by Alex Gutman

The Future of Mobile Advertising

Peering into our mobile crystal ball we witness the embrace of mobile devices at a record high and it showing no signs of letting up. Mobile advertising is also becoming a given part of the mobile user experience and part of any conversation in the marketing sphere. The sheer evidence of how mobile device sales are booming globally coupled with how they have become an intrinsic part of the global lifestyle is enough to instill excitement in marketers of brands large and small. While the future is a bright one for marketing, there are quite a few challenges. Below we will cover some of these challenges as well as the bright future we, like many see in the mobile advertising space.

In a recent study by IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) entitled “Marketer Perceptions of Mobile Advertising” done in conjunction with Industry research powerhouse Ovum, 300 US companies, highly active in the mobile advertising space were surveyed. A chart reflecting their findings on the challenges facing marketers is below.

The findings reflected in the chart above are not particularly surprising. However, they do pose credible obstacles and highlight the importance and challenges for mobile app advertising, as indicated in the 1st table, for the mobile advertiser.

The best marketers though are a gritty bunch, willing to get their hands dirty, persevere through the most severe challenges and refine their strategies till they reap success.
As depicted above, the allocation of budgets to mobile advertising spend are heading northward, with nearly 75% of those surveyed seeing their future mobile ad budgets increasing.

Next, we will share this chart from the survey. What are the goals of those mobile advertisers surveyed?

What you’ll notice from the above chart is that lead generation is not an imperative as it has been in the past. Mobile users are becoming more savvy and with screen sizes getting smaller and smaller, it will be harder for them to fill out a form which will result in increased difficulty in filling them out. For a mobile advertiser, just knowing this will make it easier to make decisions regarding their customer engagement strategy and fulfilling their marketing goals.

In an even more recent study released just a few days ago, Juniper research reported that mobile advertising will increase over 300 percent over the next five years. This will take it from approximately 13 billion dollars (USD) today to a bit less than 40 billion dollars by 2018. There are those that see this number to be a bit conservative, with the growth being much greater.

Let’s take a look at some data that will help you deduce that strong assumption

Over a 12 month period that ended in July 2013, Facebook went from having nearly no revenue from mobile advertising to just over 40%. Another report from just last week by The Search Agency reported that 1/3 of paid Google clicks come from mobile devices.

Take a look at the pie chart below with Juniper’s predictions for 2018 on total mobile ad spend, split by messaging, ringback, in-content and mobile content.

Based on the fact that approximately 70% of revenue coming from mobile ads is split between smartphones and tablets, it is safe to say that the mobile era is here.

And based on the success noted above by Google and Facebook, the two largest companies in the mobile ad-selling business, by 2018, $40 billion dollars will most definitely be surpassed a lot quicker than predicted.

Juniper also predicts that mobile in-app ads will be the area of fastest growth in mobile and a huge but smaller portion for messaging where apps such as WhatsApp and Line generate huge revenue, and another large chunk will be for mobile internet. India will prove to be the fastest growing region with growth of over 400% by 2018.

What are your feelings about the future of mobile advertising? How do you provide the best mobile user experience to increase ad revenue? Any case studies to share? Please feel free to chime in, in the comments section below. Stay tuned for our next post with more news from the mobile frontier.

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

12.18.13

by Alex Gutman

Retail Apps: Top UX Examples

When it comes to native or hybrid apps, designing a user experience that will empower users to access information regarding what they need when they need it is key in having them become loyal customers. This applies across the mobile device world.

When building the ultimate UX, there are a lot of questions that must be answered by designers regarding device usage and how they can answer the users’ needs with both native apps and hybrid apps. For focus we will stick to these two types of apps for this post in bringing you images of the best UX app designs and what makes them achieve the highest customer conversion rates.

Banana Republic

Above take a look at Banana Republic’s high converting hybrid app. BR uses the same design for both the iPhone and Android.

The App gives users the ability to find, save, share and buy the products whenever and wherever it is most convenient for them. Users can also browse all the latest fashion in all the categories with detailed product information and gain access to if the product(s) is available. The ability to Scan barcodes in the physical stores to search for sizes and alternate colors also adds value to the user experience. The app saves credit card information so all checkouts are streamlined, quick and easy. Users also have the ability to email products to wherever they please.

ASOS

Above we provide you with another great example of a retailer that makes amazing use of mcommerce. Sales for ASOS have increased over 800% in one year since the launch of their mobile site.

Discovering fashion online is Asos’ mission with this nifty app. Users can shop after they are given the ability to search, browse and buy from a collection of thousands of different apparel items. Content is rich with a video catwalk of select items. Users can also share products via the most popular social media channels. All payment methods available via the desktop are available via the app. All these things plus more contribute to a very rich user experience.

Amazon UK

As it did with eCommerce, Amazon jumped on the mobile train early and has made mobile sales north of £650,000 for the past 3 years. Using excellent design, the app offers some amazing features that empower users with excellent search capabilities. Customers can scan a barcode in a store and the app will remember it for later using a shopping comparison tool. The app also offers one click purchases, wishlists and recommendations that mobile shoppers just love and the app is the epitome of sound customer engagement strategy.

Walmart

Walmart’s redesign of its’ home screen can help users shop and save. An Interactive local ad is highlighted where users can page through an ad and just tap the items to get more info about them. Users can easily view store rollbacks, learn about new products, get push notifications and get info about all the store events.

Lowe’s

Lowe’s app includes a Product Locator that users can utilize to find an item that is in stock on a map of a users’ specific Lowe’s store. The user can map washrooms, aisle info, service desks and other areas of interest.

Barnes&Noble

The B&N Bookstore app makes the perfect companion for book lovers who want easy and quick access to the universe of books. Using the app users can shop for millions of DVDs, books or music. Users can find the store nearest to them, get the latest on store events as well as directions. Award winning content is also served up to keep customers engaged and keep coming back for the best user experience.

Check back here soon for more great insights from the world of mobile.

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

12.12.13

by Alex Gutman

Top Ten MCommerce Apps to Ring in the Holiday and New Year!

It’s that time of year again and in your never ending pursuit of increasing customer conversion, we bring you a list of some of the top shopping apps of 2013. We suggest you utilize these mcommerce apps for hints on how to increase engagement in the mobile user experience.

iOS

Sift

Sift is a cool free app made for shoppers. And it’s just in time for the Holidays. It really
makes it easy to shop for your friends and loved ones by finding products that are both unique and thoughtful while still keeping brand loyalty. In one app you are connected to the sales trends and happenings at all the largest retailers. With Sift you’re always being connected to new stores to allow you to express who you are via gifting.

iOS

Jifiti

This app’s tagline is “it is the gift that counts”. Whether it’s Christmas, Hanuka, or an old friend’s birthday, this app will allow you to hand pick gifts that will never be retired to the salvation army or gifted to someone else. The app is taking off with people who like giving and receiving thoughtful gifts.

iOS/Android

ShopKIck

If discount shopping is your thing then ShopKick is for you. You don’t even need to purchase anything. The app rewards shoppers just for stopping by. Points, known as “kicks” are accumulated when you walk into a store. Window shopping at it’s best when you can redeem these gift certificates at prominent retailers such as Tiffany’s and Macy’s. Don’t come back from Window Shopping empty handed ever again.

iOS/Android

ebay now

Last minute shoppers have an online retail home. Hurry up because until Dec. 24th, eBay is offering free same day delivery from stores nearby. Use this app to buy whatever is retailing at physical stores.

No need to wait, the app will let you know when your valet is on their way with your order. How’s that for last minute!

iOS/Android

ShopSavvy

This app is useful for those of you shoppers who like to do some comparison shopping. It gives you the power to scan items and comparison shop before getting on that register line. There is a map, so shoppers can do some calculations to see if it’s actually worth the trip to go somewhere else to get a better deal.

iOS/Android

Flipp

Have you just had it flipping through ad circulars to try and find what you want? Flipp has scanned searchable versions of those ads circulated by the biggest stores. It keeps the familiarity of what you are looking for while giving you the ease of flipping at your leisure.

iOS

RetailMeNot

This app allows you to search coupons from most of your favorite retail outlets. With this app you can save 10, 20 or even 30% on one item or apply savings to your entire shopping cart.

Scroll through a list of hot deals on the home page or do a search to find a specific store. Add your favorite stores to a list and they’ll pop up quickly. Using location-based search, it will show you the best deals in your physical locations.

iOS

Coupons by Shopular

Coupon lovers, this app is so for you. Get all the latest coupons at stores near you that you can organize. Then, get notified when you are near stores where those coupons are valid. It is free of signing up or anything else. Most importantly, you don’t need to search.

iOS/Android

Retale

Retale is another handy app that allows you to peruse circulars at all your favorite big name stores. It can alert you when your favorite stores are running sales. Feel free to search for individual products, make a shopping list, save your favorites, find out when a sale is about to end. You won’t need to clip any more coupons with this app.

iOS/Android

BuyVia

BuyVia is a great app that includes a variation of other great apps in this post. Create a list of your favorite stores and products. These stores can be physical, online or both. All deals you are presented with are searched according to your specifications. You will be alerted whenever an item is dropped in price or goes on sale. All your information is secured in the cloud so you can access it from anywhere.

Come back soon to read more that will help you shape your customer engagement strategy.

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

12.04.13

by Alex Gutman

Get Ready for 2014 with Some Insightful Mobile Stats

Out with the old and in with the new. 2013 isn’t over quite yet, but we thought we’d share this collection of insightful stats with y’all. This compilation of infographics and expert research data is sure to have an effect on how you plan your customer engagement strategy.

If you have any of your own stats you’d like to share, please do so in the comments section below.

Here is just a teaser of the stats we will be presenting:

More than 2 billion mobile devices will be shipped globally in 2013
The Adoption of Mobile is Growing 8 Times as fast as the web did in the early 90s and new century
Mobile Commerce Growth
Percentage of Mobile Advertising influence
And MUCH MORE!!

To start off this stat presentation we bring you this amazing infographic which focuses on an awesome combo of mobile adoption,vendors, platforms, mcommerce and more that can help you tailor the mobile user experience.

The following stats are brought to you by Gartner, a world renowned research firm. They focus on global Smartphone sales.

Mobile Commerce and Engagement Stats

56% of American adults are now smartphone owners. (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2013)
75 percent of Americans bring their phones to the bathroom. (Source: Digiday, 2013)
Mobile now accounts for 12 percent of Americans’ media consumption time, triple its share in 2009. (Source: Digiday, 2013)
27% of companies worldwide planned to implement location-based marketing in 2013. (Source: Econsultancy, 2013)
Of the 70 percent of shoppers who used a mobile phone while in a retail store during the holidays, 62 percent accessed that store’s site or app and only 37 percent of respondents accessed a competitor’s site or app.. (Source: ForeSee, 2013)
Retailers’ apps with store mode gather five times more engagement. (Source: Point Inside, 2013)
Last year, only 12% of consumers bought anything through social media. (Source: PwC, 2013)
By the end of 2013, there will be more mobile devices on Earth than people. (Source: Cisco, 2013)
46% of showrooming shoppers still ended up making a purchase in-store, an 11-point increase from 2011. (Source: Pew, 2013)
The number of US mobile coupon users will rise from 12.3 million in 2010 to 53.2 million in 2014, driven by the rapid adoption of smartphones. (Source: eMarketer, 2013)
Retailers’ apps take up the most of consumers’ time at 27%, followed by online marketplace at 20%, purchase assistant at 17%, price comparison at 14%, and daily deals at 13%. (Source: AdMedia Partners, 2013)
Consumers spent six times as much time in retailers’ apps in December compared to a year earlier. (Source: Flurry, 2013)
25% of international media and marketing executives see mobile as the most disruptive force in their industry. (Source: AdMedia Partners, 2013)
65% of U.S. shoppers research products and services on a PC and make a purchase in-store. (Source: Cisco, 2013)
54% use or would like to use digital touchscreens in-store. (Source: Cisco, 2013)
48% use or would like to use a smartphone to shop while in-store or on the go. (Source: Cisco, 2013)
80% of smartphone owners want more mobile-optimized product information while they’re shopping in stores. (Source: Moosylvania, 2013)
Nearly 50% of shoppers believe they are better informed than store associates. (Source: Motorola, 2013)
Mobile and desktop usage could achieve parity inside a couple of years if both maintain a consistent trajectory. (Source: eMarketer, 2012)
40% of shoppers consult 3 or more channels before purchase, compared to 10% in 2002. (Source: Conlumino and Webloyalty, 2012)
43% of U.S. adults have participated in showrooming. (Source: Harris Poll, 2012)
One-in-five consumers are now showrooming. (Source: Aprimo/Teradata and Forrester Research, 2012)
Within five years, half of today’s smartphone users will be using mobile wallets as their preferred payments method. (Source: Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group, 2012)
Time spent with mobile apps starting to challenge television: consumers are spending 127 minutes per day in mobile apps–up 35 percent from 94 minutes a day in the same time last year–and spend 168 minutes watching television per day. (Source: Flurry, 2012)
24% of consumers used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site over Thanksgiving & Black Friday up from 14.3% in 2011. (Source: IBM, 2012)
Cyber Monday sales up 30% and mobile sales up 96% since 2011. (Source: National Retail Federation, 2012)
Holiday sales expected to reach $54.47 billion, up 16.8% over 2011 levels. (Source: eMarketer, 2012)
Mobile searches related to restaurants have a conversion rate of 90% with 64% converting within the hour. (Source: xAd and Telemetrics, 2012)
4 out of 5 consumers use smartphones to shop. (Source: comScore, 2012)
Mobile Marketing Association study finds mobile ads should account for 7% of marketing budgets. The space is currently seeing spends around 1%. (Source: Marketing Evolution, 2012)

Mobile is worth the investment.
Globally, there are over 1 billion consumers who use smartphones on a daily basis. The second and more dynamic Internet Revolution is upon us and is changing the landscape of business, pleasure and personal lives everywhere. Organizations must quickly embrace this new mobile mindset and prioritize if they want to keep up and shape the ultimate end user experience.

We hope you found this post helpful and invite you to check out our next one in the coming week. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

11.27.13

by Alex Gutman

Increasing your Mobile App Conversions

While mobile conversion rates are a rising force, they still lag behind conversions on larger footprint devices such as desktops, laptops and tablets. As you might imagine, this is inherently due to the size of the screen. Less space. Less functionality.

But, as with everything else in the realm of E-commerce, there are always ways to improve the mobile user experience so that your visitors will convert. There are quite a few successful case studies out there, including some from our own customers that we wanted to share with you, so that you can take some leaps towards that mobile conversion pot of gold.

Keep it Simple
The whole idea behind motivating people to convert comes down to one basic thing. Give them what they want instantly by making it easy to search and navigate and they will click on your call to action faster. This might not sound so profound, but believe it when you hear it, most mobile apps look like they were designed for a desktop screen. If you visit the mobile site of any large hotel chain for example, you will find it easy to book and pay for a room. Simplify the process and watch them convert. And keep coming back.

Below is an example of a hotel mobile app where Choice privilege members can book a reservation in just three clicks. When done, they receive an email confirmation instantly. They further save the customer’s preferences such as no-smoking rooms or double bed for future bookings.

Use LARGE Images
We all know that on most devices, there is not a lot of screen real estate to play around with, but by utilizing what you have while contrasting sharp, clear images on a white background, you stand to wow the customer. Try to use as much of the screen as possible with an easy way to navigate. We know it’s tough but it can be done. Check out the mobile images of some large retailers to get a sense such as the one below from a popular retailer’s Mobile site.

Place Search Functionality at the TOP
Your Mobile users are most probably looking for something specific when on your site, so make it easy by putting the search box on top and labeling it clearly.

Make your Call to Action Prominent
Again, your space is limited so use it wisely. Place your call to action in a prominent part of your screen. Make your CTA button big and colorful and make it easy to click on. Include lots (well, as much as possible) of white space around it to prevent mistaken clicking and strong wording. Most conversion experts recommend a button that is 44×44 pixels as large enough.

You’d be surprised, but a millimeter to the left or the right can increase or decrease conversions, so the best thing to do is test. As with all mobile app functionality, the best way to do this is by using in-app analytics to conduct usability testing that empowers you to see what your users are seeing with such tools as live recordings.

A No-Friction Checkout
People shopping on mobile are generally more impulsive and have less time than desktop users. Make the checkout process as fluid as possible.

Put some thought into how you would want to check out. One thing you should NOT do is force registration. This is the primary reason for cart abandonment. It’s OK to ask for an email, but do it in such a way that is not imposing and use the right wording. Offer as many ways to pay as possible and for returning customers, saving their payment details in a secure fashion will keep your customers coming back.

How are your conversions? What makes your customers buy? How do you enhance mobile usability? Do you use an in-app analytics tool? Please share your conversion experience. We’re all in this together. Hope to share more insights from the mobile world with you next week! Happy Thanksgiving!

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

11.20.13

by Alex Gutman

Mobile Blogs: The Appsee Top 10

We recently took a poll of our subscribers on some of their best reading outlets. For mobile industry news, we tallied their votes and compiled this list of top 10 mobile blogs. We hope it will add value to your mobile knowledge. Feel free to share!

TechCrunchMobile
This site is a subset of the TechCrunch site dedicated to bring you the hottest new mobile products and ways to perfect your customer engagement strategy.

Inside Mobile Apps
The best and the brightest mobile developers stay in the know about the latest mobile and social platforms, technical and business info that can affect mobile development and entrepreneurship in the space. The site also provides the latest legislative news.

Engadget Mobile
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in tech and has a special section dedicated to everything mobile including such topics as design and customer analytics.

Enterprise Mobility Forum
This forum is brought to you by the Enterprise mobility foundation. The foundation’s mission is to act as a builder within the global community as well as an evangelist in showcasing the value of the successful deployment and management of mobility solutions by organizations within the private and public sectors.

IntoMobile
The site delivers the latest breaking information, news and analysis on mobile phones and technology. The site caters to early adopters, mobile professionals as well as tech consumers and enthusiasts.

TheNextWeb
One of the web’s largest publications, TNW offers it’s readers an international look on IT, culture, business and has a special section on mobile including such insights on the mobile user experience, apps, stats and more.

Google Mobile Blog
News and Notes from the Google mobile team.

Boy Genius Report
BGR: The leading mobile and technology news source for breaking news, reviews, insights and opinions.

Mobile Gadgeteer
Professionals are doing more today on the go than ever before. Matthew Miller and Joel Evans provide you with news, commentary and in-depth reviews of the latest in mobile gadgetry such as iPads, Android tablets, cutting edge smartphones, portable gaming.

Mobile Industry News
News and opinion for industry executives and mobile fanatics.

What is your mobile news source? Do you have one or a combination? Feel free to post your favorite sites for fresh and exciting mobile news. Check back in next week for more news from the mobile frontier.

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

11.14.13

by Alex Gutman

Maximizing your Mobile App’s Visibility

In the film Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character utters the famous line “If you build it, they will come.” It might have sounded good in the context of America’s favorite pastime but in the context of the mobile app world, it could lead you (And your App) down the road to nowhere.

200-aplikasi-diunduh-dari-apple-app-store-tiap-detiknya

Image source: Apple

Lots of app makers out there think of themselves as pioneers, visionaries, but much of the time their strategy in building their app without any strategy to market it sets them back. Sometimes for good. It really is not difficult. Below are some tried and tested strategies for getting your app noticed by those that matter to you and adding value to the end user experience.

App review sites
If you Google App review sites, you will get tons in your search. Pitch your app to sites and they can generate a lot of buzz if they mention it in a review.

PR
Getting press is by far the best way to generate a lot of noise for your app. When you’re able to tell a story about how your app came about, writers and their audiences will love it. An app is a product, so it only makes sense to use this strategy. With people sometimes lost in the world of apps, make yours stand out with a great story. The story should be entertaining and find a practical spot in people’s lives and hearts.

What inspired you to create the app? Where were you when you thought of creating the app? What was your push to just go for it?!

Reach out to journalists in a personal fashion and show them that you know what they are writing about by perhaps mentioning an article they wrote in your pitch.

Content Marketing
By utilizing content such as a blog post, ebook, white paper or case study that steers your intended audience to your site, with a clear call to action that communicates how your app can help them, you can generate a lot of downloads. Implement as many sharing capabilities as you possibly can. Showing catchy videos with real people using your app or using real life situations will help you connect with your intended target more organically and will increase your video content’s virality. The power of video not only tells, but also SHOWS.

A major part of content marketing lies in email. Harness the power of your email list and include news about the app in your newsletter. People read a lot of emails on their phones, so include a strong call to action in your newsletter and make it easy for them to download.

Speaking Opportunities
Identify conferences to share your knowledge and establish yourself as an authority in your space. Perhaps it is in a niche market in the garment industry or you are an expert on the mobile user experience.

Encourage reviews
By getting your app’s users to review your app, you stand to increase the number of downloads. People are always looking for social proof. Highlight these reviews on your app page. Perhaps have them scrolling across your page above the fold.

Timing is Everything
When you are preparing to launch your app, make sure you see it as not just a launch but an event that is planned in order to get optimal exposure and kick off the momentum. You want to kick off your campaigns such as banners, content, PR and anything else all at once for maximum effect.

With PR, timing can be particularly powerful. To see your app reviewed in TechCrunch is nice but push to get it in TechCrunch, TheNextWeb and Mashable all at the same time and watch your downloads fly and gain attention of app market aficionados.

Make it FREE
They say the best things in life are free and with your app, it should be no different. You can always put a price on your app, but encourage downloading for free at launch. Your free promotion is newsworthy and should be communicated everywhere possible, with the goal being bringing your customers the best user experience.

What are some of your tried and tested app promo strategies? Please feel free to share and stay tuned next time for some more mobile news right here.

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

11.06.13

by Alex Gutman

Improving the User Experience via In-App Analytics

The mobile user on average has just over 40 apps on their smartphone. These apps run the gamut from gaming and social apps to media and retail apps.

Mobile traffic is increasing at a breakneck pace and will soon eclipse that of web traffic. The app is more and more becoming a way for brands, companies and services to define their customer engagement strategy. So, it only makes sense that it has become paramount to monitor and analyze how their apps are performing to ensure that they are delivering the ultimate user experience.

While investment in the development of mobile apps continues to grow, it would only make sense that businesses measure, monitor and analyze how their apps are performing, so that they can go back to the app drawing board and tweak as needed. Unfortunately, we are discovering that many of these organizations are not utilizing the mobile analytical tools that are out there.

Just as you wouldn’t operate a website without monitoring how your users are using it, so too should you be measuring how your users are using this other vital marketing channel.

It is imperative that you utilize an analytics tool that empowers you to monitor, measure and fully comprehend exactly how the user is interacting with your app, so you can improve the mobile user experience.

Below are just a few ways that you can do this. Choosing a tool, for example, with the following capabilities is crucial to your app’s success:

In-App Analytics - Gain detailed insights on the behavior of users

What screens are your users bouncing from?
See the navigation flow between screens.
What actions are users making on specific screens?
Where are users spending the most time within your app?
What are the top user actions?

Recording User Actions - Watch real user sessions

See the friction points users are experiencing on specific screens.
Why are your users quitting your app?
See why users are abandoning upon registration
How do loyal users interact with your app?
See the user sessions that crash.
What are the user’s demographics?
What platform/OS version are they using?

Touch Heatmaps - See where users are tapping, swiping and pinching in a detailed visual heatmap

Which calls to action are most acted upon? Which are ignored?
See which user actions the app is not responding to
Which screens are most used during their experience?
Which features are most used and which aren’t?
Are users tapping on images that aren’t action items?

By utilizing in-app analytics you can see actual sessions of what your users are seeing and how they are interacting with your app. This allows you to make UI decisions that will affect the UX of your app.

It is important to choose a tool that provides you with detailed graphs and visual presentations to empower you to make important decisions and improve the user experience. Comparing the User Experience across the different platforms and operating systems is important for your brand, so that you can deliver a consistent mobile user experience.

Problems occur when app publishers don’t pay attention to the friction points that users are experiencing and don’t track analytics that will allow them to issue updates that fix the problems. Many app publishers release updates just for the sake of releasing them and they don’t improve the user experience at all. Many times they confuse the user even more. Continuously striving to improve your app is key to increasing ROI. It also means you have a few chances to get it right.

The maintenance of your app is essential and it is a continuous process that requires attention based on user feedback based on understanding of the analytics at your disposal. Just like a brand’s other marketing channels, it is imperative to treat your apps the same way you are treating your email campaigns for example. Monitor, analyze, refine, update. Repeat if necessary.

What are some of the tools you use to improve the user experience? How is it working for you? Please feel free to comment in the section below. Please visit our blog again soon for some more insights from the mobile frontier.

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

10.29.13

by Alex Gutman

Mobile Infographics: The Magnificent 7

In the first of our series of Mobile industry infographics, we bring you 7 that show the diverse nature of the mobile world, the phenomenal growth and how mobile is changing the digital landscape.

People are more and more relying on their smartphone for everything from scheduling their kids’ soccer practice, checking up on the weather to booking flights and hotel accommodations. Check below for just some ways the mobile user experience is transforming the world we live in.

The use of mobile devices is increasing by the second. This should not come as a surprise, but what should be a slight surprise is how much search behavior is migrating from the desktop to mobile devices. Experts predict that mobile search will surpass desktop search by 2015.

Mobile devices today serve as a channel for communication to consume content, shop, make airline reservations and just about everything else. This shift from the desktop is of primary importance for businesses looking to tap into this ever growing segment.

Nowadays, it is extremely important to put yourself on the local search map. The next online pot of gold is local search and it is estimated that over 20% of searches utilize local keywords.

Ecommerce in the US is an industry that is ever-growing. Check out the infographic below that will provide you with some insightful data on the breakdown of customer engagement in retail.

In today’s world where the use of smart devices are rising at a dizzying rate, the opportunity has come knocking and the time has come to open the app door. You can perhaps make a lot of money by turning your ideas into reality and bring you and/or your business some added exposure.

The growth in online retail shopping is no doubt due to the purchases made directly from mobile devices. The smartphone has helped drive this growth in online shopping while the amount of retail transactions coming from the desktop is decreasing.

Mobile users are a demanding bunch. They expect certain things. Here is a breakdown by percentage of what they absolutely want from a mobile site. We hope the info below will help you implement a solid customer engagement strategy.

Have you seen any Infographics you’d like to share? Feel free to leave the link in the comments section below.

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

10.15.13

by Alex Gutman

Onboarding and the Mobile User Experience: Turning your Visitors into Users

You might have heard the expression “You only get one chance to make a first impression”. This very expression looms large over the mobile practice of onboarding when you are out to improve customer experience and convert them from a visitor to a loyal customer by delivering a quality experience.

Onboarding presents many challenges to app developers as they seek to develop ways to bring visitors on and connect them stronger to their app.

Unfortunately, there is no blanket practice for creating that experience that will grab your visitor and not let go. The things that may work for a web application will not work for a native app and vice versa. Balance is key for creating that experience for the new user.

Prior to attracting millions of people (or even hundred of thousands) who don’t know how they ever got by without your service, to use it, you need to deliver an experience that will connect them more strongly with your app. Building the entry ramp for people to use a service is key in every industry. However, in the ADD universe of mobile apps with distractions abound, competing and vying for the user’s attention is like pulling tired drivers off the highway to indulge in a special deal of donuts and coffee.

Below we will review some techniques that successful apps utilize to further enhance the experience for the new user.

Inline Hinting
One of the tricks of successful onboarding is to present the user with hints during the explore phase. This is when the user is checking out your app during their first few times.

When the user reaches a point in their experience that calls for a more in-depth explanation, they are shown information that will educate them. Progressive disclosure is what this concept is called.

By using this technique you are allowing the user to retain their freedom in the midst of their app exploration phase.

This onboarding technique begins with a quick tutorial. It then continues with inline hints on how to use the app’s UI.

YouTube Capture uses this technique as shown below. The app is simple so communication that is progressive is highly effective in this case.

Show on a NEED to KNOW basis
What needs to be shown to users is not a step they should take if they do this or that, but one showing them what they need to do next. In a nutshell, the next immediate step they need to take for using the app.

As shown below, the twitter app birdhouse does this extremely well. On the first screen it communicates to the user what the app is used for and on the second screen the one thing you need to know to use the app at the precise moment you need it.

Ensure App’s Context Visible

The magazine app Zinio utilizes the onboarding technique displayed above.

In this way, they are getting the user started. It provides a map of sorts to show the user the different areas of the app and what they do. Using arrows it shows the user the places where they can find what they’ll need to effectively use the app. In this manner the app is communicating a clear picture regarding how they can access what they’ll need and use it in their ongoing (you hope) use of the app.

We feel this is a great way to get the user started. If you show the user too much information on a screen that is poorly designed, an in-app analytics tool will more than likely report it.

Using an in-app analytics tool is key to customer experience improvement. With onboarding it is not just a nice to have. It is a necessity. The more you know what users want and where they are getting frustrated and encountering friction the more efficient and successful you will be in creating the ultimate user experience.

Onboarding is not an exact science and you need to take such factors as existing behaviors and demographics intertwined with psychology into play. It takes companies sometimes years to create that perfect on-boarding experience. The best way to is to test.

Feel free to comment below on any onboarding techniques you’d like to share that have worked for you.

Stay tuned for our next post on the mobile space.

Appsee Helps You Understand Your Mobile App Users

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