babyCalm iPhone in-App Analytics – 2 Week Update

Posted: January 3rd, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Analytics | 1 Comment »

We were very excited to launch babyCalm in the iTunes App Store two weeks ago. For those that aren’t familiar with babyCalm, it’s a pretty simple app that uses sound, visuals, and vibrations to help calm fussy babies.

WHY WE USE IN-APP ANALYTICS

With every app we build, we try to anticipate how our customers will interact with our apps, and how to best exceed their expectations. Unfortunately, with the current feedback systems in place (support email, iTunes Store reviews), we don’t always get a full picture of what’s going on with how people are really using the apps we build. So, to get a better picture, we’re using Pinch Media (who just merged with Flurry) analytics to track user behavior within the app and figure out what’s working, and what’s not. How are our apps performing? Do people like them? Are they using the apps like we thought they would?

START WITH GOALS

With any data analysis, you need to start with goals. If you don’t have a clear idea of questions you are trying to answer, you’ll never get that answer. So, what are the goals for babyCalm? Well, put in the simplest terms, we want people to:

1. Buy the app
2. Like the app and use it frequently
3. Tell friends

Most of what we can talk about today will be around subject #2, the sentiment and use of the app. There have been lots of conflicting reports we’ve read over the past year on how much people actually use the apps the download from the iTunes App Store. We like to think that people are happy with the apps they purchase from us, but how do we really know? A few sources can start to tell the story, including iTunes Store feedback (which is pretty non-existent so far for babyCalm), blogger reviews (babyCalm has had some coverage to date, but not a lot), and direct feedback to our support channel via email (which is also rare.) The best measure we have is usage. Generally, if people like an app, they’ll use it a lot and come back for more. So how are we doing in that respect?

DIVING INTO THE DATA

One good measure for engagement from our in-app analytics is Average Sessions per User. This is a daily breakdown of how many times, on average, our install base is opening and using the app on their iPhone.

We’re looking at around 2.5 average sessions per day, per user. That’s pretty good from our perspective – it’s about how many times I used the app with my son during testing, and it means that people are getting good use out of the application. It’s a win from our perspective – it means that the app has worked it’s way into their daily lives. But – are people continuing to use the app as time goes by, or are they using their “new shiny object” for a couple of days and then forgetting about babyCalm? A few things are going to impact that analysis. First – we’re still in the first two weeks of the app’s public lifetime, so it’s pretty early to make that call. Second, the purpose of the app is to calm infants, and as your infant grows up, well, you shouldn’t really need the app as much as you did the previous week or month. But, we can take a quick look at the Statistics by Lifecycle section of Pinch Media to get more insights.

This take a slice at the data based on how long each user has had the app installed. We’re seeing that the app receives more Average Sessions per User (Lifecycle) in the first week vs the second, but that users are still using the app at least once per day in the second week. Seems like our trend might be headed in a direction we don’t like. Let’s try another view.

Hmmm, using the measure of Time Spent per User (Lifecycle) view, we can see that users are actually using the app more in the second week than the first, just in longer single sessions vs. multiple shorter sessions. It’s possible that as people learn the app, they just keep it running vs. open multiple times. Either way, engagement is still extremely high for this app. To dive in, we’ll check Average Time Spent per Session.

The Average Time Spent per Session is quite impressive so far, and much higher than anticipated. People are using the app for upwards of an hour ON AVERAGE some days. The design of the app to date has been for quicker-fix baby calming vs. a white noise machine, but the takeaway here is that we’ll probably want to follow our user’s lead and add some of this functionality that could be used for longer durations, like white noise selections and maybe an Airplane Mode toggle to silence the phone for longer periods of time.

ACTION ANALYSIS

So – we know that we’ve got some great looking session and time spent numbers in our babyCalm app so far. But – what are people actually doing while they are in the app? Our in-app analytics can help us there as well.

The main differentiator for this app is the vibration functionality. With lots of apps in the store that can play sounds, we thought adding vibration would be a great addition to the feature set. So what do the numbers tell us? Diving into the data, it seems like lots of people are using the sound AND vibration functions of the app, while a few are using the visuals. And LOTS of people are customizing the UI, so that’s a feature that seems to be resonating with our users.

So overall, looks like the app has been a success with the people who are using it. We’ve got a few takeaways on what we can refine and add to the app to add to the list we’ve already got going. Getting a view into user behavior is always interesting, very often humbling, but can help give you an advantage in whatever you’re trying to achieve. Even calming fussy babies.

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