Users receiving push notifications from retail, gambling and entertainment apps have twice the retention rate of opted-out users
Mobile users that have opted into push notifications are retained at nearly double the rate of users opted out, according to new research. Additionally, those opted in users are much more engaged than those that are not, with 26% more average monthly app-opens per user.
Results from Urban Airship's Good Push Index study evaluating the engagement and retention lift that push notifications deliver to mobile apps, showed that for six industry verticals categorised from the sample – retail, media, games, entertainment, sports and gambling – there were significant engagement and retention differences.
;Users receiving push notifications from retail, gambling and entertainment apps had twice the retention rate of opted-out users. In addition, opt-in audiences for retail, gambling and games apps were at least 35% more engaged than opt-out users, based on average monthly app opens per user. Nearly half of all app users opt in to push messaging for most verticals.
;The Urban Airship study, which is the result of a six month analysis from more than 2400 apps and 500 million push messages, shows that retail leads the pack for both retention and engagement improvements, keeping an average of 116% more opt-in than opt-out users each month, with 40% higher average monthly app opens per user.
;Gambling apps (restricted to users outside the US), have the second highest retention and engagement lifts, keeping 109% more opt-in users each month with 36% higher average monthly app opens per user.
;Media apps have the highest six month ending retention rates of all verticals, at 50% opt in and 31% opt out, but they have the lowest average engagement lift of all industries with monthly app opens per user only 4% higher for opt-in audiences.
;Sports apps have the second highest six month ending retention rates, with 27% opt in and 14% opt out, but they have the second lowest engagement lift with opt-in users generating only 19% higher average monthly app opens per user.
;Entertainment apps have the third highest retention improvement with an average 100% more opt-in users retained each month than opt-out users, but engagement improvements are relatively low with only 21% more average monthly app opens per opt-in user.
;Games apps have the lowest six-month ending retention rates at 14% of opt-in users and 9% of opt-out users, the lowest range of retention improvement among all industries, but games have the third highest engagement lift with 35% more average monthly app opens per opt-in user.
;Across the board, opt-in audiences open apps more frequently. Due to greater retention of opt-in users, the vast majority of an app's total opens over time will be from users that receive push notifications. A previous Urban Airship study, which gauged the additional lift of a best practice push messaging approach, found that apps practicing high push engagement received 83% of their total app opens from opt-in users, which means 388% more total engagement than opt-out users.
;'Having delivered our 100 billionth push message last month, we can offer deep and expansive views into the dramatic and essential improvements that push messaging can provide to mobile apps,' said Scott Kveton, CEO and co-founder, Urban Airship. 'While industry average metrics offer useful points of comparison, wild differences between apps within the same verticals reaffirm that push messaging is as much skill and art as it is a technology and best practices are critical to realize maximum returns.'
