What are the reasons why users leave your app?

Most app developers have to face the same problem: users leave their apps. Some of them even after only a single use! You may think that there is no reason for people to stop using your app. You had a brilliant idea and you created an awesome app with all the best details in mind. You might even be right. But the fact is that your app is not alone in this - nearly 1 in 4 apps are abandoned after a single use.

Let me present you with the most common reasons why users may want to leave your app. When you understand them it’s easier to identify the problem and find the proper solution, don't you think so?

Starting from the very beginning - let’s think about the onboarding process. It may be a quick guide or tutorial for users on how to take advantage of your product. It’s also a kind of proof that you care about the user that opens your app for the first time. Don’t you agree that it’s the best opportunity to make a good first impression?

But it is also a point when a lot of developers make mistakes. The main issue here is asking too much information from the users right when they land into your app, before introducing them to the features. People generally prefer to know how something works at first and then decide if it suits them.

Okay, so I hope now it’s obvious for you - landing into an app should be an enjoyable experience.

For the next step, let’s talk about the value that identifies your app. It’s essential to make sure that you offer your potential users something unique when you come up with an idea for an app. That being said, before starting the creation of the app, ask yourself a question: how to make your product irreplaceable. It may be anything that makes users choose your app over the others - from the innovative service to the outstanding UX.

When you have already created a great app with a powerful value proposition it’s usually a great time to start taking financial advantage of it. The common way of earning money on applications is placing ads. Unfortunately, annoying advertisements can scare off users and have the opposite effect on your wallet. In this case, it is crucial to monitor the type of ads placed in your application and the user reaction to them. You can also take a cue from Instagram and try to find the solution that fits your UX and doesn’t disrupt the user experience.

Another reason for the user to stop using the app is the amount of time he needs to understand how it works. It’s very important to make sure that software is as intuitive as it can be, especially when talking about mobile apps. Everything about the user interface should be natural and quick to learn. For that reason, it is better to use the most common, already learned gestures for specific actions. For example, the well-known zoom-in and zoom-out gestures instead of implementing your own solution.

We’ve already mentioned that ads in mobile applications can be annoying. The same applies to push notifications - it is absolutely crucial to be moderate. When you use them properly it is a great tool to engage and communicate with your user. Otherwise, they can become your enemy and scare your users away. For that reason, you have to take your time while setting the content of the notification and think twice before adding another one.

In the last part let’s quickly discuss all developers’ nightmare - technical flaws. What is most important, you have to accept the fact that some flaws will always exist and there is no reason to blame your team for every little error that will appear in your code.

But unfortunately this might be one of the reasons why users decide to abandon the app. Not directly, but as you probably realize - crashes are annoying and can push your user to impulsively uninstall your product. For that reason, you have to be sure that your code is as free from failures as it’s possible. And for the harder part, it is crucial to fix the product’s flaws immediately after you noticed them and hopefully before users will react to them with leaving your app.

To conclude, sometimes it is hard to identify reasons why users abandon apps and I hope it will be easier for you after reading this article. But you must keep it in mind - reacting to users’ feedback is the real key to success. And this feedback comes from people, who know best what pushes them to leave the app and what needs some improvement.
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