App marketing metrics comparison

DAU measures the number of unique users who engage with your app within a 24-hour window.

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

• Helps you assess the effectiveness of your campaigns
• Helps measure your app’s popularity (its “stickiness”) and user experience
• Indicates your app’s general health and growth potential

• 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

• Optimize your onboarding strategy so users understand the true value of your app
• Engage and re-engage users through multiple channels: push notifications, in-app notifications, emails, and SMS
• Use deep links for a seamless user experience

• 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

Daily active users (DAU)

Retention rate