Social and Messaging Apps are Very Sticky, Data Shows

“Stickiness” long has been among the important features of any app or site. “Stickiness” means new users stick around and become regular or habitual users, while regular users become engaged users that do not churn out for another rival app or experience.

That stickiness can be gleaned by looking at Globe Telecom’s experience.

Facebook and Globe launched the “Free Facebook” campaign in October 2013. The campaign aimed to jumpstart internet usage in the Philippines by offering free access to Facebook.

All Globe subscribers – new and existing – could opt-in to unlimited Facebook on mobile. After the trial, subscribers would upgrade to paid data plans.

Over the course of the first phase, the number of data users on Globe’s network doubled, and the portion of Globe’s prepaid subscriber base who were active on mobile data expanded from 14 percent in September 2013 to 25 percent in November 2014, Facebook and Globe say.

Globe’s Free Facebook campaign (and similar internet outreach efforts by other players in the market), led to a six million  increase in the number of active mobile internet users in the Philippines.

During the first phase of the trial, Globe’s user base increased by 17 percent. Along with continuing to use data, these users also shifted core telco spend over to Globe’s network, growing voice and text messaging revenues by five percent.

By the end of the first campaign, prepaid mobile data users grew from 4.8 million to 9.7 million, more than a twofold increase.

That experience illustrates the highly sticky nature of some apps, especially social apps auch as Facebook and messaging apps.

Retention rates of messaging apps outperform the average of all apps, according to Flurry.

In fact, messaging app retention is 1.9 times better than the average app after one month and 5.6 times better than the average app after one year. After 30 days, some 36 percent of people continue to use a new app, compared to 68 percent of people using a new messaging app.

After six months, just 18 percent of people who first used a new app continue to use it. By comparison, about 62 percent of people who started using a messaging app continue to do so.

After a year, just 11 percent of people who tried a new app still use it, compared to 62 percent of people who tried a new messaging app a year ago.  

Messaging apps’ daily use is 4.7 times higher than the average app, Flurry says, while the average daily use of an app across all categories is 1.9 times.

Messaging apps are used, on average, almost nine times every day. Most other apps get used less than twice a day.