What are daily active users and what is a good DAU?

Daily Active Users (DAU) is a crucial metric for understanding user engagement and retention on digital platforms, representing the number of unique users who interact with an app or website daily. DAU can vary significantly across industries, with social media and gaming platforms typically seeing higher DAUs compared to ecommerce or productivity applications. The DAU percentage, or the ratio of unique daily users to total users, is an important indicator of user engagement, closely related to the concept of "stickiness," which measures how many users return daily relative to monthly users. Factors such as industry, user behavior, seasonality, and user retention strategies can all impact DAU figures. Improving DAU often involves enhancing user experience, conducting targeted marketing, and providing valuable content. While DAU is a valuable performance measure, it should be considered alongside other metrics like retention rate for a comprehensive understanding of a platform’s success. Monitoring DAU trends can reveal insights into user behavior and help drive strategic improvements, as exemplified by companies like Slack, which used user feedback and a freemium model to enhance user experience and grow its user base.