Evaluating the Impact of Different User Engagement Elements on Software Applications

User engagement elements are important aspects of any software application. The presence or absence of these elements can have different levels of impact on applications’ success or failure. However, to the best of our knowledge, the presence or absence of these elements in successful and unsuccessful software applications has not yet been analyzed to help software engineers understand the impact each of these elements can have on applications. To fill this gap, in this paper, based on the reviewed literature, we have categorized the user engagement elements into eight main elements and evaluated them against 50 successful and unsuccessful software applications. Evaluation results indicate that utility, interactivity, and design quality have been highly used in successful software applications, while gamification, personalization, and social networking have been almost absent in unsuccessful applications. We have discussed the implications of these findings and given some recommendations for improving user engagement in software applications.