When it comes to mobile marketing, there are certain factors that you should consider to measure the engagement level of your app. Terms like “User Engagement” and “Active Users”, etc. may lend to questions like “What are your current metrics for user engagement?”, “How many users actively use your app and what is the number compared to other apps?” Let us see about DAU vs MAU.
The Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU) are commonly used metrics that can help in determining the stickiness of a mobile app. These metrics can be used to determine the DAU/MAU ratio through which a business can use to measure how often users engage with your app.
For the uninitiated audience, DAU is the total count of unique users who engage with an app in a single day, whereas, MAU is the total count of unique users who engage with your app at least once over a month.
This guide will give you insights on DAU and MAU and also help you in finding the answer to the above questions.

Why do you need to care about user engagement?

Before getting into the actual topic, let’s get some insights on the significance of user engagement and why you should give more focus on user engagement. 

In general terms, User engagement is termed when your client finds value from your products/service/mobile app which results in user performing some action within your app or product.

User engagement shows a great impact on your business growth in multiple aspects. When a customer finds value in your service, it leads to customer retention that ultimately results in referrals and revenue. Ultimately, both lead to business growth. 

If you can measure the level of user engagement and can track their actions, you are on the right track. The collective data can be used to improve user engagement which certainly leads to the road of growth. 

Three User Engagement Metrics: DAU, WAU, MAU

The three User Engagement Metrics, DAU (Daily Active Users), WAU (Weekly Active Users), and MAU(Monthly Active Users) are very common for mobile app developers to track their active users. These metrics are used to track the number of customers who actively engage with your service over a time period. Therefore, the DAU is the number of users that are active every day, the WAU is the number of users who visit the app for specific tasks each week and the MAU is the number of users who visit your app to accomplish some tasks within a month.  

Define the active users of your business: It’s imperative to figure out what moves the client must make in your business to be characterized as an “active user” because for every business the definition for active users differs. 

Whether is it an active client, one who signs on daily? Or should it be someone who performs certain tasks like reading a blog, commenting, or making a transaction (in case of an e-Commerce app)? 

WAU is generally compatible with DAU based upon when clients will in general draw in with your application. The basic difference is that WAU keeps away from the fluctuations that may happen between the days of the week. 

For instance, in case if you are in B2B business, then there may be variation in the DAU during the week, and observe a plunge on the ends of the week. With WAU, you can see week after week activity with the mobile application without representing low activity on certain days of the week. 

What is DAU vs MAU?

As mentioned above, DAU/MAU is significant for user engagement. It is the ration of the daily active customers over the monthly active customers. You should also remember that the metrics should be based on the individual’s visit and not the number of sessions. For instance, if a user visits your app 4 times a day, even then the DAU would be 1. 

Here is how you calculate DAU:

DAU = #count of unique users who open your app daily

This will give you an exact number of unique visitors that you get every day. 

Here is how you calculate MAU:

Monthly Active Users (MAU) help in determining the number of unique customers to your app over a month. 

MAU =#count of unique users who use your app within a month

The DAU/MAU Ratio

The app’s growth rate is important for any business because that’s how the growth of the mobile is determined. The DAU/MAU Ratio helps you to measure the growth rate of your app users.

In other perspectives, user engagement can provide your in-depth view of your business performance. It helps you in finding the retention of your customers, by comparing the daily active users with your monthly active users. By determining the retention rates, you can easily calculate the value of your customers. 

Any business needs to focus on the DAU/MAU ratio as they can play a vital role in calculating the revenue generation. This is because most of the revenue comes from constant active users. They are the ones who regularly commit to your products/ services and helps in propelling business growth. 

The DAU/MAU ratio calculation is done with the below formula:

The no. of daily active users divided by the no. of monthly active users = DAU/MAU

What is considered a Good DAU/MAU Ratio?

A good benchmark depends on the type of business. In general, an app with a ratio of 20% is defined as good and over 50% ratio is defined as excellent. It is suggested to concentrate more on the trending of DAU/MAU over time rather than the real numbers. 

Takeaway

User engagement is very vital for any mobile app. The User Engagement Metrics DAU, WAU, MAU are not only helpful in determining the improvement areas but also helps in product development by increasing the customer retention rate. With proper use of metrics, you can determine the in-depth view of the target audience and their value. This was all about DAU vs MAU.