70% users uninstall your app? Hack this!

According to the latest AppsFlyer research in app uninstall trends, 2020 was a year to forget for app owners in almost all industries. As the pandemic hit, people stopped using many, many apps. App uninstalls have grown dramatically. Where gaming apps were the most prone to be deleted, in 2020, no app is completely “secure” to stay on users’ phones.

Let’s have a look at some hard numbers of the app uninstall benchmarks. More than half of all the apps that make their way into users’ phones are uninstalled in just 30 days! People often uninstall hobby & fun apps because the free trial period is over. Such high uninstall rates shouldn’t be a problem for taxi apps, right? Wrong. 😒 For the ride-hailing apps market, the uninstall rate grew in 2020 due to the lockdown measures.

To check these insights, we at Onde have analyzed the retention rate of the top-10 ride-hailing partners. We made sure to include apps from diverse regions in our analysis to provide you with reliable data on app uninstall trends.

On average, 70% of users were deleting ride-hailing apps 30 days after installing them in 2020. In comparison to 2019, the average retention rate has decreased by 7%. According to AppsFlyer’s report, Android uninstall rates are 2 times higher than iOS uninstall rates. For Onde’s business partners (all ride-hailing companies) this trend worked differently: no significant discrepancy was found between the users of the two platforms.

Taxi apps retention is, of course, always lower than the average. There’s no need to compare your retention rate to those of Instagram. These apps uninstall trends are alarming, especially because most app owners tend to chase installs and ignore uninstalls in their marketing strategies.

Benefits of uninstall rates measuring

These data might not seem very relevant right now. Well, think twice. Estimated financial losses associated with app uninstalls are high — because when you pay the cost per install to attract users, you naturally expect them to stay with your app. When they don’t, you lose money.

The new statistics make clear that uninstall measurement, understanding it, and acting to fix the problems that cause users to delete your app is crucial. Keeping an eye on app uninstalls helps you to:

• optimize your ride-hailing application based on data;
• reach out to the audience in a more meaningful way;
• reduce cost per install;
• reduce the risk of losing clients.

Here comes the best part: only 1 in 4 apps, according to AppsFlyer, currently does uninstall measurement and uses these data in a marketing strategy! So if you start acting upon your uninstall rate analytics now, you get way ahead in the competition.

Hacking your ride-hailing app’s uninstall rate

Here’s some quick, actionable advice in dealing with your app’s uninstall rate to shape your marketing perspective smarter.

• Analyze app uninstall trends for smart user acquisition campaigns. Check what marketing channels, what specific campaigns and creatives deliver users who uninstall the app. Then compare it to the data of campaigns that brought you the loyal users. Reallocate your user acquisition spendings accordingly.
• Make sure to explain your app well. In the app stores, the first impression is king. Use video to showcase your apps’ features, use appealing and clear visuals, and tell users about all the perks of the app in the description. In marketing campaigns on social media, do the same. When people understand and remember your app well, they are less likely to delete it from their phones.
• Remind users how great your app is. Ongoing engagement with an application is essential to decrease app uninstalls. Push notifications, well-targeted email marketing, smart retargeting, and strong social media presence—these are the cornerstones of lower uninstall rates. The key here is to use these tools mindfully, without burdening your app users with too much information.

Want to learn more about hacking the uninstall rates? Join the webinar we will announce soon. Onde’s app store optimization expert will share his insights in fixing high uninstall rates and market your app smartly. Don’t miss out!