Mobile App Push Notifications Drive 90-Day Retention Rates By As Much As 180%

After analyzing data from more than 39 million mobile users, mobile marketing provider Kahuna found push notifications more than doubled a mobile app’s average 30, 60 and 90-day retention rate.

For opted-in users, push notifications drove the average 90-day retention rate by 180 percent, with a 27.6 percent retention rate for users receiving push notifications compared to only a 10.1 percent retention rate for users not receiving push notifications.

Kahuna’s data showed 30-day and 60-day retention rate averages significantly increased as well, with push notifications driving a 125 percent increase for 30-day retention rates, and 150 percent increase for 60-day retention rates.

30, 60 & 90-Day Retention Rates

When looking at opt-in rates by device, Kahuna says Android tops iOS, but only because of Android’s app permission process.

Android outperforms iOS with an average opt-in rate of 78%, whereas iOS only sees about a 46% opt-in rate. The disparity between the two can be partly attributed to the fact that users are automatically opted in for messaging on Android devices, but changes to the Android app permission process will likely have an impact on that percentage.

Overall, Kahuna reports the average opt-in rate for push notifications is 62 percent. According to Kahuna’s numbers, the average consumer has 33 apps on their phone, but uses only 12 daily.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media's General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.