In-app engagement glossary

In-app formats

Bottom sheet

A bottom sheet is a panel that slides up from the bottom of a mobile app screen to present a choice, an offer or a confirmation. It covers only part of the screen, so the user keeps their place, and it closes with a swipe down, a tap outside or a button.

In-app formats

Coachmark

A coachmark is a step-by-step overlay that highlights parts of a mobile app screen, one at a time, to walk a new user through a feature or flow. Each step spotlights an element, explains it in a line or two, and moves on when the user taps next or performs the action.

Growth and fintech metrics

Cohort

A cohort is a group of users who share a starting point, such as the week they signed up, or a common trait, and are tracked together over time. Comparing cohorts shows whether newer users behave better or worse than older ones, which averages across all users tend to hide.

Growth and fintech metrics

Control group

Control group is another name for Holdout group.

A holdout group is a randomly selected set of users who are deliberately not shown a campaign, so its true effect can be measured against them. Comparing the exposed group with the holdout separates the lift the campaign caused from conversions that would have happened anyway.

Growth and fintech metrics

Customer engagement platform (CEP)

A customer engagement platform (CEP) is software that stores user profiles and behavioural events and uses them to run personalised messages across channels such as push, email, SMS, WhatsApp and in-app. Examples include CleverTap, MoEngage, WebEngage and Braze. Teams use a CEP to segment users and orchestrate lifecycle campaigns.

Growth and fintech metrics

Customer journey

A customer journey is the sequence of stages a user moves through in an app, typically install, onboarding, activation, habit and monetisation, along with the touchpoints they meet at each stage. Mapping it helps teams see where users stall and which message or experience would move them to the next stage.

Analytics and mechanics

Deep link

A deep link is a link that opens a specific screen inside a mobile app, such as a product page, an offer or a settings screen, instead of the app's home screen. Deep links are used in push notifications, emails, ads, QR codes and in-app buttons to take users straight to the content or action they expect.

In-app formats

Event-triggered campaign

An event-triggered campaign is an in-app message that fires because of what a user just did, or failed to do, rather than on a fixed schedule. The app tracks events such as a viewed product or an abandoned form, and the campaign appears at that moment to users who match its rules.

Growth and fintech metrics

Feature adoption rate

Feature adoption rate is the share of active users who use a specific feature within a set period after it ships. It shows whether a launch actually reached the people it was built for. A low rate usually means users haven't found the feature, don't understand it, or don't need it.

Analytics and mechanics

Feature flag

A feature flag is a conditional switch in an app's code that turns a feature on or off without a new release. The flag's value comes from a remote service, so a team can enable a feature for everyone, for a percentage of users or for one segment, and switch it off instantly if something breaks.

Growth and fintech metrics

Frequency capping

Frequency capping is a limit on how many times a single user can see a message, or any message, within a set period. Caps can apply to one campaign or across all campaigns. They keep in-app messaging useful by stopping the same users from being shown prompts again and again.

Growth and fintech metrics

Holdout group

A holdout group is a randomly selected set of users who are deliberately not shown a campaign, so its true effect can be measured against them. Comparing the exposed group with the holdout separates the lift the campaign caused from conversions that would have happened anyway.

In-app formats

In-app nudge

An in-app nudge is a small, contextual prompt shown inside a mobile app that steers a user towards one specific action without blocking what they are doing. It draws on nudge theory from behavioural economics: change the timing or framing of a choice, and more people make it, without anyone being forced.

Analytics and mechanics

In-app story

An in-app story is a set of swipeable, full-screen cards shown inside a mobile app, in the format popularised by social media stories. Users tap or swipe through images, short videos and text at their own pace. Apps use stories for announcements, feature education, offers and content discovery, usually opened from a row of circles on the home screen.

In-app formats

In-app tooltip

An in-app tooltip is a short label anchored to one element on a mobile app screen, such as a button or icon, that explains what it does. It appears once, or when a trigger fires, and disappears after the user taps it, dismisses it or uses the element it points to.

Growth and fintech metrics

KYC drop-off

KYC drop-off is the share of users who start know-your-customer verification in a fintech app but do not finish it. Those users have shown clear intent, yet cannot invest, borrow or transact until they are verified. It is one of the biggest leaks in fintech onboarding, and it is usually tracked step by step.

Growth and fintech metrics

Mobile moment

A mobile moment is the specific point in an app session when a user is most receptive to a message, such as right after a successful payment, on finishing a level or after saving a first item. Messages shown at these moments feel relevant because they follow directly from what the user just did.

In-app formats

NPS trigger

An NPS trigger is the in-app event that decides when a Net Promoter Score survey is shown to a user. Good triggers follow a success moment, such as a completed order or payment, rather than app open, so the user answers with a real, recent experience in mind.

Analytics and mechanics

Nudge fatigue

Nudge fatigue is the state where users ignore or dismiss in-app prompts by reflex because they have seen too many of them. Each extra tooltip, banner or popup gets less attention than the last, until even useful messages are closed unread. It is closely related to notification fatigue, which describes the same effect with push messages.

In-app formats

Opt-in prompt

An opt-in prompt is the operating system dialog that asks a user to allow push notifications or another permission, such as location or camera. The app cannot change its wording or design, and on iOS it can be shown only once per install, so choosing the right moment matters a great deal.

In-app formats

PiP video

PiP video, short for picture-in-picture video, is a small floating video window that plays in a corner of a mobile app screen while the user keeps browsing. Apps use it for product education, feature walkthroughs and promotions, because it shows motion and detail without taking over the screen.

In-app formats

Priming for push

Priming for push is the practice of showing an in-app message that explains the value of notifications before triggering the operating system's permission prompt. Because the system prompt can usually be shown only once, a priming screen asks first, at a relevant moment, and only users who agree see the real request.

Analytics and mechanics

Progressive disclosure

Progressive disclosure is a design approach that shows features, settings and information gradually, at the moment a user needs them, instead of presenting everything at once. Users see only what matters for the current task, and advanced options appear later, which keeps screens simple and makes complex apps easier to learn.

Analytics and mechanics

Retention curve

A retention curve is a chart showing what share of a cohort of users is still active on each day or week after they installed the app. It almost always drops steeply at first. Whether, and where, the curve flattens tells a team if the product has a core of users who keep coming back.

Analytics and mechanics

RFM segmentation

RFM segmentation is a way of grouping users by three signals from their transaction history: recency (how recently they bought), frequency (how often they buy) and monetary value (how much they spend). Each user gets a score on each dimension, and the combined scores place them in segments that campaigns can target differently.

Analytics and mechanics

Scratch card

A scratch card is a reveal-to-win reward mechanic in a mobile app. After completing an action, such as a payment or an order, the user gets a digital card and scratches it with a finger to uncover a reward like cashback, a coupon, points or a 'better luck next time' message. The uncertainty makes the reward feel exciting.

In-app formats

SDK event latency

SDK event latency is the delay between a user action in a mobile app and the moment the engagement SDK reacts to it, for example by showing a campaign. Low latency means the message appears while the user is still in context. High latency means the moment has already passed.

In-app formats

Server-driven UI

Server-driven UI (SDUI) is an app architecture in which the server sends a description of a screen, its layout, components and content, and the app renders it with native components. Because the screen is defined by data rather than compiled code, teams can change UI without shipping an app store release.

Analytics and mechanics

Spin the wheel

Spin the wheel is a chance-based reward game shown inside a mobile app. The user taps to spin a wheel divided into segments, each showing a prize such as a discount, cashback, points or free delivery, and wins whichever segment it lands on. The app sets the probability of each prize in advance, usually on the server.

Analytics and mechanics

Stickiness

App stickiness is a measure of how habitually users come back to an app. It is usually calculated as daily active users divided by monthly active users, the DAU/MAU ratio. A higher ratio means the average monthly user opens the app on more days, which signals that the app has become part of their routine.

Growth and fintech metrics

Streak mechanic

A streak mechanic is a counter in an app that tracks how many consecutive days or periods a user has completed a set action, and rewards them for keeping it going. It works through habit formation, since repeating an action daily makes it routine, and loss aversion, since users do not want to break a streak they have built.

Growth and fintech metrics

Suppression logic

Suppression logic is the set of rules that stop a message from being shown to users for whom it is wrong or badly timed. Typical cases are users who have already converted, users in the middle of a payment, and users who just saw a similar message. It decides whether a message should appear at all.

In-app formats

Triggered message

Triggered message is another name for Event-triggered campaign.

An event-triggered campaign is an in-app message that fires because of what a user just did, or failed to do, rather than on a fixed schedule. The app tracks events such as a viewed product or an abandoned form, and the campaign appears at that moment to users who match its rules.

Growth and fintech metrics

Variable reward

A variable reward is a reward whose size or outcome is uncertain until the user claims it, such as a scratch card or a spin wheel. Because the user does not know what they will get, the moment of reveal builds anticipation, which tends to drive repeat behaviour more than a fixed, predictable reward does.

In-app formats

Zero-release campaign

A zero-release campaign is an in-app change, such as a message, layout or offer, that a team ships and edits from a dashboard without a new app build or app store review. The app is set up once to render this content from the server, so later changes reach users directly.