The Ultimate Guide to Boost User Retention of Content Platforms

During the last few years, users of different services have noticed that brands spend a lot of time attracting new users—with marketing offers, sales, promo codes, and other benefits. However, users who are actually brand lovers and dedicated to the platform often get nothing to support their loyalty. Sometimes, it can lead to disappointment and even disillusionment with other services—because people like to be noticed and not like to be invisible, especially for the brand they pay for.

How can companies increase users’ retention and loyalty without a global pivot of the marketing strategy?

You can find a lot of clear advice on how to work with customers, help them retain, and keep them longer, but sometimes, these tips and tricks need to be revised. For example, if you have an OTT service, sometimes it is not so easy to show users that you share the same ideas because you usually don’t have a direct dialogue with them. So, we have decided to adopt retention tricks for digital content platforms.

Shared values help keep users

But how do you show users that you share the same ideas? Of course, it can be part of your design, UX, and content, but it’s an implicit way. How do we make it more explicit? How to come into the conversation with users? With special tools.

When you have a place to communicate with users and convey the company’s ideas, the easiest part becomes sharing these ideas and having a dialogue. You can tell users what you think about, or show it through special tools, or just tone of voice.

Sometimes, it’s possible to show ideas even through restrictions. So, if you have conversation tools on your app or website, you can, for example, restrict them from being intolerant or rude so users will get that their comfort is crucial.

As customers grasp and align with your principles, it fosters a sense of resonance, allowing them to establish a connection and feel connected.

Fast tools for getting feedback

Sometimes, people face an unpleasant experience using a service, but often, they hold off on writing or calling support, their loyalty decreases, and they exit from the service. How can it be prevented? Primarily, if they don’t text the support team.

If users have tools to communicate with each other, they can share their experiences—stunning or awful—there. It is a first step when users try to understand if it is a problem on their or the service’s side. If this issue is solved at once because the service cares, users notice or ignore it, but even ignoring will be a part of seamless, comfortable usage. You can answer them on the issue description or work as a magical creature, invisible and helpful—the result will be great. So, give users tools for sharing, but don’t forget to listen to them and catch their troubles and pains.

Let users be part of the service

Encourage users to think more about the service, of course, in a good way. Sometimes, people don’t have any reason to return to apps or websites more frequently because they have their routine on messengers and social media or something like Reddit. If you add the opportunity to spend more time on service, staying habitually and just hanging out at the service, that will be a new part of their daily habits. Users will be part of the service, and your service will become part of their everyday life.

Give them prizes and achievements

Incorporate gamification elements like rewards, badges, and progress tracking to make the user experience more interactive and enjoyable. Humans are inherently competitive, and these elements can encourage users to keep returning to your platform to achieve new milestones. It also helps to make returning to your service a habit. Yesterday, I opened an app to check my badge mark. Today, to level it up, I will open it tomorrow because I will get used to opening it daily.

Force users to be part of the community

Achievements and chats are good separately as well, but they are extremely helpful when combined with one big thing—building a community—which boosts retention and loyalty. When you foster a sense of community among your users through chat tools, comment sections, and user-generated content elements, users tend to return to engaging with other like-minded individuals and sharing their insights, experiences, and opinions.

Build the seamless cross-platform experience

In today’s multi-device landscape, ensure a seamless experience across various platforms and devices. Users should be able to transition effortlessly from a desktop to a mobile device without losing progress or functionality. If your users have other devices, like a Smart TV, link them. It is especially crucial for video platforms and classic broadcasters with linear TV. Often, users are distracted by content on social media. Implementing social media experience into watching can become your product's killer feature.

Add more engaging activities

It doesn't matter what type of content is located on your platform. People like to be engaged, and if you add some polls, quizzes, and other fun things, people will like to participate as much as they want to write reviews in stores. If they know they can find a new poll or quiz daily, they will be motivated to check your service even if they need nothing to do with it today. Their choice between your service and any similar competitor's service without fun tools and games will be obvious.

Analyze and listen 

It’s crucial to continuously monitor user engagement metrics, such as time spent on the platform, bounce rates, and returning visitors. Use these insights to identify areas that need improvement and fine-tune your user retention strategies accordingly. But sometimes numbers are not enough. If you have a lot of user-generated content like conversations, comments, and reviews sent to your chats and other special sections, use it—explore them and find insights. Often, people share tremendous ideas, and your job is to catch them. Remember that sometimes direct interviews can give you less helpful and less honest feedback than just casual conversations between two users about your product.

***

Connect with us if you want to integrate live chats, audio or video in-app streaming, or other community-building tools to your platform. We'll help you find the best solution.