Funnel analysis is a popular analytics method used in the digital marketing world to break down user journeys into several vital steps that will lead to the ultimate goal——conversions. General funnel analysis is built on acquisition, activation, conversion and retention, but it varies depending on the complexity of the product. In this article, we will talk about what funnel analysis is for subscription apps and how it can help with subscription growth.
What is Funnel Analysis for Subscription Apps?
Funnel analysis for subscription apps tracks the user behaviors in a subscription-based app and the conversion rate between two actions. For example, there are two important user behaviors: install the app and subscribe. Funnel analysis tracks the user behaviors or conversions of the whole user journey, that is, how many users who installed the app actually subscribe to the app so that app marketers could easily figure out the ROAS or ROI of each channel.
To create a funnel, the first thing is to identify the significant steps that each app user would take, from knowing the app to paying for it. A simplified user path would be a potential user seeing and clicking on the promotion of an app, redirecting to the app store, installing the app, signing up, trying the app features, subscribing and paying for the app.
As you can imagine, not every signed-up user will try the app features and not every user who had tried app functions will subscribe to the app. So the number of users will decrease alongside the user path. It is like a funnel, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, representing the number of users who make it to the next step during their user journey. That’s why we call this kind of analysis method “funnel analysis”.
The purpose of conducting a funnel analysis for subscription apps, needless to say, is to grow app subscription businesses. So how can funnel analysis boost app subscription business? Read on to find the answers.
How Can Funnel Analysis boost App Subscription？
Funnel analysis tracks user behavior throughout their user journey and calculates how many people make it through each step, showing the issues or bugs needed to be dealt with. Here are three ways to use Funnel Analysis for empowering subscription revenue:
- Identify the Most Effective Acquisition Channels
Funnel analysis can identify the most effective acquisition channels by comparing different funnels from different acquisition channels.
For example, you promote your app by advertisement both on Twitter and Facebook. If you want to calculate the effectiveness of the marketing channels, conduct a funnel analysis on users from these two channels respectively. The result of the difference between conversion rates will help determine where high-quality visitors come from.
If you understand how users who convert know the app, you can pay more attention to those acquisition channels and increase the number of potential conversions, which would finally lead to more revenue and thus help grow the app business. - Find Out User Friction Points
A funnel analysis tool will visualize the user journey and shows the churn and conversion rate of each stage, helping you understand when and where your users attempt to leave, which may be typical user frictions that you want to smooth.
Luckily, funnel analysis helps find out potential user friction points and enables you to find out what’s preventing users from reaching the end destination. So you can focus your optimization efforts on the biggest opportunities.
For example, if a sign-up user used the app feature but fails to complete it, a timely pop-out guide might encourage them to continue. Remember the goal is to increase the number of users who make it to the next step. In this way, more users will flow to the destination——subscriptions, which are the direct factors that a subscription app can grow. - Monitor App Performance
Funnel analysis is an incredibly honest assessment when it comes to monitoring app performance. It records what happens during the subscription app user journey and reflects the issue with data.
For example, if you find out there is a sudden rise in the number of users who reach the paywall but fail to pay, you should optimize app paywall by checking the paywalls and finding out the reason, which can be technical, design-update issues or others. No matter which reason it is, it should be handled vigilantly. Otherwise, the issues will lead directly to increased abandonment, reduced conversion, and lost revenue.
Check out funnel analysis case study👉How Ad blocker - Adblock Optimize App Marketing Campaigns With Funnel Analysis
Free Funnel Analysis Tools For Subscription Apps
With tremendous in-app subscription data, it would be time-consuming and heavy work to conduct funnel analysis. Luckily, there emerge easy-to-use and automatic funnel tools that can help do the funnel analysis.
Appflow.ai
Appflow.ai’s funnel analysis feature tracks users' post-install performance: installs, trials, subscriptions, refunds, and renewals from different channels, and visualizes the data in the shape of funnels.
From the funnel filters, you can choose from different acquisition channels. Then the funnels will immediately show you the user journey and the conversion rate from that specific channel. This way, you can easily compare the effectiveness of each channel or keywords in terms of Apple Search Ads, which will help choose the right channels or Ads keywords and acquire more users.
Furthermore, with accurate subscription data analysis, appflow.ai shows the average conversion rate of a specific channel at the right bottom of the funnel. Tips: Appflow.ai's funnel analysis is available on Free plan. Create a free account (no credit card required) and try it out!
Google Analysis
Google analysis can help create funnels by tracking vital events for you. Firstly, you need to set up the goals of the funnel. And then use the Goal Flow feature to filter by the source to see where converting traffic came from. Finally, you can get a view of the funnel. 
To Sum Up
Funnel analysis is a very powerful method to help understand where your users are dropping off on their path to conversion. Therefore you can smooth app user friction points, increase user engagement, improve the user onboarding experience, promote user subscriptions and finally boost app business.
What is Funnel Analysis for Subscription Apps?
