Around 40 per cent of users would exit an app if they experienced a bug and over 50 per cent would abandon it completely if they encounter one or more problems per day, a recent survey by software testing company QualiTest Group found.

The report said the cost to a developer per install is around $2 and the cost per loyal user – those who have opened an app more than three times since downloading – ranges from $2.50 to over $4 in some cases.

Based on this, QualiTest Group believes: “developers are wasting large percentages of those substantial investments, $880,000 of a $1 million investment for 500,000 users, plus possible future revenue due to bugs that were not discovered during production.”

Men aged between 25 years and 44 years old were most likely to abandon an app completely, with 63 per cent saying they would ditch a service if they experienced a few glitches each month.

Ami Sterling, CMO of QualiTest Group, said: “In today’s competitive landscape, developers are spending millions on user acquisition and retention and losing large percentages of those investments due to user abandonment.”

“Quality is a key differentiator in determining an app’s success – investing in quality assurance leads apps to gain, retain, and profit from users rather than losing them,” he added.

Developers of apps with older user bases should note respondents aged between 35 years and 54 years old were more likely to exit an app after encountering issues.

The survey was conducted in April 2017 and was carried out in conjunction with Google Consumer Surveys based on a representative sample of around 1,000 respondents from the US.