#user-retention

#user-retention

In an unprecedented Chinese New Year marketing blitz, Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent Holdings spent an estimated 8 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) to turn their artificial intelligence assistants into household names, according to Morgan Stanley.

In the fintech vertical, where growth depends on trust, the decision to monetise through in-app advertising is a bold bet, one that could backfire if a bad ad experience undermines user confidence. But Toss, South Korea's leading fintech super app with over 25 million users, turned that risk into a major revenue win by implementing filters based on user-level relevance and using behavioural signals and first-party data to block disruptive or inappropriate ad categories.

Many new entrepreneurs buy software believing that it will be plug and play. However, software onboarding is a complex process and something that takes a long time, especially when you factor in things like the need to train multiple employees. Unfortunately, a lot of SAAS platforms also have poor onboarding processes. While they might provide a minimum level of support, they really give you the assistance you need to implement effective solutions in your enterprise at scale.

Sam's issue: "After I signed up it made a git repo with no explanation and the only next step it suggested was to connect my domain, after that is done... what do i do?" This classic. No context, no guidance, no next steps. The industry data shows what's at stake: 77% of users abandon apps within 3 days (Source: Andrew Chen, a16z) Top-quartile onboarding achieves 2.5x higher customer lifetime value (Source: McKinsey) Getting users to their "aha moment" quickly is critical for retention

TapNation, the mobile game publisher behind Thief Puzzle and , has partnered with ad quality leader AppHarbr to elevate player experiences and maximise ad performance. With real-time ad quality controls, TapNation prevents disruptive creatives from ever reaching players, eliminating unskippable ads and preserving seamless gameplay. While ads fuel revenue and enable progression through rewarded play, poor ad quality creates friction from intrusive creatives and aggressive templates to app crashes. This leads to complaints, churn, and negative reviews that undermine long-term growth.

Snap Inc. (SNAP), the parent of Snapchat, came under pressure last week after Guggenheim analysts struck a cautious tone following their review of Q3 user growth. The stock has fallen 24% year-to-date, in stark contrast to Meta Platforms (META), which has climbed over 30%. I believe the market's skepticism is justified, as Snap still lacks clear, defensible competitive advantages to drive sustained growth and monetization.

Subscription-based revenue models, exemplified by Netflix, provide predictable revenue streams and enhance customer lifetime value, which can be applied even in traditional industries.

Empty states hold great potential as the user's first impression; how you handle them can determine user retention and engagement.