Getting Started with Mobile Analytics

3. Mixpanel

Mixpanel is used by tens of thousands of companies — and for good reason. They provide a full-suite user engagement platform that not only provides analytics, but also offers things like a push notification dashboard, user surveys, and A/B testing.

The data dashboard is fairly easy to use as well, which makes surfacing ideas a breeze However, Mixpanel is quite pricey and the free tier is not as generous as that of Amplitude. If you’re looking for a full-fledged growth platform with a lot of bells and whistles and are willing to pay for it, Mixpanel is a fantastic option.

Pros

• Engagement features such as notifications and user surveys
• Built-in A/B testing

Cons

• Expensive
• Collects less high-level data out of the box

Honorable Mention: AWS Mobile Analytics

I love AWS Mobile Hub, but its mobile analytics offering is a bit bare-bones. The user interface is not as intuitive as the three options above and there aren’t many additional features like demographics or notifications.

That said, Amazon provides a generous free tier — 100 million monthly events — and beyond that the price is almost negligible. If you are familiar with Amazon’s ecosystem or are using AWS Mobile Hub, I would definitely recommend AWS Mobile Analytics.

What About iTunes Connect?

True, iTunes Connect provides some data about your app. There are four components to iTunes Connect App Analytics: Overview, Metrics, Sources, and Retention. Overview gives you a high-level summary of app store statistics like impressions, product page views, downloads, IAP, sales, and so on.

iTunes Connect Analytics “Overview” tab

iTunes Connect Analytics “Overview” tab

Metrics lets you compare the various collected statistics. Sources shows you the conversion rate between the different websites and ad campaigns driving traffic to your app in the App Store. Finally, Retention shows the percentage of users that downloaded the app on one day and used the app again at a later date.

Gathering data such as device information and installation base by country can definitely help you better understand your users, and it seems like the new Analytics feature in iTunes Connect may suffice for that purpose.

However, iTunes Connect is quite limited in the kind of data it collects, and since it’s opt-in only it probably doesn’t represent the entire picture. You can check how many users opt-in by clicking the question mark next to About App Analytics Data on the top-right of the Overview tab in App Analytics. I have a measly 28% opt-in rate for my Steps app.

Also, iTunes Connect App Analytics doesn’t allow for custom events, segments, or other advanced features that can give you deep insight into your usage statistics. However, iTunes Connect Analytics is good for determining App Store conversion rate, since no other platform gives you this data.

Where to Go From Here?

At this point, you’ve seen some real-world success stories, and hopefully you’re pumped to add analytics into your apps.

So what are you waiting for? Choose one of the providers above and follow the three simple steps:

1. Collect data from your app.
2. Analyze the data to find out how users work with your app.
3. Use that data to make business decisions about your app and its future development.

If you’re looking for somewhere to start, focus on signup and onboarding to begin. Optimizing either of these can lead to increased retention, since each is at the top of the funnel.

I wish you all the best! If you have any comments or questions, come join the discussion below.