How Google Analytics Can Improve Your Mobile App
If you have a mobile app it is imperative you assess the data of your users. This not only gives you valuable marketing information, but also alerts on possible roadblocks and bugs in your app. Google Analytics is free, and provides a central platform for gathering data, reports and offering analysis. If you are new to Analytics there is a lot to learn about the program, however some information is easy to assess and get started with.
First, you will need to set up an account, and once you connect your mobile app some information will be obvious and easy to digest. At first it will be amazing to see how users engage with your app, but as you get more adept with the program you will have a whole new world of data at your fingertips which, with time, will save you money and attract more users to your mobile app.
Below are just a few of the ways Google Analytics can improve the performance of your app, improve your marketing campaigns, and increase monetary gains:
Measuring New & Active User Metrics
Information such as location of your users and which device they use might not seem beneficial on the surface, but simple bits of information like this can benefit your business in many ways. The New and Active User metrics will be the easiest section for you to assess when you first look into Google Analytics.
Discovering which platform the majority of your users prefer can help you make a business decision about creating a native app for either Android or iPhone, and looking at geo-location data can help you learn about the best ways to market to your target audience. It is also possible to check the monetization from one device compared to another, and assess if a technical issue is possible with your app on a specific platform, causing revenue loss.
Choosing A Monetization Model
Data gathered from Google Analytics can help steer you towards the correct revenue stream for your mobile app. There are three main models to monetize apps:
- Paid App Downloads & Subscription Based Models
- In App Advertising
- In App Purchases
Monitoring Your App Revenue Stream
In Google Analytics you can create a measurement plan to assess the success of your monetization model. In this plan you should define your key objectives in order to understand if your marketing goals are successful or not. You will be able to see what user actions are converting into the most money for your business, and where the user actions are costing you money. You can also monitor they type of payment used and time taken for transactions.
Finding App Bugs
Google Analytics creates a ‘Crashes and Exceptions’ report which gives you feedback on the performance of your app. Data on crashes is automatically created, but you can also define specific alerts to monitor issues or screens you might be focusing on. The data on these errors can then be broken down into groups in order for you to assess where the issue might be arising, and how much money it is costing you based on user conversions.
Measuring Effectiveness of Marketing
When you use Google AdWords or AdMob, a report is created in Google Analytics that can show you the success or failure of your campaign. By analyzing this data you can target your efforts more precisely, and save your business money by aiming your campaign on the correct market.
Attracting New Users To Your App
When you use a combination of AdWords and Analytics, you can use reports to identify high and low value users, meaning you will discover who is spending money in your app and who is not. With this information you can seek new high value users, who are the people likely to engage in and pay for your product.
Assessing Roadblocks
Using reports such as ‘Screens’ in Google Analytics gives you the opportunity to watch where your users are exiting your app. It can help you assess a problem with the flow of your app, or an issue with a payment process. You are also able to see when most users who aren’t spending money are leaving the app, and with that information try to create a way to keep them engaged longer. You can use this data to entice them to make a purchase. For instance if users are often exiting a game at one level, possibly the level is too difficult and you need to adjust the complexity so they stay in app longer.
Setting Goals
Once you get more familiar with Google Analytics you will be able to set goals for your business. Goals will most often lead to a monetary conversion by a user, and by tracking funnels you set, you can see where your user is getting confused or contrarily where their usage is most often turning into a sale. Goal setting requires some additional configuration, but the value you will get out of it is worth the extra effort.
As you can see assessing analytics is a powerful tool, and helps you find ways to assist your business in achieving its objectives. Whether it’s adapting your app’s performance, narrowing your target market for advertising, or focusing in or monetary conversions, Google Analytics can benefit every user. Even with minimal effort some data will be useful to the average person, but if taken seriously and given some extra effort, the data gathered can convert into a better user experience and higher revenue.
