Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Why Some Branded Mobile Apps Limit Engagement

This afternoon as I was making my way through my inbox, I came across a story in Media Post's Out to Launch email that struck me as something worth thinking about.

Here's a screenshot from the email:

For a long time I have worked on campaigns where "doing something mobile" is requested. Why does "doing something mobile" equate to creating a branded mobile app that has to be downloaded from an app store? Yes, app usage has soared. But if you look at the data, it's very specific app use. Comscore's US Mobile App Report from 2014 showed that total mobile app usage has surged 52 percent since 2013. Other interesting stats from the report include the facts that "the total number of app downloads is highly concentrated within a small segment of the smartphone population. The top 7 percent of owners account for nearly half of all app download activity in a given month. A staggering 42 percent of all app time spent on smartphones occurs on the individual’s single most used app. Nearly three out of every four minutes of app usage occurs on one of the individual’s top four apps." And as this Forrester article "Your Customers Will Not Download Your App states, "Most apps simply aren't compelling or convenient enough to outweigh the inhibitors of discovering, downloading, installing, and customizing them."

The idea of the campaign is fun. But making it an app to be downloaded from an app store automatically limits the number of people who will engage with it. Would the people who created it or signed off on it download it if they were the target. Doubtful. So why should Oscar Mayer's customers do it?

Unless your mobile app provides utility tied to your brand (like if you're a bank and you have a mobile banking app or your app is tied to payment and loyalty, like Starbucks), you won't see swarms of customers rushing to download your app. Just because mobile activity is up, doesn't mean that it requires an app to connect with the customer.

Mobile experiences can happen via web pages which will increase your viewability (and shareability) and if you build the experience to be responsive, well then you've just increased it even further. Building apps in silos like this is one of the many ways money is wasted on an idea that could have lived in a more dynamic environment that lead to greater sharing (or viral) potential. It's unfortunate.

5 comments :

Willy said...

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Cordelia said...

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Maria Lone said...

Very tech supportive presentation has been uplifted surely. With the rapid growth of technology and digitalized environment, mobile or cell phone functionality has reached a super upgraded level. Now there is hardly found the thing that is not possible through mobile phone. Users can enjoy numerous features and facilities by using this device. The reasons for limiting engagement you clarified were totally a good and educative read. I enjoyed your brilliant job though I was browsing for getting some online sources how to hire a hacker for ethical protection of my social and digital business protection.

Rose said...

Excellent focus. Today we can not even think of our day without having a mobile phone with us. Really technology made our communicative life so so easy, comfortable, and fast. Indeed there are huge mobile phone apps that have been innovated for different uses with a variety of functionalities and of course, some are with great uses and some are not as desired. The reasons behind the limitation of branded mobile apps engagements you highlighted were really very practical and thoughtful. Though my browsing intention was to make a list of phone case manufacturer companies near me, I was totally impressed with your good details.

Amanda said...

What a fantastic experience you shared! Great job. Not only mobile apps in dating but also it is on the growing stats in every business sectors today. To get or reach to any business goal or to make highest revenue to your business mobile apps can contribute much with it's latest technology that can ensures better user experiences, security, effective business dealings. Anyway, I got through your well-focused points and excited being able to understand why branded mobile apps limit engagements. That's really remarkable. Also I think google play store or apple store can ensure some especial security while customers intended to download any apps. Very recently adding artificial intelligence in mobile business apps, has brought a revolutionary change in the business industries. For more, I would recommend to take a look into Artificial Intelligence mobile app dev details.

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