What Should You Check Before Spending More on Your App?

When was the last time you stopped to ask yourself if you're actually spending money on the right things for your app? I mean, it's easy to get caught up in the next feature, the next marketing campaign, the next big push—but here's the thing: throwing more money at your app doesn't guarantee better results. I've seen countless businesses pour tens of thousands of pounds into their apps without first checking if they're building on solid ground or just adding weight to a crumbling foundation.

The truth is, most app failures aren't because businesses didn't spend enough money. They fail because money got spent in the wrong places at the wrong time. Maybe you're funding new features when your existing ones barely work properly? Or perhaps you're ramping up user acquisition whilst your retention rate is terrible and users are leaving through the back door as fast as they're coming in the front. Its a bit mad really, but it happens all the time.

Before you invest another pound in your app, you need to understand what's working, what isn't, and where your money will actually make a difference.

Over the years I've worked with businesses at every stage of the app lifecycle—from pre-launch to massive scale—and the ones that succeed aren't always the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones who make smart, informed decisions about where to allocate their resources. They check their metrics. They listen to their users. They understand their technical debt. And most importantly, they know when to invest and when to optimise what they already have. This guide will walk you through the key checkpoints you need to review before making your next app investment decision; think of it as your pre-flight checklist before committing serious budget to your mobile product.

Understanding Your Current App Performance

Before you throw more money at your app, you need to know where you actually stand right now. Sounds obvious, right? But you'd be surprised how many businesses are making decisions based on gut feeling rather than actual data—and I mean, I get it, sometimes the data isn't easy to interpret or its buried somewhere in a dashboard nobody looks at.

The first thing I always check is whether the app is actually being used. Not just downloaded, but used. There's a massive difference between these two things; one costs you money to acquire, the other tells you if people find value in what you've built. Your daily active users (DAU) and monthly active users (MAU) give you a snapshot of whether your app has become part of peoples routines or if its just sitting there taking up space on their home screen.

Session length matters too. Are people opening your app and immediately closing it? That's a red flag. Or are they spending meaningful time inside, actually completing the actions you designed the app for? Short sessions aren't always bad—a banking app should be quick and efficient—but you need to know what's normal for your category and whether you're meeting that standard.

Look at your retention curves as well. How many users come back after one day? After seven days? After thirty? These numbers tell you everything about whether your app has genuine staying power or if you're basically just burning cash on user acquisition with nothing to show for it long-term. If your seven-day retention is below 10%, you've got serious problems that more marketing spend won't fix.

Checking User Engagement and Retention Metrics

Right, lets talk about the metrics that actually matter when you're deciding whether to pump more money into your app. I've seen companies spend thousands on new features whilst their existing users are leaving through the back door—it's a bit mad really. User engagement and retention data tells you if people genuinely want to use your app or if they're just being polite by downloading it once and never opening it again.

The numbers you need to look at aren't complicated, but they're often ignored because people focus on vanity metrics instead. Downloads look impressive on a pitch deck; they don't mean much if nobody's actually using what you built. Here's what I check first: Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU), then I look at the ratio between them. If your DAU/MAU ratio is below 20%, that's telling you something important about how often people find your app useful.

The Metrics That Actually Tell You Something

Session length and frequency matter more than most people think—they show whether your app has become part of someones routine or if its just something they remember exists when they're bored. Retention is where the real story lives though. Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 retention rates will tell you if you've built something people want to come back to or if you've just created digital clutter on their home screen.

Don't just look at overall retention numbers; segment them by user type, acquisition channel, and device. The patterns you find here will tell you exactly where to focus your investment next.

What Good Numbers Look Like

Industry benchmarks vary wildly, but here's what I typically see in successful apps across different categories:

If your numbers are significantly below these targets, spending more money won't fix the fundamental problem—you need to understand why people aren't sticking around before you invest in growth. I mean, it's like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it. Sure, you can keep pouring water in, but wouldn't it make more sense to fix the hole first? Actually, that's exactly what you should do with your app investment decisions right now.

Reviewing Technical Health and Infrastructure

Right, lets talk about the boring stuff that actually matters—your apps technical foundation. I mean, you can have the prettiest interface in the world but if your app crashes every time someone tries to check out or load their profile? You've got a serious problem on your hands.

The first thing I check when looking at an apps health is its crash rate. Industry standard says you should be under 1% crash-free rate, but honestly I like to see apps performing way better than that—closer to 99.5% or higher. If your crash rate is higher than 2%, you need to stop everything else and fix that immediately; users will abandon your app faster than you can say "but we're working on it." And here's the thing—crashes don't just annoy users, they actually hurt your app store rankings because both Apple and Google factor stability into their algorithms.

Load times are another big one. We know from years of data that if your app takes more than 3 seconds to become interactive after launch, you're losing people. Every second counts, literally. I've seen apps lose 20-30% of potential users just because their initial load was too slow.

You also need to look at your API response times and database performance. Are your backend services keeping up with demand? What happens when traffic spikes? I've worked with clients who thought they were ready to scale their marketing spend, only to discover their infrastructure would buckle under increased load. That's an expensive lesson nobody wants to learn the hard way. Check your error logs, monitor your server response times, and make sure you've got proper monitoring tools in place—because you cant fix what you cant measure.

Evaluating Your Monetisation Strategy

Right then—lets talk about money. I mean, that's what this is all about isn't it? You've built an app, people are using it (hopefully), and now you need to figure out if its actually making you any money or if you're just running an expensive hobby project. Before you throw more cash at your app, you need to take a proper look at whether your monetisation strategy is actually working. If you're struggling to determine reasonable costs for improvements, our guide on calculating your app development budget properly can help you make more informed decisions about where to allocate resources.

First things first: are you even charging enough? I see this all the time—developers who undervalue their product because they're worried about scaring users away. But here's the thing—if your app genuinely solves a problem, people will pay for it. You just need to make sure the value is clear. Look at your pricing compared to competitors; not to copy them, but to understand where you sit in the market. Are you the budget option or the premium choice? Both can work, but you need to know which one you are.

Understanding Your Revenue Streams

Now, different monetisation models work for different apps. In-app purchases work brilliantly for games and content apps, whilst subscription models are perfect for apps that provide ongoing value—think fitness tracking or productivity tools. Ad-supported models can work too, but bloody hell they need serious user numbers to make decent money. The key is matching your monetisation to your user behaviour. If people are opening your app daily, a subscription makes sense. If its more of a once-in-a-while thing? Maybe one-time purchases or strategic in-app buys are better.

The best monetisation strategy is the one that feels natural to your users and aligns with how they actually want to use your app

Take a hard look at your conversion rates too. If you're freemium, what percentage of free users are converting to paid? Industry averages sit around 2-5%, so if you're way below that, something's not right. Maybe your free version gives away too much, or perhaps your premium features aren't compelling enough. And don't forget to check your churn rate—are people subscribing and then cancelling straight away? That tells you they found what they needed or were disappointed. Either way, its a problem worth investigating before spending more on acquisition.

Assessing Market Position and Competition

Right—so you've looked at your numbers, checked your tech, and now its time to lift your head up and see what's actually happening around you. And honestly? This is the bit most people skip because they're too focused on their own app. But here's the thing—your app doesn't exist in a vacuum; it exists in an app store with millions of other apps fighting for the same users you want.

I've seen apps with solid technology and decent user experiences just completely fail because the founder never bothered to check what their competitors were doing. Or worse, they checked once at the beginning and never looked again. The mobile space moves fast. Really fast. What worked six months ago might be completely outdated now, and your competition isn't sitting still whilst you figure things out.

Start by downloading your top five competitors apps and actually use them—don't just look at screenshots. What are they doing better than you? What features do they have that you don't? How's their onboarding experience compared to yours? Check their app store ratings and read the reviews (both good and bad) to understand what users love and what frustrates them. You'd be surprised how much free market research is just sitting there in public reviews.

Look at their pricing models too. If everyone in your category has moved to subscription pricing and you're still charging a one-time fee, that tells you something about market expectations. Same goes for features—if all your competitors offer dark mode or biometric login and you don't, you're already behind in users minds even if your core functionality is better.

But here's what really matters: can you clearly articulate why someone should choose your app over the competition? If you cant answer that in one sentence, you've got a positioning problem that no amount of extra spending will fix. Before you throw more money at development or marketing, you need to know where you stand and what makes you different. Otherwise you're just adding features to an app that nobody has a compelling reason to choose.

Examining User Feedback and Support Data

Right, lets talk about something that a lot of companies ignore until its too late—what your users are actually telling you. I mean, you can have all the analytics dashboards in the world showing you pretty graphs and numbers, but nothing beats direct feedback from the people using your app every single day. The problem is, most teams collect this feedback but never properly analyse it before making big spending decisions.

Your support tickets and user reviews aren't just complaints to be dealt with; they're basically free research data telling you exactly where your app is failing or succeeding. If you're seeing the same issue mentioned repeatedly in your support queue, that's a massive red flag that needs addressing before you throw more money at marketing or new features. Actually, one of the biggest mistakes I see is companies spending thousands on acquiring new users whilst their support data clearly shows existing users are struggling with basic functionality—its mad really, like filling a leaky bucket.

What to Look For in Your Feedback Data

Start by categorising your support tickets and app store reviews into themes; you'll quickly spot patterns that your team might have missed. Look at these key areas:

• Frequency of specific bugs or technical issues being reported
• Feature requests that keep coming up (this tells you what users actually want, not what you think they want)
• Onboarding confusion—if people can't figure out how to use your app in the first session, they wont come back
• Payment or subscription issues (these directly impact your revenue)
• Performance complaints about speed, crashes or battery drain

But here's the thing—you need to look at response times and resolution rates too. If your support team is taking days to respond or can't solve common problems, that's telling you where to invest. Sometimes the best investment isn't a new feature; its hiring another support person or building better in-app help resources. I've seen apps turn around their retention rates just by improving their support experience, because users feel heard and valued.

Set up a monthly review meeting where you go through your top 10 most common support issues and most frequent feature requests—don't make investment decisions without this context, because your users are literally telling you what needs fixing.

Sentiment Analysis Matters

Look beyond just what people are saying and consider how they're saying it. Are your app store reviews getting more negative over time? That's a warning sign that recent updates might be going in the wrong direction. Are support tickets becoming more frustrated in tone? Your users patience is wearing thin, which means you're at risk of losing them to competitors. The emotional tone of feedback is just as important as the content itself when you're deciding where to allocate your budget—sometimes a small fix that reduces user frustration is worth more than a flashy new feature that nobody asked for.

Analysing Marketing Spend and User Acquisition Costs

Right, lets talk about money—because honestly, this is where I see most app owners making expensive mistakes. You might be spending thousands on Facebook ads or Google campaigns, but do you actually know what its costing you to acquire each user? And more importantly, do you know if those users are worth what you're paying for them?

I've worked with clients who were burning through £10,000 a month on user acquisition without having a clue whether those users were sticking around or generating any value. Its a bit mad really. The first thing you need to calculate is your actual cost per install (CPI) across each marketing channel; some channels might look cheap at first glance but deliver users who delete your app within 48 hours, whilst others cost more upfront but bring in people who become loyal long-term users.

But here's the thing—CPI on its own doesn't tell you much. You need to compare it against your customer lifetime value (LTV). If you're paying £5 to acquire a user who generates £50 over their lifetime with your app, that's brilliant business. If you're paying £5 for someone who never opens your app again? That's just throwing money away. Before committing to larger marketing budgets, make sure you have a clear understanding of your overall app development budget so you can balance acquisition costs with necessary improvements.

What I always recommend is tracking your metrics by channel for at least 30 days (90 days is better). Look at which sources are bringing you users who actually engage with your app, complete key actions, and stick around. Sometimes the most expensive channels deliver the best return, and the cheap traffic is basically worthless. You won't know unless you measure it properly though—and trust me, most apps aren't measuring nearly enough.

Validating Your Product Roadmap

Right, so you've got this massive list of features you want to build—I get it, we all do. But here's the thing: not every feature deserves your money or your time. I've seen companies burn through their entire budget building things nobody asked for, and its painful to watch honestly. Before you commit more cash to development, you need to make absolutely sure your roadmap actually makes sense.

Start by looking at what users are actually asking for (not what you think they want). Check your support tickets, read app store reviews, look at the feature requests that keep coming up again and again. If you're planning to build something nobody's mentioned? That's a red flag. Sure, sometimes you need to innovate ahead of what users can articulate, but most of the time the best features are the ones solving real problems people already have. If you're considering modern enhancements like machine learning capabilities, take a look at our guide on which AI features to prioritise to ensure you're investing in functionality that will genuinely benefit your users.

Does Each Feature Move the Needle

For every item on your roadmap, ask yourself: will this improve retention, increase revenue, or reduce churn? If the answer is no (or you're not sure), then why are you building it? I mean, some features are table stakes—you need them just to compete. But the expensive ones, the complex integrations and fancy AI features...they need to justify their cost with real business impact.

The best roadmaps aren't about building the most features; they're about building the right features in the right order

And here's something people often miss—your roadmap should align with your monetisation strategy. If you're planning to charge for premium features, are you building things people will actually pay for? If you rely on ads, are you improving engagement enough to justify the development cost? The maths needs to work out, basically. Run the numbers before you commit, not after you've spent the money.

Look—spending money on your app without checking these fundamentals first is like throwing cash into a black hole and hoping something good comes out. I've seen it happen more times than I care to count, and its always the same story; someone gets excited about adding new features or ramping up marketing before they've actually looked at what's working and what isn't.

The thing is, most apps don't fail because they need more money thrown at them. They fail because nobody stopped to ask the right questions before opening the wallet. Is your current user experience actually good enough to justify spending thousands on acquiring new users? Are people sticking around long enough to make that acquisition cost worthwhile? Is your infrastructure going to hold up under increased load, or will it crumble the moment you get a spike in traffic?

Here's what I tell every client who comes to me wanting to spend big on their app—slow down. Actually, just pause for a week and dig into your data properly. Check those engagement metrics; review what users are saying in their feedback; look at where people are dropping off in your funnel. Most of the time you'll find opportunities to improve what you've already built that will give you better returns than any new feature or marketing campaign could.

The apps that succeed aren't always the ones with the biggest budgets—they're the ones where every pound spent is based on solid evidence about what users need and what the app can realistically deliver. Get your foundations right first, then scale up. Trust me, your bank balance will thank you for it, and you'll end up with a much stronger product in the long run.