App marketing metrics comparison

ARPPU shows how much money, on average, a single paying user generates over a set period of time.

Retention rate measures the percentage of customers or users your business or product retains (keeps) over a given period.

App owners, marketers, and product managers

App owners, marketers and product managers

• Isolates paying users in a freemium model, so you can focus on revenue
• Helps you understand characteristics of paying users so you can attract lookalikes
• Informs campaign decisions around the most effective creatives and channels

• Helps you understand the performance of your app and particular campaigns
• Helps you determine why users leave, so you can reduce churn and increase lifetime value
• Useful in analyzing customer service

• Convince non-paying users to become paying ones
• Reward and incentivize your “whales” who spend the most
• Adjust your pricing models to encourage higher spend
• Experiment with different ad formats – test different placements, or try playable or rewarded ads

• Set realistic user expectations
• Gather user feedback and use product data to analyze behavior
• Map out your user journeys and improve onboarding
• Keep re-engaging with users and reward loyalty

Average revenue per paying user (ARPPU)

Retention rate