The cost to acquire a loyal app user has surpassed the $3 (£1.95) mark for the first time, according to the latest Fiksu Indexes produced by the mobile marketing technology company.

According to the regular study by the company, the cost now stands at $3.09, a 10 per cent increase since last month and 113 per cent rise year-on-year, with the growth representative of a larger trend that reflects the expanding power of mobile marketing to reach app users.

Increases in costs and competition have both been observed in line with worldwide trends that are seeing mobile spending increasing globally, with mobile ad spend predicted to overtake web ad spending by 2016, and 75 per cent of ad spending for mobile occurring inside apps.

As the competition for the attention and loyalty of app users grows more intense, marketers are shifting from simple downloads to engagement as a metric for success, especially given stats that indicate many apps are only used once or twice by most consumers.

“As we enter another record-breaking month, brands must face the inevitable rising tide: mobile marketing is maturing and becoming more expensive,” said Micah Adler, CEO of Fiksu. “To stay ahead in this evolving market, marketers must continually adjust and take advantage of programmatic media buying methods to spend marketing budgets as wisely as possible.

“Sustainable success will be found by brands that use more precise forms of targeting to reach the right mobile users: those who will engage with an app and become loyal over the long term.”