As an app developer, understanding your users is one of the most effective ways of increasing conversion rates. By learning about your users' likes, dislikes and how they interact with your app, you can improve your creation to provide them with an even better experience than you initially designed. In doing so, you’ll raise user retention rates, get more downloads and boost conversion. It’s a win-win situation for everyone taking part.

Where are your users looking?

Almost half of all apps use an advertising model to generate revenue, according to Statista. But only 28% of developers claim displaying ads is the most profitable monetization strategy. This could largely be due to lack of user insights.

It’s not enough to simply insert ads into your app. You need to make sure they’re in the optimum location so users will interact with them. 

It doesn’t matter which type of ad or payment model you’re using. If users are immediately scrolling past your CPI video ads, you won’t get paid. The same goes for users who ignore CPC static ads.

Action: Find out where your users are looking and interacting with your app. Find a compromise that lets you place your ads in those prime locations without providing a negative user experience.

Where are your users based?

Knowing where in the world your users are helps you determine which languages your app should be available in. It’s important to note that this method isn’t 100% reliable. Some people live in countries where they can’t speak the local language, while others are multilingual and able to speak several languages.

However, if your app is only available in English and you have a high percentage of users from South America, it’s worth introducing a Spanish translation so you can build a better relationship with your South American users.

Action: Check where your users are based. If you notice a high percentage from countries with a native language different to the one your app is available in, consider implementing additional languages.

When do your users use your app?

The times users most often interact with your app is hugely beneficial in concluding the type ad content they’ll best respond to. People are in very different moods at 7.30am on a Monday compared to 2pm on a Saturday, and they’ll react differently to different stimuli depending on when it’s presented to them.

For example, if you’ve got an app that offers users meditation practices for better sleep, but users are frequently looking at your app in the middle of the night, this could be an opportunity to advertise other products and services for a better night’s sleep. 

Action: Find out which days and which times your users are most active. Use this information to deliver more targeted ads and content.

How old are your users?

It’s likely you had a target user age in mind when you created your app. But things don’t always go to plan. Your app could have a totally different average user age than the one you developed for, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, it could work in your favor.

If you created an app targeted at users aged under 45, but discovered most of your users are 45+, that’s great news. Studies show older users are more likely to click on ads and make purchases.

Regardless of the age of your average user, simply knowing this number helps you better understand your audience and target them with specific types of advertising that will resonate best with them.

Action: Identify your app’s most common user age. Cross check it with your main monetization strategies to see if they’re aligned. If not, you need to start researching new app monetization strategies.

What do your users enjoy?

To optimize conversion rates, it’s essential to follow the latest marketing research and experiment with different types of revenue strategies to find out what’s best for you, your audience and your app.

Research shows, shows that 71% of mobile gamers don’t mind watching video ads in exchange for a free mobile game. This promising statistic gives you a great place to start if you’re getting ready to launch a mobile app.

While looking into different revenue options, it’s important to remember that what works well for one type of app and audience won’t necessarily work well for a different category of app and audience. Find out everything you can about your target users and use it to influence the decisions you make.

Action: Read up on the latest best practices for app monetization and test out some different options within your app to see which brings in the most revenue without disrupting user experience. You can even try combining different strategies simultaneously to increase revenue.

How understanding your users helps you in other ways

By gaining insight into your users, you can fine tune your app, creating a better user experience with every tweak. In time, this will result in better reviews on the app store and you’ll see an increase in downloads. With a higher user acquisition and retention comes a better brand reputation and increased revenue.

When looking into advertising options, companies want to be certain they’re reaching their target audience. If you can provide interested parties with important information about your users (their age, location, interests, etc) and they match the type of avatar the advertiser is trying to reach, they’re much more likely to partner with you and your app, instead of another developer who can’t provide specific demographics. 

With 258 billion app downloads predicted for 2022, app publishing offers some major opportunities for developers. But if you want to thrive and have a truly successful app, you’ve got to put the work in. While creating a unique app that’s more useful or fun than any other available to download is an important part of the process, the next big step comes a long time after the app has launched in the app store.

Taking the time to really get to know your users will help you create a better app, become more appealing to potential advertising partners and generate more revenue. Thoroughly dive into your user insights and use the information to improve your app and you’ll blow the competition out the water.

Author: David Miller is TheoremReach’s inbound marketing manager, writing about mobile optimization and running a start-up called 94 Signals. Studied information technology at Berkeley (class of 2013). Twitter / Linkedin