Understanding Mobile App Analytics – are you “appy” with the results?

Global mobile data traffic grew 69 percent in 2014 (Cisco), mobile presence is more than just a trend, it’s a way of life, understanding the difference of Native Mobile Apps and Responsive Web Design, will help us kickstart a solid mobile strategy, but understanding how Mobile App Analytics differs from Web Analytics is key to building and sustaining a successful mobile presence.

As we know, having a mobile-friendly website is not enough. Most mobile activity today occurs within apps. Usage split is as follows 88% Mobile Apps vs 12% Browsers on Smart Phones and Similar for tablet users (ComScore) This is where we need to focus our energy now that mobile-app downloads have reached a staggering 2 billion a week and rising!

With that said, we need to understand the key metrics within the apps to sustain and grow the base even more: who they are, how they got there and how they engage. These answers lie within app itself.

• Frequency: Mobile apps are designed for interactivity and if done correctly, the frequency of usage outshines even a well-optimized website.
• Geo Location: An added value to an already robust database of demographic information.
• AccessID: Unlike desktop, mobile users must have a user id in order to download an app thus enriching our demographic information even more.

Because of the fundamental differences between desktop and mobile, we can leverage the difference in metrics to understand even more about user behavior and hone our skills in sustaining and expanding our customer base.