What are key performance indicators (KPIs)?

In the context of mobile marketing and app analytics, key performance indicators (KPIs) are the specific metrics that show how well an app or campaign is performing against the core goals of the business. Unlike raw data, KPIs are strategic measures that tie directly to outcomes like user retention, revenue, engagement, campaign efficiency and lifetime value (LTV).

KPIs are not one‑size‑fits‑all. The right KPIs depend on your business model, app vertical, growth stage, and strategic priorities. For example, a free‑to‑play game might prioritize daily active users (DAU) and in‑app purchase conversion rate, while a subscription productivity app might focus on trial conversion and churn.

In mobile marketing, KPIs bridge the gap between technical analytics and business impact, telling advertisers what is happening and whether it matters.

Key performance indicators are critical to app marketing because they provide a north star for teams. Without clearly defined KPIs, app businesses risk making decisions based on gut feeling or incomplete data. KPIs provide context and clarity.

At every level from developers and product managers, to marketers and executives, KPIs help:

• Set measurable goals that align with strategic priorities
• Track progress over time and spot trends early
• Identify areas for optimization in user experience or marketing performance
• Benchmark success across markets, channels or user segments
• Communicate performance clearly across teams and stakeholders

KPIs help advertisers determine whether a campaign is delivering quality users, how user behavior post‑install contributes to long‑term value, and which channels and creatives produce the best ROI. Without KPIs, advertisers cannot reliably compare campaign performance, optimize creative strategies, or forecast revenue impact.

Depending on your app and business model, KPIs can span acquisition, engagement and post-install metrics, revenue, retention, campaign performance, and more. Some of the most widely used KPI metrics include:

Acquisition KPIs

These KPIs measure how effectively your app attracts new users.

• Installs: The number of times your app is downloaded and opened 
• Click‑through rate (CTR): The percentage of people who click on your ad after seeing it
• Cost per install (CPI): The average spend to acquire a new user

Engagement and usage KPIs

These KPIs reflect how users interact with your app and engage with its core value:

• Daily active users (DAU) / monthly active users (MAU): Indicate usage frequency
• Session** length**: How long users spend in your app
• Events** triggered**: Completion of key in‑app actions such as registrations or purchases

Retention and loyalty KPIs

These measures show how well you keep users over time. 

• Retention rate: The percentage of users who return after a given period (e.g., day 1, day 7, day 30)
• Churn rate: Rate at which users stop using the app

Revenue and monetization KPIs

These help assess financial performance.

• Average revenue per user (ARPU): Revenue earned per active user over a set period.
• Lifetime value (LTV): Projected revenue from a user over their entire engagement with the app
• In‑app purchase conversion rate: Percentage of users who make at least one purchase

KPIs can also branch into qualitative factors such as review scores and app store ranking, which influence perception and organic performance.

It’s important to distinguish between raw analytics and KPIs. Analytics is the broader collection of data, encompassing every click, screen view, or event your app generates. KPIs are a filtered set of analytics that tie directly to business performance goals.

For example, your analytics might capture thousands of events per day, but your KPI might focus only on weekly retention rate and in‑app purchase conversion. The KPI lens filters analytics into meaningful and immediately actionable business signals.

There’s no universal KPI set that works for every app. The right indicators reflect your unique goals, business model, and user behavior. A subscription app might focus on trial-to-paid conversion and churn, while a mobile game may prioritize retention and in-app revenue. What matters is alignment, your KPIs should tie directly to outcomes that move your business forward.

Effective KPIs are measurable, actionable, and stable enough to track over time. If a metric can’t guide decisions or reveal performance trends, it’s not a KPI, it’s just data. Marketers and product teams should regularly revisit their KPI framework to adapt to growth stages, market shifts or changes in user intent.

Adjust supports KPI tracking and analysis by giving teams a unified view of app performance and marketing quality across both acquisition and in‑app behavior. This is done by pulling aggregated data from multiple sources into one report using the Report Service API. You can see the full list of metrics in the Datascape metrics glossary. 

With Adjust’s Datascape, you can:

• Centralize KPI tracking: Import key metrics such as installs, sessions, retention, revenue, and custom in‑app events into a single analytics dashboard.
• Segment performance: Break down KPI trends by campaign, channel, or user cohort so you have a clear view of performance.
• Connect acquisition to value: Link post‑install KPIs like events and revenue back to the campaigns, creatives, and partners that delivered them, helping you optimize spend and targeting.
• Visualize and report: Create KPI dashboards that make it easy for product, growth, and executive teams to monitor performance at a glance and drill into areas that need attention.

By simplifying KPI tracking as part of an overall mobile marketing analytics strategy and workflow, Adjust helps teams move from raw data to meaningful insight, ensuring your most important performance indicators are both visible and actionable.

To see first hand how Datascape and performance measurement works with Adjust, and how we can grow your app business, sign up for free or request a demo.