These days, it seems every company or brand has its own app (or in some cases, several). What should you think about when creating a new app or optimizing an existing one to ensure that it can be found, used and driving revenue?
To answer these questions the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) hosted a Town Hall, “Future of the App,” June 4, 2014. Joe Laszlo, Senior Director of IAB Mobile Marketing Center, moderated a panel of industry experts who are also IAB members. The discussion was fast-paced and intelligent, peppered by questions from the audience and members attending remotely.
Here are seven takeaways:
1. The app’s dominance was born out of necessity.
Should it shock anyone that apps are now grabbing 86 percent of mobile users’ time? The early shift to apps began out of necessity. There was not enough bandwidth to support heavy or complex mobile websites early on; browsers were not optimized to support content on mobile devices; and thus mobile users were thankful to have content readily available offline. This early dependence on apps has remained.
2. Authentication on mobile web is another huge hurdle.
Authentication is a second functionality problem of the mobile web. When using an app, preserving a user’s login credentials or state is fairly easy. If they are accessing the content on mobile web, they typically need to re-enter their information whenever their IP address changes. The convenience of apps is more appealing.
3. ‘Featured’ status is everything for apps.
The ‘featured’ position for apps on Apple’s App Store and Google Play is helping apps thrive. The panelists agreed that hardly anyone is searching for apps on mobile web. When they go to app stores looking for a new product, they tend to pick up the first one featured with good reviews. Good reviews mean apps that don’t advertise can still make it to the top. Conversely, dollars spent marketing apps can fall flat.
4. Don’t be afraid to be specific.
The IAB panel highlighted the power of specificity when it comes to apps. Foursquare recently launched their new Swarm app as a social friend finder in order to be distinct from the original Foursquare app. Studying how people use apps already on the market can reveal patterns that drive better differentiation and more focused services.
5. Usefulness is the ultimate goal.
Frequent fliers naturally covet apps that allow them to check in, receive flight notifications and show mobile boarding passes. Likewise, the Starbucks app is an expansion of the company’s store footprint. It moves lines and allows people to get the product without wasting time. What could be more useful – and thus worth more of a company’s investment – than an app of this nature?
6. An app’s first impression is huge.
It takes more than having a useful mobile app for it to catch on with consumers. People prize simple registration and light advertising when they are in the market for a new app. By contrast, heavy-handed attempts at monetization usually backfire for companies.
7. Distinctions between apps and mobile web are disappearing.
If playing certain video games on the mobile web has that in-app feeling and apps seamlessly link between other apps and the mobile web, there may not be so many distinctions between the two these days. As the technology continues to develop, it seems likely these two mediums will become even more similar.