Use sentry.io to really understand where and when your crashes and other exceptions are happening.
As others mentioned, offer a giftcard for a brief phone call or chat interview.
Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
21–30 of 65 posts
Re: Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
#22Consider using some tools like google analyticsz they actually have bindings for apps like .Net https://github.com/maartenba/GoogleAnalyticsTracker You can also detect the uninstall event and try to launch a browser to a quick optional survey https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.configura... I’d say try to treat the desktop app as much like a We app as possible from a metrics perspective. Unlike web peo…
Survey on uninstall = where theoretical ideal meets the real world.
Edit: By which I mean, in that moment you do not want to get in the user's way.
Re: Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
#23I think you are fundamentally asking the wrong question.
Instead of trying to understand why 80% of the people are leaving, try to find out why 20% are staying.
Instead of contacting the people who are uninstalling the app, contact the people who install it and stay with it. Ask them why they are buying and what they are using it for.
The people who are uninstalling are not your customers. The people who install and stay are your customers. Find out why they like the app and then use these insights to attract more customers.
Re: Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
#24Are you required to put in a credit card for the free trial?
If you can detect a first time install you may want to put a little sales/tutorial in.
Re: Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
#25support is a huge factor in reducing churn. can they reach out and is your team/you responsive? if they complain about crashes can they get a credit for the month while you fix, etc? good support will cut churn
Re: Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
#26Re: Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
#27https://meetings.hubspot.com/brett38
Sign up for a meeting, happy to chat about retention/growth/whatever! Let me know if you need a different +/- time zone and will be happy to accommodate you.
Re: Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
#28I'm in a similar boat with my app and we've found success by implementing the MomTest (http://momtestbook.com/). The premise is that your users are well-intentioned and will tell you what you want to hear, just like your mom would. To work around this, you employ the MomTest- basically you avoid all questions with words like "would you", "do you", etc because they lead to red herrings and reassuring dead ends. You ask questions about their real experiences relating to the problem you're trying to solve so that you can deduce the rest. Your mileage may vary but since you have some existing users, you might consider doing this to extract some useful data about them.
Re: Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
#29How are you getting the installs in the first place? Were they accidental?
Is the performance of the app bad?
Re: Ask HN: What methods and tools can I use to decrease my app churn?
#30So much free advice here. Pay a UX consultant to help you.