• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, July 28, 2017

In a first of its kind study, Urban Airship analyzed the 90-days after first app open for 63 million new app users, comparing retention rates of those who received push notifications with those who did not. The report shows how to keep users engaged and decrease user churn, as well as Retail specific highlights.

According to the report, while many mobile pros worry about over-messaging app users, their real worry should be undermessaging app users:

• Users who received Daily+ notifications had the highest retention rates across all vertical and platforms
• More than one-quarter of opt-in users never receive a push notification
• App users who receive one or more notifications in their first 90-days have an average retention rate that’s nearly 3x higher than users who receive no push notifications
• Sending even one push notification has a significant impact on app retention rates. 95% of opt-in users who don’t receive a push notification in the first 90 days will churn. That means that app publishers are essentially wasting $.95 cents of every dollar spent to acquire coveted opt-in app users.

Overall, more frequent push notifications increase app retention rates, and the more frequent (while staying relevant!), the better, says the report:

• Users receiving Daily+ push notifications had 820% higher app retention rates than users who received Zero push notifications
• Users receiving Weekly push notifications had 440% higher app retention rates than users who received Zero push notifications
• Users receiving One push notification had 120% higher app retention rates than users who received Zero push notifications

Even at optimal notification frequency levels, 54% of app users will churn in the first 90 days after opening an app, says the report. “App retention” or “app retention rates” is when a user continues to open an app (at least one time) during the 90 days after their first app open, while churn includes both “hard churn, user uninstalled the app, and “soft churn,” a user who no longer opens the app during the defined period.

• OPT-IN APP USERS: have agreed to receive push notifications from an app. On iOS, users receive a permissions dialogue prompting them to choose whether they want to allow push notifications. On Android, users are opted in to receive push notifications from apps by default.
• OPT-OUT APP USERS: are those who have declined to receive push notifications from an app when asked, or have taken steps to opt out of an app’s push notifications through app or system-level settings.
• PUSH NOTIFICATIONS: A push notification is a message that pops up on a mobile device. Push notifications can be simple text-based messages, but can also include rich media like images and videos. They only reach users who are opted in to receive them.

Push Notification Frequency Impact On App Retention Rates

For new app users in the first 90 days, the report shows more frequent push notifications are correlated to better app retention rates. App users who receive any push notifications in the 90 days after their first app open have nearly 3x (190%) higher retention rates than those who do not. 

95% Of Unaddressed New Users Churn Within 90 Days

Within 90 days after first app open, 95% of opt-in users in the study who didn’t receive any push notifications churned. That is, they deleted or stopped using the app. Meaning, app publishers who don’t send push notifications are effectively wasting $.95 cents of every dollar spent acquiring new users.

The report says that their data shows that 27% of opt-in users don’t receive any push notifications in their first 90-days of using an app. In fact, Android users, the Zero frequency cohort was the largest frequency cohort, both in our overall data analysis, as well as in every vertical we analyzed. On iOS, Zero frequency was the second largest cohort overall.

Concluding, the report says thatApp users who receive any push notifications in their first 90-days have a 3x higher app retention rate when compared to those who received no push notifications.

For access to the full report, please visit Urban Airship here.