Introduction

"Is my retention good?" is a meaningless question without industry context. A 20% Day 30 retention might be excellent for a casual game but alarming for a banking app. This guide provides benchmarks and deep dives across major categories.

Retention Benchmarks by Industry

Why Industry Context Matters

Retention is shaped by natural usage frequency (daily vs occasional), switching costs, and habit potential—all fundamentally different across categories. See our broader retention curves guide for the underlying methodology.

Gaming: Retention Deep Dive

Gaming has the steepest early drop-off (low switching cost, abundant alternatives) but strong mid-term retention among players who form habits. See our player retention in mobile games guide for tactical strategies.

Fintech: Retention Deep Dive

Highest retention of any category due to switching costs and infrequent-but-critical usage patterns. Focus retention efforts on engagement depth (feature adoption) rather than raw return frequency.

E-Commerce: Retention Deep Dive

Naturally episodic usage (people don't shop daily)—measure retention differently, focusing on repeat purchase rate over pure session-based metrics. See our repeat purchase rate guide.

Improving Against Your Benchmark

Once you know your category benchmark, use churn prediction and churn reduction tactics to systematically close the gap.

Conclusion

Retention benchmarks vary dramatically by industry due to fundamental differences in usage frequency and switching costs. Benchmark against your actual category, understand why your industry's pattern looks the way it does, and target improvements accordingly.

Related Resources

• Retention Curves: Mobile vs Web Apps
• Mobile App Activation Rates by Industry
• Reducing App Churn: Step-by-Step Playbook

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