mau new york 2016 — retain or die: the retention playbook
TRANSCRIPT
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RETAIN OR DIE: THE RETENTION PLAYBOOK
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J U S T I N B A U E R HEAD OF PRODUCT
Amplitude
RETAIN OR DIE: THE RETENTION PLAYBOOK
As Head of Product, Justin strives to make it easy for companies to make
better decisions from their data. He’s a 2x entrepreneur as well as an
alumnus of McKinsey, Stanford GSB and Carleton College.
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The average app loses over 80% of its new users within 3 days
DAYS SINCE APP INSTALL
PER
CEN
TAG
E O
F U
SER
S ST
ILL
ACTI
VE
SOURCE: Graph adapted from Quettra
AVERAGE RETENTION CURVE FOR ANDROID APPS
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Why Retention Matters: A Tale of 2 Apps
SOURCE: Graph adapted from Greylock Partners
AFTER 6 MONTHS
COMPANY A:5M new users per month, 80% monthly retention
COMPANY B:2.5M new users per month,95% monthly retention
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Why Retention Matters: A Tale of 2 Apps
SOURCE: Graph adapted from Greylock Partners
AFTER 3 YEARS
COMPANY A:5M new users per month, 80% monthly retention
COMPANY B:2.5M new users per month,95% monthly retention
COMPANY A:25M users
COMPANY B:42M users
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What is the Retention Playbook?
Developed with some of the best mobile-focused companies and thought leaders.
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The Retention Playbook: 3 Actionable Steps
#1: Determine your Critical Event
#2: Determine your app’s Usage Frequency
#3: Break down your Retention Lifecycle
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#1: Determine your Critical Event
Measuring retention as when someone opens your app is NOT enough to truly understand your users.
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#2: Determine your app’s Usage Frequency
How long does it take for 80% of users to repeat the critical event?
Music
Lifestyle
Food Delivery
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#3: Break down your Retention Lifecycle
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#3: Break down your Retention LifecycleAC
TIVE
USE
RS
New
Resurrected
Current
Churned
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New User Retention
Why: First impressions matter.
What to do: Figure out which behaviors or features bring new users back.
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New User Retention
Why: First impressions matter.
What to do: Figure out which behaviors or features bring new users back.
Example: Daily Reminders - Calm
WEEKLY RETENTION - NEW USERS, FIRST 12 WEEKS
Reminder set:3x higher retention!
Reminder not set
Daily reminder set Daily reminder not set
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Current User Retention
Why: Understanding and improving the experience for your active users is critical for long-term growth.
What to do: Determine behavioral profiles—what are your users doing or not doing?
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Current User Retention
Why: Understanding and improving the experience for your active users is critical for long-term growth.
What to do: Determine behavioral profiles—what are your users doing or not doing?
Example: Social features - Sounds
Event Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 3 Cluster 4
Music Played 14.9858 16.4644 36.4039 13.4039
Music Shared 2.3642 0.0054 5.2894 0.0125
Search 7.0692 1.0255 1.0056 0.0047
Music Liked 0.1045 7.2561 1.0174 0.0443
Music Swiped 1.9987 2.8746 13.5175 0.9471
Week 1 Retention 14% 27% 39% 9%
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Resurrected User Retention
Why: This is frequently your largest source of users, and many of them may be using your competitor’s product.
What to do: Analyze triggers —why are users coming back?
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Resurrected User Retention
Why: This is frequently your largest source of users, and many of them may be using your competitor’s product.
What to do: Analyze triggers —why are users coming back?
Example: Winback campaign - Delivery App
WEEKLY RETENTION FOR DELIVERY EVENT
2x retention
Resurrected - NO WINBACKResurrected - WINBACK New users
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In Summary - The Retention Playbook
#1: Determine your Critical Event
#2: Determine your app’s Usage Frequency
#3: Break down your Retention Lifecycle a. New User Retention b. Current User Retention c. Resurrected User Retention
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More Resources on Retention:
Amplitude - amplitude.com/blog
Brian Balfour - coelevate.com
Nir Eyal - nirandfar.com
Social Capital
Andrew Chen - andrewchen.co
Be on the lookout for the full Retention Playbook soon!
@amplitudemobile
@bbalfour
@nireyal
@socialcapital
@andrewchen
