Ways To Increase ARPDAU: Everything App Publishers Must Know

If you have an app, you must be aware about tracking its metrics to analyze its growth. But what is also important is to trace its day-to-day improvement for more granular insights, and that’s where ARPDAU comes into play. This blog post comprises everything you need to know – from ARPDAU definition to methods to increase it.

• What is ARPDAU?
• Why should you track ARPDAU?
• ARPDAU calculation
• Ways to increase ARPDAU

What is ARPDAU?

ARPDAU stands for Average Revenue Per Daily Active User, an important metric to measure the success of your app monetization strategy(s). It tells you about the average revenue each of your daily active users is driving per day by contributing to in-app purchases, subscriptions, ads, etc.

Why should you track ARPDAU?

ARPDAU is a practical way to understand how well each of your app monetization strategies is driving revenue. You can discover specific details about how your daily active users respond to the strategy, enabling you to test and identify what works best for your app.

However, the users taken into consideration to track ARPDAU are your most valuable users or those actively engaged with your app on a daily basis. Understanding their positive and negative trends will help you realize better ways to maximize revenue.

You can use ARPDAU information in the following ways:

1. Segment it by the source to find where a user is coming from and how your app is being downloaded.

2. Understand what parts of your app, for example, daily rewards, are performing well in revenue.

3. Understand what monetization strategy(s) a user is responding to the most.

4. Analyze the effect of changes like new ad placements and features on the revenue.

All this information empowers you to make well-informed decisions concerning your app monetization strategies.

ARPDAU calculation

The mathematical expression or ARPDAU formula is as follows.

Ways to increase ARPDAU

Increasing app users can improve ARPDAU to some extent. If you’re wondering how to increase active users for your app, you may want to use app marketing services that help you acquire app users. Below are other few ways you can increase your app’s ARPDAU.

1. Segmenting users

   Different users have different behavior and may contribute to your app differently. That’s why it is crucial to segment your users and treat them differently. Try engaging user cohorts with in-app and push notifications. For instance, for a user who hasn’t opened your app in a long time, attract them with a notification about a new feature or an extra discount.

2. A/B testing ad placements and formats

   Testing and iterating can help you discover effective solutions. Test your ad placements in terms of timing, frequency, and formats - when or how frequently you want to place ads so that the user experience is not hampered. This should be handled especially in mobile games.

3. Encouraging in-app purchases

   In-app purchases are a powerful monetization strategy for gaming apps. Here is an example of a strategy that works - for users who have not made in-app purchases, give them a glimpse of it through rewarded video ads. This will hint at what they’re missing out on, encouraging them to purchase in the future.

4. Using in-app bidding

   Unlike the traditional waterfall setup, in-app bidding is becoming app developers’ go-to more than ever. It is the mobile app variation of header bidding and works with real-time auctions where multiple advertisers bid on the app’s ad space, and the highest bidder wins. The entire process is automated and helps you get the maximum price for each user impression.

5. Using rewarded video ads

   Rewarded video ads improve user engagement, therefore, increasing ad revenue. These interactive ads guarantee a better click-through rate because they offer users some value, also encouraging them to stay hooked to your app. Some examples of rewards in games are extra lives and more currency. You can sign up with a video ad network for more targeted ads that can give your ad revenue a considerable boost.

ARPDAU is even affected by external factors that may or may not influence users to visit your app daily and contribute to monetization. For example, offers specific to a holiday season or a festival may bring users to your app more than other times.

Testing and iterating is one of the most effective ways to determine if something is working for you. Understand how ad, placement, and format changes affect your revenue, and take action accordingly.