Proactive in-app communications, whether they're tutorial-like in nature or the answering of customer inquiries change the nature of the customer's interaction with your app. Instead of just interacting with software, the app customer is interacting with a real person.

At Apptentive, we sometimes refer to this as the "helpful waiter" approach - when you're at a restaurant and your waiter is attentive and checks in with you occasionally, you feel good about the level of care taken by the business.

Similarly, a proactive approach towards asking the consumer about their experience produces a similar outcome, which encourages the consumer to use your app more often due to the establishment of an emotional connection.