9 best ways to increase user engagement on your app in 2024

User engagement is the process through which users can interact with your app for its intended purpose. It is the fundamental pillar of effective app strategies. As per research, app engagement increased by 30% between 2019 and 2020 and 7% between 2020 and 2021.

Even though acquiring new customers is challenging in its own right, it becomes even more complicated when the space is highly contested among different brands competing for users' attention. 

For Saas businesses, user engagement is tightly tied to active users. Increasing app engagement is a way to ensure these customers are retained, and it involves testing and trying out what works best for your app as per customers’ demands. 

If you're looking to boost the number of active users on your app and keep them returning for more, you've come to the right place. In this blog, we'll share some top strategies for engaging new and existing users and how you can keep them engaged over time. 

What does app engagement mean?

App engagement refers to the level of interaction and involvement users have with an app. This includes how often users open an app, how long they spend using it, and the number of actions they take within the app (such as making purchases, sharing content, or completing tasks).

As Lincoln Murphy stated, “Engagement is when your customer realizes value from your SaaS, different at various stages in the customer lifecycle.” Therefore, high app engagement is typically seen as a positive indicator of an app's success, as it suggests that users find the app valuable and use it regularly.

How can we measure app engagement?

Depending on your goals, you can use various metrics, such as likes, comments, subscribers, views, clicks, frequency of visits, number of active app users, session length, lifetime value, and conversions.

Different indicators, ranging from the number of daily active users to the average duration of each app session, shed light on various aspects of user engagement and help understand how users view their apps.‍

5 key metrics to track app engagement‍

For a better understanding of your app's user engagement, let's look at some key app engagement metrics you should monitor:

1. App retention

Retention suggests the percentage of users who consistently use the app.

According to research, a 5% increase in app retention can raise your revenue by up to 95%. 

App retention rate can be an indication that you need to re-engage people, even while it can't tell you when to deliver in-app messages on its own.

2. Active users

It is the number of unique users who have opened the app over a given period. You can measure the number of active users on your website using a variety of integrations, but Google Analytics is the most often used.

3. Session length

The average time a user spends in the app during a single session is called session length. Since it shows how long the app can keep users interested in one instance, the session length can measure user engagement and retention. 

Session length can be measured through Google Analytics and AWS Mobile Analytics.

4. Session frequency

It stands for the number of sessions per user per period. This metric helps determine how often users return to your app after their first use, effectively measuring retention and engagement.

Yet again, you can easily track how often users use your app by integrating analytics software like Google Analytics.

5. Conversion rate

The percentage of users who convert into paying customers is known as a conversion, but depending on the nature of your app and the kind of business you run, this term may have other meanings. 

For example, e-commerce software records a new conversion when a person purchases a product. However, when a user upgrades to a paid subscription through an in-app purchase, a new conversion occurs for a subscription-based service.

One of the most concrete metrics for monitoring app usage is conversion rate, which also directly affects your company's goals.

How to increase user engagement: A 9-step guide 

Now that you know why and how you should measure user engagement, let's explore some solid strategies for increasing it. 

Here are some essential strategies to consider to increase app engagement.

1. First impression is the last impression

Making a solid first impression is crucial since your onboarding process is how users will interact with your product for the first time. Consider user onboarding as the attraction for sustained engagement.

Each new user should be taken through your product's most important features to guide them as rapidly as possible to the primary value proposition of your offering or their "aha moment."

Prioritize your core features first because these are the ones that will enable you to achieve your short-term goals. Keep the additional functionality for various app parts. As users explore the app, let them get to know one another.

Also, encourage users to do certain activities, draw attention to new or inactive features and integrations, and provide new users with more instructions and information about how the app functions.

2. Optimize the onboarding experience

Apps that provide first-time users with a fantastic onboarding experience are more likely to keep them returning. Users will be driven to return and continue using your product if you can make the signup process quick, simple, and enjoyable.

For example, always keep things simple and make it easy for users to sign up and log in. The quicker they can access it, the less likely they will immediately exit your app. Also, allowing users to join through social media apps will help to streamline the signup process. 

Constantly strive to keep the in-app experience simple but helpful. Avoid lengthy paragraphs of text through your app. You may also point users toward a website with relevant information to support long app onboarding tutorials. 

3. Gamify the experience

Gamification has the power to trigger a range of human emotions, and it is another approach to leverage game-like onboarding techniques.

As gaming components release dopamine in users' brains in non-game apps, users want to interact with the gamified app for an extended period because the sense of achievement propels them.

The following are standard design components to increase app engagement:

• Badges
  These visually represent users' accomplishments and measure how well they utilize the program. For example, some fitness trackers add badges based on how many steps the user has taken while using the fitness app.
  
• Levels
  These represent the in-game world. The game's difficulty rises with each level, making it more challenging and thrilling for the player to progress.
• Charts of performance
  These charts display a player's performance in relation to previous outcomes and keep track of each player's specific stats.
  
• Points
  These are the core rewards the player receives throughout the game.
  
• Scoreboards
  A scoreboard shows performance in relation to other users' performance rather than performance charts, which offer one user's performance throughout a specific period.
  
• In-game currency
  This is the " payment method" for buying the game-related perks. This currency is available to the player as a daily bonus or reward for specific achievements to keep them engaged.

4. Enable in-app messaging

An in-app message is a tailored notification that users of your desktop or mobile app can receive while using the app. Using in-app messages, you can communicate product upgrades, advertise discounts, and complete onboarding procedures.

This efficient method can boost user engagement and sustain in-app interactions to increase user engagement in the app. According to Braze,

55% of users who use an app within the first week after downloading will continue to use it.

You can send users time-sensitive, contextual, and targeted messages with the help of in-app messaging. In-app messaging helps you to:

• Boost feature adoption
• Improve customer retention
• Increase product adoption

These features of in-app messaging make it one of the go-to strategies for organizations to offer a smooth onboarding process, boost engagement and customer experience, and ultimately increase retention.

Also, integrate your in-app messages as a natural part of the app rather than a sales pitch. Use them in the onboarding process so that a pop-up describing it appears whenever a user explores a new feature.

➡️ Take a look at more examples of using in-app messaging for increased user retention.