• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, November 1, 2016

High app retention rates continue to be a challenge for those marketers that have not yet optimized their on-boarding experiences. In fact, just 21% of users are active on the second download, according to new research from mobile marking platform Swrve.

This suggests that the increasingly crowded marketplace has made it difficult for businesses to create products that stand out.

In response, Swrve CMO Martin Doettling suggests a more “human-centric” approach.

“Personalized experiences are the only way to really draw the modern consumer in, and have therefore become a business imperative for mobile marketers,” Doettling notes in a new report. “Applications that adapt based on positive results--or A/B testing--are consistently more profitable.”

As it stands, user attrition remains a serious issue for developers.

Seven days after downloading an app, just 9% of users remain active, while just 4% of users remain active 30 days after downloading an app.

Of course, it’s a different story when users do find apps they like. Indeed, the average active user enjoys 3.4 sessions per day, with an average session time of six minutes and 17 seconds -- making total average time in the app 20 minutes and 13 seconds a day.

Also of note, in-app messages are effective for drawing users in during an active session, Swrve finds.

Both iOS and Android users respond positively to these messages, with applications on both operating systems enjoying positive click-thru rates around 14%.

For push notifications, click-thru rates are much lower -- averaging just 2.5%. This is largely because they are often sent to lapsed users in an attempt to bring them back, Swrve suggests.

However, there is a clear distinction between the two operating systems, with iOS click rates being only 1.2%, while Android being 4.6%.

The disparity comes from a difference between the way notifications are shown and stored on the two platforms, which in turn means a clear distinction when it comes to success rates, according to Swrve.