MAU metric: How to measure and improve monthly active users

Have you ever wondered how many people actually use your app on a regular basis? Understanding user engagement is crucial for any product's success. One key metric that companies rely on to gauge this engagement is Monthly Active Users (MAU).

In this blog, we'll dive into what MAU truly means, how it differs from other metrics like Daily Active Users (DAU) and Weekly Active Users (WAU), and how you can use it to understand and improve your product's performance. Whether you're new to product metrics or looking to refine your tracking strategies, we've got you covered.

Understanding monthly active users (MAU)

Monthly Active Users (MAU) is a key metric that helps you keep a pulse on how engaged your users are over time. Simply put, it counts the number of unique users who interact with your product within a 30-day span. For more on measuring active users, check out this article. MAU gives you valuable insights into the overall health and growth of your product.

But how is MAU different from Daily Active Users (DAU) or Weekly Active Users (WAU)? While DAU and WAU track engagement on a daily and weekly basis, MAU gives you the bigger picture over a month. This makes it especially useful for products that aren't used every day—think travel apps or financial services. Learn more about active user metrics in this guide.

To measure MAU accurately, you need to define what an "active user" is for your product. This can vary widely depending on what your product does. For instance, Duolingo considers someone an active user if they've completed at least one lesson in a month. Read more about Duolingo's approach here.

Calculating MAU involves counting unique users who meet your "active" criteria within a 30-day period. You'll need to track user activity carefully and make sure each user is counted only once, no matter how often they engage.

At Statsig, we understand how crucial it is to monitor MAU trends over time. A steady increase in MAU is a strong signal your product is on the right track. On the flip side, a decline might mean it's time to dig deeper and figure out what's going on. Breaking down MAU data by user segments or acquisition channels can provide even deeper insights and help you fine-tune your product strategies.

The benefits and limitations of using MAU as a metric

Advantages of MAU

MAU is a great metric for getting a sense of your user growth and overall business health. If you see your MAU going up, that's usually a good sign that your product is gaining traction. For more on measuring MAU, check out this article. On the other hand, a dip in MAU might signal issues that need a closer look.

Unlike total user counts, which can be inflated by inactive accounts, MAU focuses on active engagement. It filters out users who aren't really interacting with your product, giving you a clearer picture of your true active user base.

Limitations of MAU

However, MAU isn't perfect. One of the main challenges is that there's no universal definition of what an "active user" is—it can vary a lot from one product to another. This makes it tricky to compare MAU across different companies or industries.

Also, MAU doesn't always capture the quality or depth of user engagement. Someone who just opens your app once a month gets counted the same as a power user who spends hours on it every day.

To get around these limitations, it's a good idea to pair MAU with other metrics like DAU and WAU. Looking at the DAU/MAU ratio, for example, can give you insights into how often users are engaging with your product. This can help you spot opportunities for improvement—just like Duolingo did in their growth strategy. Read about how Duolingo reignited user growth here.

How to accurately measure and calculate MAU

Getting your MAU calculation right is key to understanding your product's health. Let's talk about how to define an active user and how to track unique users over time.

Defining 'active user'

First things first—you need to decide what counts as an "active user" for your product. This is super important! Think about actions that show meaningful engagement: making a purchase, completing a game level, sharing content, etc. For example, Duolingo zeroed in on their Current User Retention Rate (CURR) by defining active users as those who completed a lesson within a certain time frame.

Tracking unique users over time

Once you've defined what makes an active user, you need to track how many unique users meet that criteria over a 30-day period. Make sure to use a unique identifier (like a user ID or email) so you don't count the same person twice.

But watch out—aligning the MAU window with things like experiment durations can be tricky. There are challenges, like those discussed in this Reddit post.

When running experiments, consider how they'll impact your MAU metric. If your experiment is shorter than 30 days, your MAU will include data from before it started. For longer experiments, you might need to exclude some initial days to match the standard MAU definition.

By carefully defining active users and tracking them consistently, you can get a clear picture of user engagement and make informed decisions to grow your product.

Strategies to improve MAU

Looking to boost your MAU? Improving user retention is the name of the game. Take a page from Duolingo's book—they focused on their Current User Retention Rate (CURR) and saw huge growth in daily active users. By prioritizing features and improvements that keep your existing users coming back, you can drive up your MAU.

Another effective strategy is to engage users through personalized communication across multiple channels. Tailor your messages and make use of emails, push notifications, and in-app messages to keep users interested and encourage them to interact with your product regularly.

Don't forget the power of data analysis and A/B testing. By segmenting your user data and running experiments, you can uncover valuable insights into user behavior and preferences. This information can guide your product development and marketing decisions, helping you optimize user engagement.

Reducing friction in your product is also key. Simplify user interactions—minimize the number of steps needed to use features, and provide easy starting points for content creation. The easier it is for users to use your product, the more likely they are to stick around.

Finally, consider building a strong community around your product. Fostering connections among your users and aligning community programs with your business goals can lead to increased engagement and loyalty. And as we all know, loyal users drive MAU growth!

Closing thoughts

Understanding and effectively leveraging MAU is essential for tracking user engagement and driving product growth. By accurately defining your active users, consistently measuring MAU, and implementing strategies to boost it, you can ensure your product thrives in the market. Don't forget to combine MAU with other metrics like DAU and WAU for a fuller picture.

If you're looking for more insights on how to measure and improve MAU, or how Statsig can help you make data-driven decisions, check out our resources here. Hope you found this useful!