- Report finds that users are not loyal to apps – they give up brands quickly when the user experience breaks
- Bad popups are not harmless irritations, they are silent customer killers that your analysis may be missing
- Half of users ignore popups completely and older users voting them most out
In the fast world of digital products, expectations are high, patience is limited, and brands invest heavily in aesthetics, slim interfaces and gamified user travel. Still, what actually drives users away is often much simpler and far more devastating.
Research from amplitude has demanded intrusive popups, frequent crashes, small unreadable text and unclear privacy settings are now large rocker points that make users delete apps completely.
Some developers claim that popups are a necessary evil for revenue generation, but as the report found, customer behavior tells another story.
Popups are intrusive and mostly poorly executed
Over half of app users (54%) ignore popups completely and only 46% have ever responded to one. Engagement varies dramatically across generations, with 53% of Gen Z users saying they have traded on a popup, compared to only 17% of boomers.
“This is a clear signal that people want popups that are better timed, less intrusive and more relevant to their unique needs – and this is especially important for older generations,” said Lee Edwards, Vice President, EMEA at amplitude.
The data suggests that popups are not in itself ineffective; Rather, they are often wrong, disturbing or irrelevant, as poorly placed campaigns erode confidence instead of running conversions.
But it’s not just about popups. When apps slip or freeze, the consequences are immediate. Over a third (35%) of users will give up an app within minutes of not working, while 10% don’t even give it that long.
User loyalty is rare: Only 16% of users bother to report problems or contact support, while 58% simply leave, never to return.
In addition to BUGS, poor design choices add to user frustration. Almost half (45%) of users who have come across defective design say it made them feel “furious”, with the number rose to 59% among millennia and Gen Z.
Small text, creating forced account and confusing navigation all contribute to the problem – especially older users are especially frustrated with unreadable text, a problem that worsens when designers optimize exclusively to modern devices, without considering accessibility on older or smaller screens.
What users overwhelming wishes are reliability. An eye-catching app is meaningless if it cannot deliver a stable experience-and actually prefers 85% of users a regular looking app that works consistently over a beautiful breaking.
To remain relevant, apps must earn their place on a user’s device, there is no room for mediocrity. Even promising concepts such as “Super Apps” that combine messaging, shopping, banking and more, appeal to only 41% of users.
In the end, brands that hope to build loyalty should go beyond analyzes dashboards and deeply explore how real users interact, where they are fighting and why they leave.
