Urban Airship's Mobile App Retention Study for Key Industry Verticals Finds a Major Reason New Users Churn is Not Receiving Push Notifications

Across Android and iOS, opt-in users who receive no messages have lower retention rates than opt-out audiences and make up a large portion of every vertical's app audience

Study offers app publishers insights on optimal messaging frequencies to improve new app user retention, while Urban Airship's new Predictive Churn Analytics fuels preemptive action

LAS VEGAS, March 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today at Shoptalk, mobile growth company Urban Airship detailed industry findings from its mobile app retention study, spanning new users' first 90-days of app usage within Retail, Media, Sports & Recreation and Utility/Productivity. By analyzing the frequency of messaging users received and their corresponding retention rates, Urban Airship provides a deeper understanding that dispels common push notification myths and misconceptions and offers practical guidance to app publishers seeking to improve new user retention.

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Opt-in audiences don't have greater affinity for apps. They have greater expectations.
A long-held belief, especially for iOS apps where opting in to notifications requires explicit permission, is that opt-in users are simply more inclined to be retained longer. Data based on averages certainly backs this up. Retail apps see opt-in users retained 40 percent longer than opt-out audiences on iOS and 90 percent longer on Android - some of the biggest gains for any vertical.

However, users who have made the effort to opt in and receive no messages have lower 90-day retention rates than opt-out audiences across both platforms and all verticals - the one exception is iOS Utility & Productivity where opt-outs retain one percentage point lower. For most verticals this difference is significant, like in Retail where opt-out users' 90-day retention rates are 50 percent higher on Android and 36 percent higher on iOS than opt-in users who receive no messages. Further, these zero-send users represent a large share of every vertical's opt-in audience.