Suppose you need to develop an app for an upcoming project. Maybe you are even considering hiring an app developer if you already don’t have one in-house. You have researched a lot… googled ‘App Development’ and read every article that seemed even half informative. Throughout the process, you must have read as well as heard the term ‘mobile analytics’ quite a lot.

What are mobile app analytics? Mobile app analytics are unknown territory, for many people. So, what are they all about? What type of data is collected, also is that data really needed?

These are all common questions that usually come to mind during the app development process, and of course, you must get all the correct answers. After all, analytics play a vital role when it comes to the success of any mobile app – or its lack thereof.

What Are Mobile App Analytics?

It is referred to data collected while the app is being used. An analysis is done of the information, which then offers a lot of insight into user behavior and how the app functions overall. Analytics for apps can include data from the front-end, user-facing side, and the back-end of the app – the parts only accessible to administrators and developers.

The nature of the analytics can also be impacted if you are building up a specific type of application. For example: if you have an e-commerce app, you will have additional analytics surrounding abandoned shopping carts, product view/sale figures, and data on the queries that users enter into the e-shop’s search bar.

In fact, if you give this work to a data scientist, for instance, the app can be configured in such a way that analytics on any data point of particular interest can be generated. Once the desired points are identified, a mini-app of sorts can be developed, which will be designed to collect and send data to a repository.

Benefits of App Analytics

It’s a good idea to integrate analytics into your app’s marketing as this will provide endless insight, but the following are five massive additional benefits. Those are:

1. Will help drive ROI over every aspect of the performance.
2. Will help gather accurate data that will serve the users better.
3. Will allow driving of personalized, customer-focused marketing.
4. Will let you track individual and group achievements of marketing goals from campaigns.
5. Will offer data-driven insights into issues concerning churn and retention.

Tools You Should Know for Mobile App Analytics

Some tools can be used for data tracking if you still wish to do it on your own. There are plenty of options to choose from, the following are four good ones to consider:

Firebase

This is a mobile development platform created by Google. It helps track the user’s behavioral data including events – or what is happening inside the app. For example, the platform helps to track user actions, system events, and errors.

Mixpanel

Allows tracking of individual user interactions.

Google Analytics

This platform is incredibly useful for marketers as it lets them identify lead sources, the highest converting channels, and split customers/users into segments.

Smartlook

This platform provides data on user behavior. This is done by providing screen recordings and heatmaps. How does it help? It is useful when it comes to identifying the areas in an app where users struggle to function or use. Using the platform can also help with conversion funnel optimization.

Different app analytics platforms boast different features and functionality. You can find a few applications that are available for free, but they will have some kind of limitation such as trouble tracking users who alternate between different devices and platforms.

As a rule, the following should be offered by a good mobile analytics platform:

1. User engagement metrics
2. Easy integration
3. A unified view of the customer
4. User segmentation
5. A/B tests
6. Customizable dashboards
7. Push notifications
8. Analytics in real-time
9. Unique and valuable metrics

When it comes to the actual implementation or installation process, a tracking code is added to the sites and SDKs to the mobile app that is to be tracked or analyzed. Once installed, most of the mobile platforms will be equipped to track website visits automatically. Platforms that have codeless mobile features can track basic app features like errors, crashes, and clicks, but you might also need to manually expand the tracking by tagging additional actions.

What needs to be done to make an app great? It is essential to understand how the app will be used by people and how or what it is contributing to your business. This is an exercise that requires asking the right questions, measuring the right success metrics etc, and you will also need the right software. Then only, it will be easy to dig into the metrics and behaviors to understand their drivers.

How to Know Which Features Made An Impact?

In the app development world, apps are often called ‘products,’ and the elements within the products that are used by users are often called ‘features.’ Top app development teams use agile product development strategies that are directed towards shipping new features quickly. From this point onwards, analysis is done on whether or not the features are offering positive value to the user experience. What to do if the results are not favorable? In this case, data is used to understand how the app’s features can be improved.

Lemonade, a company with a mobile app where users can buy renters insurance, can be used as a good example of how data is used to improve features. The company introduced a lot of different new features to improve the app’s quote-to-purchase rates.

Improving an app’s user-ability isn’t difficult if you know what to do, but it’s even better to give the job to an expert who knows the ins-and-outs of app development. Take a look at Alfabolt’s portfolio and book a consultation today.

Mobile Analytics - Its Role in App Development