What is user stickiness?

What the ratio means

DAU divided by MAU answers a simple question: of everyone who used the product this month, what fraction used it today?

A ratio of 0.5 means the average user is present half the days in the month. A ratio of 0.05 means roughly once or twice. It is a measure of depth rather than reach, and it is one of the few metrics that cannot be improved by spending money on acquisition — new users raise both numbers.

The right target depends on the product

High stickiness is not universally good. It is good for products whose value depends on habit — messaging, social, tools used in daily work.

For a product with a naturally infrequent use case, high stickiness would indicate something has gone wrong. A tax tool, a travel booking service or an insurance app should have low ratios; engineering them upward means manufacturing engagement that does nothing for the user.

The honest question is not 'is our stickiness high' but 'does it match the frequency the job actually has'.

How to read a change

• Rising with flat MAU — the existing base is engaging more. Usually genuine improvement.
• Rising with falling MAU — casual users churned and only the core remains. Often mistaken for success.
• Falling with rising MAU — acquisition is bringing in less engaged users, which may be fine or may be a quality problem depending on their value.
• Segment by cohort and source, because a blended ratio moves for all three reasons at once.