Tuesday, January 22, 2013

5 Tools for Mobile App Analytics


5 Tools for Mobile App Analytics

In 2015 the mobile app industry will be worth $36.7 billion. [i] With such exponential growth in an industry that didn’t even exist 10 years ago, mobile app analytics is expected to be one of the biggest needs the industry will face. Here is a basic review of five companies that already have a head-start.

1.  Crashlytics

Crashlytics does one thing extremely well: crash analysis.  In other words, it tells developers when their app crashes. Their crash reports allow developers to view the total number of crashes over time, the number of users affected, and a detailed list of all the issues. This tool can be extremely valuable in pinpointing different bugs and issues in your app performance. Crashlytics also claims to be a ‘lightweight’ solution,  meaning it shouldn’t bog down usage in the app itself. Plus, the reports seem to be very easy to understand, view, and use. The crashlytics website is so beautiful I imagine just looking at their reports would be an enjoyable experience.

2. Playtomic

Playtomic is specifically tailored to app developers in the gaming industry.  This tool allows you to track player behavior during gameplay. This robust tool works across all platforms and is designed to help improve the player’s experience. Playtomic boasts a wide range of features allowing you to track:
  • How many people abandon your game in the first minute
  • What language players use 
  •  At what location players are leaving the game
  •  How many players are on each level
  • Custom metrics you select


3. Distimo


Distimo offers broad analytics in reference to how your app is selling across various platforms. One of its most valuable tools is the sales funnel analysis, which allows developers to track how users are buying the app from discovery to purchase. Distimo also provides actual market data, allowing developers to analyze the competition’s daily downloads and revenues. This is a fantastic tool if you’re looking for market research and conversion tracking.

4. Appboy


Appboy is focused on improving relationships with your app users. Creating customer profiles allows the developer to segment their audience and provide ad campaigns catered to each segment. Customer engagement and loyalty is the goal here. Valuable for apps with recurring revenue streams.

5. Mopapp


Mopapp attempts to provide a comprehensive analytics platform.  It features sales channel analytics similar to Distimo (though not the market research side) and the customer enagement analytics similar to Appboy. There is a large focus on improving app store ratings and rankings here.

Due to the wide variety of apps and tools available, it is extremely important to find what works best. Mashable has a great article that emphasizes the importance of analytics before launch, choosing the best KPI’s and finding the right tool for you.[ii]
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13 comments:

  1. Scott StevensJanuary 22, 2013 at 1:41 PM

    My favorite is the first point under Playtomic - "How many people abandon your game in the first minute."

    It's one thing to create an app and track it, but it's a different thing to create a fun/useful/engaging app. This might be the most helpful for strategy. If an app doesn't keep my attention right away, I'm probably not going to keep using it.

    Well done, Ty!

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  2. CamilleJanuary 22, 2013 at 1:50 PM

    Very interesting! I am new in the app world, since I have never owned a smart phone, and have only recently started using an iPad. It is very fascinating to me to think of all that goes into this new technology!

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  3. McClainJanuary 22, 2013 at 4:10 PM

    Beautiful--absolutely beautiful. Great summaries of the different analytics platforms. Well done, Ty :)

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  4. Erin + GeoffJanuary 22, 2013 at 10:18 PM

    This was very informative Ty.. I learned a lot! Thanks!!

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  5. GraydonJanuary 23, 2013 at 2:32 AM

    Good work man, I knew close to nothing about this stuff.

    Favorite line: The crashlytics website is so beautiful I imagine just looking at their reports would be an enjoyable experience.

    Most Interesting App: Distimo. Marketing research and numbers are interesting to me obviously. That sort of information is really interesting and beneficial.

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  6. RickyJanuary 23, 2013 at 6:34 PM

    I am going to try moppap. Thanks

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  7. ScottJanuary 23, 2013 at 7:56 PM

    Great post! Very informative.

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  8. bethandericfarmerJanuary 25, 2013 at 3:00 PM

    Ricky, if you're going to try mopapp, you'll need to learn how to spell it so you can find it in the app store.

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  9. UnknownJanuary 25, 2013 at 7:48 PM

    Thank you MR English

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  10. UnknownJanuary 27, 2013 at 1:03 PM

    Are you currently using any of these apps? I'd be interested to hear any feedback anyone might have on the 5 apps listed above...

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  11. UnknownJanuary 27, 2013 at 10:39 PM

    Good research. Nicely presented.

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  12. swhitmoreJanuary 30, 2013 at 4:31 PM

    So, I'll jump on the bandwagon and leave a comment here as well. I actually found this post very useful. A friend of mine just launched a new mobile app and we are planning on creating another one. I'm going to look into some of these and see what we can afford and what will work for us.

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  13. Travis S. BarnesJanuary 30, 2013 at 6:53 PM

    That's great. I never really took the time to think about how mobile and app analytics could vary so widely from traditional analytics. It was enlightening to see how differently it could be applied to different concepts to provide useful data which is relevant to the particular app type. Great post!

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