A field guide to mobile user reactivation

Not all those who churn are lost

Let's bring them back

Stagnant monthly active users (MAU), declining conversions, agonizingly long periods of idleness between sessions. It’s time to open the cold case files to find out where your inactive users may have gone and which re-engagement method you need to recover them.

Begin your search with these lost user segments that have the highest potential for re-engagement!

Field guide cart abandoners

1. Cart abandoners

🔍 Last known location

Users who have added items to their cart but haven't completed the purchase.

🔦 Investigation

Analyze abandoned carts and tailer push notifications or SMS messages to send personalized reminders detailing the products they were browsing. Include incentives like exclusive discounts to make an already-tempting decision irresistible for shoppers on the fence!

The SMS message above is a great example of how senders can use this high-engagement channel to personalize cart abandonment notifications with the recipient’s name, abandoned product, and an exclusive discount incentive. Bonus points for including rich media, such as an image of the product in question. We’re visual learners (and shoppers) by nature!

To discover more ways of leveraging SMS marketing to guide customers through the buying journey, check out these five impactful SMS strategies for eCommerce.

Field guide wishlist procrastinators

2. Wishlist procrastinators

🔍 Last known location

Users who have items saved in their wishlist but haven't taken further action.

🔦 Investigation

Highlight new or discounted items that align with their wishlist items to reignite interest. Then, set up automated reminders or alerts for wishlist items that are back in stock, on sale, or nearing expiration to inject a healthy dose of FOMO.

The email above does a great job of playing up a sense of urgency with conversational copy and a personalized touch to put the limited-stock product front and center for some tantalizing motivation to get it before it’s gone! FOMO is just one psychological driver you can implement into your mobile marketing strategy… explore these additional psychological insights to make your multichannel messaging resonate on a deeper level than your competitors’.

Industry gaming keep players coming back

3. Level dropouts

🔍 Last known location

Mobile game players who started but didn't complete certain in-game levels or stages.

🔦 Investigation

Use in-app messages and push notifications to assist players on the specific stage they are stuck on, offering in-game rewards, boosts, or simply some tips to enable their success and boost in-game retention.

As you can see, push notifications are merely one of the many channels at your disposal to deliver timely, personalized incentives to drive mobile re-engagement. By automating a custom multichannel journey, you reach your users when they are most likely to engage and give them relevant tips or rewards to conquer their specific roadblocks. Don’t let in-app challenges become in-app pain points or reasons to churn!

These retention strategies for mobile games lay the groundwork for creating a mobile gaming experience with longevity.

Field guide challenge defectors

4. Challenge defectors

🔍 Last known location

Users who signed up for challenges but haven't been active participants.

🔦 Investigation

Visualize their achievements thus far with personalized progress tracking, motivating users to re-engage with challenges and continue working towards their goals. Gamify the experience further by offering exclusive discounts, virtual trophies, or entry into prize drawings.

The example above from the navigation app Waze is a perfect example that in-app challenges aren’t strictly reserved for mobile games. Apps in any category can implement gamified elements such as streak rewards, community challenges, or milestone achievements to create an experience that’s tough to put down.

No matter your genre, this guide to creating engaging and rewarding in-game challenges is an extremely useful resource for apps looking to add an irresistibly addicting edge to their users’ daily sessions.

Field guide lost trackers 3

5. Lost trackers

🔍 Last known location

Users who haven't logged their personal interactions (such as budget expenses or fitness goals) for over a week.

🔦 Investigation

Offer interactive tools or calculators to help users understand the importance of tracking within your app and motivate them to set realistic goals.

The fitness app push reminder above keeps users’ progress tracking top of mind without being overly aggressive. Make your notifications even more nuanced with Intelligent Delivery, which automatically schedules alerts based on when your users are most likely to open them.

Field guide dead end free users

6. Dead-end free users

🔍 Last known location

Users who repeatedly investigate your app paywalls but haven't taken further action.

🔦 Investigation

Create a targeted discount or promotional offer specifically for this user segment, using value-focused language with a clear call-to-action (CTA).

When it comes to delivering a benefits-driven promo notification, the in-app message above from the home services app Angi succeeds with flying colors. They place their highest-valued perks front and center, clearly describe potential savings from their premium service, and include a low-pressure CTA to encourage users to investigate an upgrade on their own.

Interested in targeting your users with the highest buying intent? Take a peek at this guide to learn how you can use mobile notifications to target users most likely to convert!

Field guide event ignorers

7. Event ignorers

🔍 Last known location

Users who haven't responded to event invitations or RSVPs.

🔦 Investigation

Analyze the user's past event attendance or user content preferences to generate personalized event recommendations and create dynamic content within your re-engagement messages that showcase upcoming events matching the user's interests.

The email above from StubHub highlights events related to users’ interests, but also relevant to their users’ location. Geotargeting can be a powerful and creative way to deliver personalized content to users and encourage participation in upcoming events.

Learn the difference between geotargeting vs. geofencing (along with some useful best practices for collecting location data.)

Field guide abandoned onboarders

8. Abandoned onboarders

🔍 Last known location

Users who have only partially completed your app's tutorials or onboarding process.

🔦 Investigation

Identify points in your onboarding experience and utilize email to encourage users to pick up where they left off. Provide guided assistance or interactive tutorials within the email to help users discover value quickly.

The onboarding email above from the CRM platform Streak includes three actionable links to help new people discover success quickly, a key component of retaining users over time.

Ready to create an onboarding sequence that captures new users’ attention and lasting loyalty? Our Ultimate Guide to User Onboarding walks you through exactly how to do this across multiple mobile channels!

Field guide feature favorites

9. Feature favorites

🔍 Last known location

Users who consistently engage with specific features but neglect others.

🔦 Investigation

Promote lesser-used features through targeted cross-channel messaging.

The photo editing app above, Picsart, notifies users of exciting new features within their platform, encouraging users to explore new features and entirely new ways to engage with their app.

To learn how to seamlessly include your feature emails with your other mobile messaging channels, explore our guide to adding email to cross-channel journeys!

Field guide the irish goodbyes

10. The Irish goodbyes

🔍 Last known location

Users who previously engaged frequently but have shown recent decreases in session frequency or duration.

🔦 Investigation

Create a personalized email showcase for any new features, updates, or content additions that have been introduced since the user's last session.

Change is scary, but used effectively it can also be a massive selling point for users whose engagement rates are growing stale. The email above from Airbnb highlights some of their newest features with a visually enticing example to bring previously disinterested users back to the table.

Looking to craft more conversion-friendly emails? Get up to date with this guide on how to structure captivating marketing emails!