Mobile Customer Engagement Benchmark Report: 2017 Edition

We’re excited to release our second annual Mobile Customer Engagement Benchmark Report: 2017 Edition. Using data from over 5,000 unique mobile apps of Apptentive’s customers, this report serves as a benchmark for companies seeking to understand how their apps’ engagement stacks up against the entire mobile ecosystem.

The benchmark report data presents a comprehensive look at how mobile communication strategies have shifted toward open dialog between consumers and companies. Traditionally, brands have focused their mobile communication strategies heavily around ‘push,’ but push’s effectiveness has diminished significantly. Proactive ‘pull’ communications are beginning to fill the void, and have proven to be even more powerful.

Pull’s non-disruptive approach to reaching out to customers respects the integrity of the mobile customer experience, which lowers annoyance levels and increases engagement. The data in this report highlights the acceleration in adoption and results of ‘pull’ marketing strategies, highlighted by the more than 50% increase in two-way, in-app conversations between brands and their customers.

Our 2017 benchmark metrics provide brands with a way to measure the success of their ‘pull’ marketing strategies against industry standards and identify gaps in their customer experience. Metrics covered in the report include in-app survey response rate, distribution of star ratings in the app stores, customer engagement and responsiveness, and more.

Best of all? The report is free for anyone to download!

Benchmark metrics

The metrics we discuss provide a deep dive into customer interactions from private data, including in-app survey response rates, messages sent, Love Ratio, Net Promoter Score, and overall customer engagement and responsiveness. Public ratings and reviews data are also included.

Here’s how we define each metric and the contents of each section:

• Surveys: Average response rate to in-app surveys.
• Ratings and reviews: Average volume of ratings and reviews, the distribution percentage of star ratings, and the opportunity cost of a star.
• Messages: Average number of in-app messages sent by customers to brands, and average number of in-app messages received by customers from brands.
• Interaction and responsiveness: Percentage of app customers who companies interact with, and the percentage of those customers who respond to the interactions sent.
• Love Ratio: The average percentage of customers who respond ‘Yes’ to Apptentive’s Love Prompt.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS): The average response rate to in-app NPS surveys and the average score.

Sneak peak: two-way messages

Chatbots were a hot topic of conversation in 2016, and brands responded to the trend by implementing more communication tools into their mobile apps. According to our research, there was a 649% year-over-year increase in the number of apps that enabled two-way conversations and a 56% year-over-year spike in messages sent to consumers.

Now more than ever, consumers appreciate the ability to talk to a real person. Between 2016 to 2017, there was 56% year-over-year increase in two-way messages sent to consumers via in-app chat with a real person. While the number of chat bots on the market exploded in 2016 (more than 30,000 were added), they only have a 30% success rate for meeting customers needs without a real person having to take over. Bots are worth exploring further, but the increase in two-way in-app conversations between consumers and brands prove that bots can’t replace real conversations.

This rise in the number of messages brands sent to consumers combined with the explosion of apps that adopted Message Center is a signal that brands are investing more heavily in open, two-way dialog with their customers.

To learn more about the most recent mobile trends and to see how your app is performing, grab your free copy of the full benchmark report now!