Mobile app user insight

TechFest 2014 Mobile User Insight: Guide to App User Success – Judd Wheeler August 15,2014
Mobile User Insight
Guide to Creating a Mobile App User
Success Story

Mobile User Insight
NOT
• How to create the next
Angry Birds
• How to beat the app store
• Programming 101
• In-depth analysis on
admission ticket
IS
• Give you the tools to make
informed app decisions
• View of the user from
different angles
• Address user needs

Financial Success Consumer Apps
Less than 0.01
Percent by 2018
Gartner

App Statistics (2013)
Smartphone App Statistics iPhone Android Blackberry Windows
Total app downloads 27,000,000,000 29,000,000,000 2,400,000,000 4,100,000,000
Percent of app users who have never paid more
than $1 for an app
45 % 62 % 63 % 58 %
Average number of downloaded apps per phone 88 68 49 57
Total number of apps in store
905,000
(1.2m)
850,000
(1.3m)
130,000
220,000
(300k-400k)
Total app store revenue in 2013 $6,400,000,000 $1,200,000,000 $550,000,000 $950,000,000
StatisticBrain.com

PLANNING

Better Features <> Success
• A better app doesn’t
always win
• Competition can squash
your business
• The app is only “nice to
have”
• No word of mouth
trigger
• Watch out for feature
creep.

Technology should never drive your objectives

How do you make $
• < 1% of apps are ‘Financially Successful’
• 90% of paid apps make less than $1,250/day
• $0.99 app makes < $ than in-app purchases
when free
• Free: 10x the download number of paid
• Free Candy Crush generates $946,788/day
Gartner

How do you make $
• 25% of businesses will have an enterprise app
store within the next three years
• Enterprise apps are expected to generate
around $40 billion of revenue by 2016
• 16% of worldwide developers are building
mobile apps for enterprises
Vision Mobile

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF
NEEDS

BASIC NEEDS
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Cell phone owners
Pew, January 2014
90%
58%
32%
42%
Cell Phones Smartphones e-reader Tablet
American Adults

Cell phones make things a lot
easier
65%
28%
26%
To stay in touch with the
people they care about
To plan and schedule their
daily routine
To be productive while
doing things like sitting in
traffic or waiting in line
Pew

Cell phone addiction
84% worldwide say they couldn’t go a single
day without their mobile device in their hand
Pew, August 16, 2012

The Phantom
67%
Of cell owners find
themselves checking their
phone for messages,
alerts, or calls — even
when they don’t notice
their phone ringing or
vibrating
Pew

Activities
Statistics on Mobile Device Users Data
Percent who said their mobile phone is the first and
last thing they look at each day 29 %
Percent who said they need to have the latest mobile technology 18 %
Percent who check their mobile device every 30
minutes or less 37 %
Percent who said they could only go a few hours without their mobile phone 34 %
Percent who said they prefer to communicate by text message 32 %
Percent who have asked someone on a date via text 20 %
Percent who say their mobile device make them better parents 65 %
Percent who would take their mobile device to
work over their lunch 66 %
StatisticsBrain.com

Activities
Percent Who Use Their Phone While Doing Another Task
Driving a car 32 %
Playing with my children 35 %
Attending a party 37 %
Eating at a restaurant 36 %
Watching TV 61 %
Riding public transportation 36 %
StatisticsBrain.com

Time on Apps
168
127
58
TV Flurry (smartphone and
tablet)
Experian (smartphone)
Time Spent

Usage
• As of May 2013, 63% of
adult cell owners use
their phones to go online.
• 34% of cell internet users
go online mostly using
their phones, and not
using some other device
such as a desktop or
laptop computer.

Changing Social Interaction
Younger versus Older
• Over 90 percent in every age group made fewer than 10 calls each day
• In the over 50 group, more that 80 percent send and receive fewer than
10 texts each day
• Young adults also use text messaging as their primary method of
contacting friends – over 80 percent report texting as their preferred
method
• Across the board, younger adults saw text messaging as more acceptable
than older adults
• This isn’t addiction - this is social interaction

Know your tablet users too
The tablet remains predominantly a consumer device.
As tablets are mainly used on a WiFi connection and at home, it is
arguable that they aren’t a mobile device.
• IDC (March 2014): 89 percent to consumers in 2013, 11 percent to
businesses.
The commercial percentage is expected to rise to 14 percent in
2014.
• ComScore (February 2013): 94 percent of tablet use is via WiFi.
• Consumer Electronics Association (October 2013): only 29 percent
of US tablets are 3G/4G capable, and as few as 15 percent tablet
owners subscribe to a data plan.
• Google (August 2012): tablets are mostly used at home as an
entertainment device

Great Product
5% Rule

UX/UI - Design
• Sweat the small stuff
• Never be cool for the sake of cool
• Easy flow of navigation

Kill the Baby: Less is More

Animate with Class

Touch is Magic

UI/UX
• one handed—49%
• cradled—36%
• two handed—15%

UI/UX
Users Switch How They Hold a Mobile Phone
“The way in which users hold their phone
is not a static state. Users change the way
they’re holding their phone very often—
sometimes every few seconds.”

UI/UX
“The 49% of users who
use just one hand typically
hold their phone in a
variety of positions.”
• right thumb on the
screen—67%
• left thumb on the
screen—33%

UI/UX
“Cradling is the term for using
two hands to hold a mobile
phone, but using only one
hand to touch the screen or
buttons.”
Cradling—with a
• thumb on the screen—72%
• finger on the screen—28%
Cradling—in the
• left hand—79%
• right hand—21%

UI/UX
“We traditionally associate
two-handed use with typing on
the QWERTY thumbboards of
devices like the classic
Blackberry or on slide-out
keyboards.”
Two-handed use—when
holding a phone
• vertically, in portrait
mode—90%
• horizontally, in landscape
mode—10%

SAFETY

Security
• Data integrity
• Privacy
• Spam
• Info only necessary for user’s experience

Quality Code Matters
The user doesn’t care if there is a good
reason why the app crashed

Support

How To

BELONGING

Build Connections
•Social
•Shareable
•Viral

Understand Your Customer
• People
• Not all users are the same

Track Everything
• Analytics is not a crystal
ball
• Data, data everywehre
• Wash, rinse and repeat
• Consistency is key

Metrics
• How many users? How many new?
• Where?
• What hardware/software are they using
• Does any segment stand out
• When are my app users most active
• Which features are the most used?
• Are users finding the features they need?

Metrics
• Is the new version of my app used longer than
the previous one?
• Ratings?
• Reviews positive?
• Are users sharing my app with their peers?
• When is my app being installed the most?
Why?
• Do we have bottlenecks and timeouts?

Metrics
• Which users are impacted most by quality
issues?
• Should I fix the problem now or wait for the
next version?
• Should I focus on improving the features used
most?
• Are there features nobody uses?
• When should I stop supporting legacy OS
versions

ESTEEM

Make it Personal
• Flexibility
• User preferences
• Navigation history

Build in a Feedback Loop
• Suit their growing needs
• Throw away pre-
conceived notions

Gamification
• Project management
• Loyalty
• Business goals

SELF-ACTUALIZATION
“What man can be,
he must be.”

Short Bursts

WOW Factor
• Unique
• Memorable
• Spontaneous
• Fun

App Discovery
• Incorporate into the usability of the app
• Use app data to optimize app discovery
• Solve a problem

Dynamic
• Continual updates/upgrades
• Iterative improvements over breakthrough
innovations
• Give users a reason to keep checking your app

What separates apps that make money and
those that don’t?

What separates the fortunate from
the failed?
• Developers whose apps earned at least
$50,000 spent an average of
– 14% of their total work time on publicity
– average marketing budgets of $30,000.
• More than half the overall group (failed)
– earmarked nothing for marketing
– used less then 5% of their time on that aspect
of the business
App Promo

Marketing
• Start early
– Huge launch is critical
• Make friends
• Build buzz
• Get featured
• Pitch the press
• Intelligence gathering
• Brand awareness - social
• SEO (backlinks)

App Store
90%
of app installs
10%
of the apps

App Store
• It doesn’t matter how good or original the app is,
it’s very likely only a few people will discover it
and install it
• App rankings are based on install velocity,
– so to rank high your app must generate a lot of
installs in a short amount of time.
• Being in the rankings can guarantee a quick burst
of installs,
– it won’t guarantee long-term success

App Store
• Snappy description
• Grade-A screen shots
• Optimize for search in the stores
• Ask friends to review
• Read and answer reviews

CHECKLIST

Checklist – Basic Needs
• Is your app simple?
• Does it solve a problem?
• Does it have one clear function?

Checklist - Safety
• Do you keep your user’s information private?
• Do they feel secure?
• Do you provide help?

Checklist - Belonging
• Can users communicate to other users?
• Can they share their status?
• Can they ask for help?

Checklist – Self-Esteem
• How well do you understand your users?
• Is the app personalized to the user?
• Do you measure/track everything?
• Do you have achievement levels set up?

Checklist – Self-Actualization
• Is the app unique? Memorable? Spontaneous?
Fun?
• Do you have an update/upgrade plan?
• Is there a sense of discovery?

WRAP UP

Judd Wheeler
Judd.wheeler@gmail.com
in/juddwheeler
@juddwheeler

Mobile app user insight

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