Whenever I find myself short on ideas or at the beginning of the research process, I almost always turn to publicly available, fresh, and not-so-fresh reports. I never seek solutions there, though.
Every publicly available report is like a marketplace for discovering new ideas, niches, and markets.
For instance, the latest report from #RevenueCat. It operates with statistics gathered from over 30,000 apps by 18,000 developers. It appears to be a very intriguing reflection of the market, offering ready insights for retention and monetization strategies.
With a 120-page PDF packed with expert commentary, quotes, and categorized breakdowns, you simply can't find a better source of inspiration for new ideas.
So, what interesting insights did we find in the latest report?
1. The average LTV in North America in the first 14 days is four times higher than the global average, standing at $0.35 compared to $0.08. This difference is observed both in the #App Store and Google Play.
2. Although #LTV from Apple Search Ads traffic has declined, it still generates approximately ten times the revenue compared to the average user.
3. The proportion of monthly subscribers retained after 12 months decreased by ~14% last year, affecting all categories.
4. The most common subscription plan prices remained unchanged compared to the previous year: 1 week - $4.99, 1 month - $9.99, and 3 months and 1 year - $29.99 and above.
5. Almost half of the apps (47.84%) sometimes offer trial versions, 28.81% never offer trial versions, and 23.34% always offer trial versions. This is a significant difference from last year's report, which stated that almost 40% of apps had no trials.
6. Trial #conversion rate varies significantly depending on the app category. Health and Fitness and Business lead with average rates of 6.7% and 6.9% respectively, compared to lower rates in Gaming (2.9%) and Media and Entertainment (3.9%).
7. Most users start the trial version within 24 hours of downloading the app, with "Utilities" (86.0%) and "Business" (85.1%) leading in immediate launch.
8. The trial version to paid subscription conversion rate dropped to 37.3% this year (compared to 40.5% last year), hinting at changes in user behavior.
9. Monthly subscriptions showed the largest decrease in 1-year #retention - a staggering 13.7%.
10. However, monthly subscriptions have the highest level of reactivation.
11. The average number of days for an app to reach $1,000 in monthly revenue is 65 days, while reaching $5,000 requires a total of 120 days.
You can download the entire report following the link.
