There are many ways to measure the success of your mobile app. User acquisition, retention and engagement are all important KPIs, but it's also important to measure how many users uninstall your app and the point at which they do so. This is your app churn rate, and while it's not a metric worth celebrating, it is an important one to monitor.

How to calculate churn rate and what is the average churn rate?

What is churn rate?

Churn rate, also known as attrition rate, is the percentage of users who stop using the app within a given time period. Just like retention, churn is measured for a specific group of users over time. 

Typically, the largest churn occurs in the first 7 days after a user first launches a game. After that, the number increases until it finally stabilizes after 30 days. 

On the first day a user launches a game, they get their first impressions. At this point, players evaluate the interface, game tutorials and content. This is called the onboarding experience. If players churn on the first day, you may lose them forever. However, if they stay, they will further explore your game's features. 

After a week, you can get a clearer picture of whether people like your game or not. At this stage, they will learn about your game mechanics, features and other characteristics. If they tend to churn at this stage, this is where you look for problems. Make sure they can unlock new features, whether they are items, levels or skins. In other words, don't let them get bored during the week!

Finally, the churn rate after 30 days will tell you whether your game can generate loyal users. Usually, players who play the game after a month do not uninstall it. At this stage, you can ensure the quality of your game: UI, graphics, core loops and other elements. Your task here is to get them excited about it.

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How to calculate churn rate？

Let's start with an example:

600 users in January and have 400 users at the end of the month.

Here is how to calculate the churn rate.

(600-400)/600 = 33.33% churn rate.

This seems simple enough, but churn can be tricky.

Different factors can affect the results of this formula, such as how you define active users versus inactive users or the time period you are looking at. But this equation is a great starting point for getting a baseline for your app.

What is a good churn rate for mobile apps?

In a broad sense, a good user churn rate should match or exceed the level of similar apps in the market.

As an inverse of churn, we can look at recent industry benchmarks for app retention rates, showing an average retention rate of 25.3% on the day of installation. 30 days later, this drops to a user retention rate of just 5.7%.

Of course, churn and retention benchmarks also vary by category, e.g.

• Casual mobile games retained 32.3% of users on day 1 and 2.6% by day 30. If casual games lose "only" 97.5% of their players on day 28, then they are actually among the most successful games in the genre.
• Social casino games retained 32.1% of users on day 1 and 5.4% on day 30.
• Midcore games retained 31% of users on day 1 and 2.3% on day 30. Games in the midcore genre are known for their highly engaged player base and high player LTV. However, in terms of their churn rates, these numbers are very similar to those of casual games.
• Hardcore games retained 28.7% of their users on day one and 3.1% on day 30.

Main factors that affect your app user churn rate

If your app's churn rate is higher than you would normally expect, it's time to start digging into the causes. There may be several common reasons for user churn.

Lengthy sign-up or onboarding processes

If your app makes new users jump through a lot of hoops or sit on slow screens before they get in, you may be losing them at the first hurdle.

Too many permissions or privacy issues

Does the app really need access to the user's contacts or gallery? Your app may be asking a lot of users, even if it's unintentional. Too many permissions can be a red flag.

Too many notifications, low relevance

No one likes spam, and while push notifications can be effective when used in a user-friendly way, they can easily become a turn-off.

Memory usage

If your application requires several gigabytes of storage space on the device's hard drive, it can become an attractive uninstaller when users need to free up space.

Data usage

If your application requires constant connectivity and data transfer, it can deplete the user's monthly data limit. This can be a challenge especially for online games.

Battery usage

Just like mobile data, if your app is excessively draining your phone's battery due to poor process optimization, users will soon notice and want to uninstall.

Performance issues

If your app is struggling to run on the latest hardware, then you may need to look into performance optimization to reduce lag or crashes.

Switching to a competitor's app

This depends on how your competitor app is marketed and how it compares to the user experience of your app. Try to stay on top of category trends and competitor app updates to keep your app ahead of the curve.

Not using the app enough

If the app doesn't provide an engaging experience, then users won't worry about removing it when they want to clear space on their device.

Overusing apps

On the other hand, if your app is causing addictive behavior among its users, they may feel the need to stop using it for the sake of their health.

Effective app user reservation strategy: How to reduce your app user churn rate？

After you discover the main causes of user churn, you'll have a better idea of what you can do about it. It all boils down to the cause. 

Basically, you will use the same methods as you use to increase user retention. This will provide you with the long-term results you want to see. 

In fact, if you manage to reduce your churn rate by 5%, you can increase your profits by 75%! 

Here are some of the industry's best practices for reducing churn.

1. Create a simple first session experience

Give your users a great first user experience when they start their first session. The key to doing this is to keep everything clear and simple. This includes the tutorial, login options, and understanding what the game is all about. 

The game tutorial should be intuitive and interactive. However, don't force pre-game tutorials to be played. You can put them right into the game and walk them through as they play.

When it comes to the login process, make it quick. Make sure they don't have to enter a lot of personal information before starting the game. This can be avoided by including social (e.g., Facebook, Gmail) login options. It is also important not to force them to log in. You should always give your players the option to play as a guest.

2. Steady introduction of features  

Show users only those features that they need to see. When they first start playing, they don't have to view all the features, options or modes you have to offer. Make sure the player can simply navigate through the interface. 

Introduce new features as they progress through the game. For example, let's say your users play an average of 4 sessions per day. With this in mind, you can make sure that new in-game features always appear after 4 sessions. This will keep the interface neat and simple.

This approach will also have a positive impact on user interaction. When they log in, they should always have a new goal. As the user progresses:

• Unlock new game modes
• Introduce new content
• Visualize achievements 
• Set a series of small tasks

In other words, always give players something to do. Whether it's a daily or weekly task and goal, it should serve a purpose - make them feel motivated.

3. Stay on the user's screen

Use different opt-in techniques to remind users of your game when they are not playing. To do this, you can use different alerts, such as push notifications, alerts and email notifications. Just make sure they are not too frequent and actually contain valuable information.

4. Listen and interact

Invite your players to share their honest opinion about the game. Sometimes the feedback is positive, sometimes negative, and the most important thing is not to ignore it. 

Give them a platform to communicate with you outside the app store. This can be forums, in-game customer service, social media, etc. Respond to their comments and promise solutions where possible. This may help you retain players as they will feel that you are doing your best to solve their problems.

5. Include pvp mode

If your game type is viable, add PvP functionality to your game. A competitive environment is a great way to keep players excited and engaged. You can do this by giving them the opportunity to play against random people or their friends.

After the "match" is over, you can use a technique. Don't let it be a "winner-take-all" situation. For example, you can offer only small rewards to players who participate. 

Another thing you can implement for social engagement is to include leaderboards. This allows players to keep playing to beat other people's high scores.

6. Surprise players with rewards

It is especially important to reward players at the beginning when they are most likely to churn. Give away currency, lives, items or limited time offers on a regular basis. Of course, your choice will depend on the nature of the game and your profit model. 

However, don't reward them too often. Always giving out free stuff will spoil the surprise and players will start taking it for granted. Some good reward practices are:

• Rewarding users with additional value after completing in-app purchases.
• Include incentive video ads.
• Target loyal players to keep them engaged.

7. Don't punish inactive players

Some game developers think that punishing players who haven't logged in for a while will bring them back. However, this can be a slippery slope.

Imagine coming back to the game after a long period of time for legitimate reasons (travel, illness, work) just to see that all your previous progress is gone. Instead, what you can do is reward them for logging in regularly.

8. Avoid false advertising

Are you using paid ads to get new players? We strongly recommend that you do. Another thing we recommend is to use video ads to promote your mobile game.

Creating video ads can greatly increase your conversion rate.

However, many games have deceptive ads. After you have paid to get them, you don't want them to punish you by churning them out.