggering in-app messages off of a specific event speak for themselves. The average click-through rate for messages triggered by an event is 18%, while click-through for messages triggered when a user opens the app is just 10%.