The mobile app opportunity: what every business leader needs to know
Mobile rules the world. Mobile apps more so.
Mobiles: everywhere and more used than desktops
0
700
1400
2100
2800
2013 2014 2015 2016
In the US, 92% of 18- to 29-year-olds own a smartphone
0
450
900
1350
1800
2012 2013 2014 2015
Desktop Mobile
Mobile users have eclipsed desktop users 2.8bn - global smartphone installed base
In the US, 92% of 18- to 29-year-olds own a smartphone
Source: Comscore
Mobile now represents almost 2 out of 3 digital media minutes
Source: Comscore
Hourly spend on mobile
Japan
UK
USA
China
0 5 10 15 20
4.29
4.33
11.03
18.42
2.01
2.36
4.6
13.98
Spend, in USD, generated by each hour of app use includes mCommerce, App Store and in-app advertising
Source: AppAnnie
In some countries, mobile users spend >1 hour per month shopping
South Korea
India
Japan
Germany
UK
USA
0 25 50 75 100Shopping Finance
Average minutes per month per user
Source: AppAnnie
Mobile apps are approaching 60% of total digital time spent
0
17.5
35
52.5
70
Dec 2014 Jun 2015 Dec 2015 Jun 2016
Mobile Mobile App Desktop
Source: Comscore
Smartphone app usage time is highest among millennials
0
25
50
75
100
19-24 25-34 45-54 55-64
55.6
78.885.6
93.5
40.7
73.182.5
90.6
Average Monthly Hours per Smartphone App Visitor by Age Source: Comscore
18-44 year-old males most likely ‘heavy app downloaders’ - test-drive at least 5 new apps each month.
13-17
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
0 35 70 105 140
Index High as Heavy App Downloaders Source: Comscore
Apps are integral to categories like travel & local
0
32.5
65
97.5
130
US UK Mexico Germany
May 2016 May 2017
70
75
80
85
90
US Mexico Germany Brazil
May 2016 May 2017
Average minutes per month per user in travel & local Percent of users who used at least one travel & local app
Source: AppAnnie
Mobile apps are re-defining the retail experience
• 71% of retail app users claim to enjoy shopping on their mobile devices.
• 57% of mobile users say they shop using mobile apps regularly (1x / week).
• 72% of mobile users claim mobile apps make shopping easier.
• 46% of users say they are more likely to shop using mobile apps than they are to shop online.
No. of mobile retail apps have on smartphone (US)
0
5.5
11
16.5
22
1 2 3 4 5 6-10 11+
Source: eMarketer
Mobile apps are re-defining the banking experience
• Mobile banking customers bring 72% more revenue than branch-only customers.
• Mobile banking customers have 2.3 product holdings compared to only 1.3 products for branch-only customers.
• “Customers with high mobile banking satisfaction are much more likely to recommend their bank to others as well as reuse a bank for another product than customers who do not use a banking app.”
Source: Forbes
For one minute of time spent on mobile web, seven minutes are spent on a mobile app.
13%
87%
Mobile app or Mobile web?
Source: Comscore
App audiences spend 20x more time on apps than mobile web visitors.
0
3
6
9
12
App Web
11.4
4
Average Monthly Unique Visitors (MM)
0
50
100
150
200
App Web
9.3
188.6
Average Monthly Minutes per Visitor
Key takeaway: building an app audience is not easy. But they are a lot more loyal than mobile web users
Source: Comscore
Top 1000 Mobile Apps vs. Top 1000 Mobile Web Properties
No access to device except geo location
Needs internet for access
Less expensive than mobile app to design & maintain
Hardware’s camera, microphone, accelerometer ,
GPS can be accessed
High level of personalisation possible
Superior user experience
More expensive than mobile web; custom coding, cross
platform
Mobile Apps offer better functionalities, user experience and engagement
Mobile Web Mobile App
Mobile apps: the challenges
1. Highest engagement apps - owned by a handful of companies with deep pockets
FB Messenger
YouTube
Google Maps
Google Search
Google Play
Gmail
Pandora
0 37500 75000 112500 150000
Top Mobile Apps by Unique Visitors (000)
Key Takeaway: Top apps fall into Utilities, Social. Entertainment and Retail - fulfilling some critical need of users
Source: Comscore
2. Nearly 50% of smartphone users don’t download any apps in a month, and the average user downloads two
51% 49%
0
15
30
45
60
676811
131 App2 Apps3 Apps4 Apps5-7 Apps8+ Apps Key Takeaway:
13% of smartphone owners account for more than half of all download activity in a given month.
Smartphone Users’ Number of App Downloads Per Month
Source: Comscore
3. Only a handful of apps are most often used
0
17.5
35
52.5
70
1 2 3 4 5
358
18
61
4710
18
45
Phone Tablet
Share of Individual Users’ Time Spent on Apps by Rank (in %)
Source: Comscore
So, what can app owners do to increase chances of success?
1. Build these critical factors into the app strategy
PROVIDE VALUE, RESOLVE A PAIN POINT
DELIGHTFUL USER EXPERIENCE
DESIGN TO ACCOMPLISH TASKS
1
2
3
Provide a unique value - a reason to use the app regularly. It could be solving a problem, offering entertainment, utility value etc.
Your app should be a delight to use - both from a design and functionality point of view. Personalise customer experience when possible
Help users accomplish tasks fast, the easy way
1. Build these critical factors into the app strategy
KNOW THY CONSUMER
USE ANALYTICS WISELY
ENCOURAGE REPEAT USAGE
4
5
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A deep understanding of consumer behaviour towards category & app usage is a must. E.g in data-poor countries, app size & phone capacity is a big deterrent
Adopt a data first mental model that is user centric more than business centric. Track app usage data to constantly improve
Use a combination of app features and push notifications to drive repeat usage
2. Work with experienced technology partners who add value
PRODUCT MINDSET
USER EXPERIENCE ARCHITECTS
SOFTWARE & DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE
Work with team who have experience & skill sets in developing beautiful and successful digital products
Partner with a team which has user experience architects driving the digital product design
A digital product is only as good as the experience and that can be delivered by engineers who know how to get things done.
How To Choose the Perfect Technology Partner
3. Follow rigour in the app development process
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Discovery: user insights
Storyboarding: app map
UX Prototyping: the mockup Extreme Engineering: coding Acceptance Testing
UI Design: look & feel Functional Testing
Image: Wired
What is it?
Messenger-like interfaces powered either by bots, humans or 'machine augmented human intelligence', meant to simplify predefined task(s)
Why popular?
Seen as easy and fun way to help customers achieve an outcome.
Pros:
Works well for most transactional interactions – ordering flowers, booking utility services, news
Cons:
Little scope to create a brand experience or immersive app usage. Not suitable for some categories
Chatbots
Key Trends: chatbots
• Siri is the first chatbot most people became familiar with. Apple created an easy to use chatbot to answer user questions
• Alexa is an intelligent personal assistant developed by Amazon, made popular by the Amazon Echo, that allows users to command many aspects of their home with the ease of simply saying “Alexa,” followed by the command.
• Google’s Allo has smart reply technology that learns the style of the user to formulate likely responses to friends to save time for the user.
Image: RoboTech Labs
What is it?
Inter-networking of physical devices which enable them to collect and exchange data.
Why popular?
They bridge the gap between physical and digital world; improve productivity
Use cases:
Smart homes, wearables, connected cars, smart retail healthcare and more
Internet of Things
Nest allows users to control their home thermostat and other devices from anywhere in the house or country
Amcrest WiFi Smart Plug give your wall outlets WiFi Connectivity scheduled tasks and shutdown timer utilities
Yale, the world’s largest lock manufacturer offers products that let you lock and unlock your home remotely. And it works with Nest.
ShotTracker is a system that uses wearable technology to track basketball team’s shooting success, giving insights into player strengths and areas for improvement
Internet of Things
What is it? inter-networking of physical devices which enable them to collect and exchange data.
Why popular? Aside from novelty, virtual reality has the potential to create immersive brand experiences.
Use cases: gaming, virtual tours, product demos, immersive brand experiences
Virtual Reality
What is it? a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view.
The next wave: the next version of Apple’s iOS 11 will make it easier for developers to create augmented reality experiences thanks to ARKit - a new frameworkUse cases: gaming,
utilities, product demos, brand experience, shopping
Augmented Reality
AR in the real world
Lowes: Guides Customers to In-Store Items via Augmented Reality
Location based services
• Snapchat is a perfect example of and LBS, as they have “Snapchat Stories” where users at the same location can add videos to a nationwide story for others to view. They also recently added “Maps” where users can see the locations of their friends.
• Tinder is a great example of an app that thrives on LBS. It allows users to match with each other as long as they are close enough based off location.
• Uber, a giant in the App industry uses LBS, allowing users to call Uber to their location for easy ride-sharing.
Voice can replace typing
Google Assistant: Nearly 70% of Requests are Natural or Conversational Language
- Mary Meeker Report, 2017
The Next Billion Mobile Users Will Rely on Video and Voice
- WSJ
Taking Pictures Can Replace Typing
Google Lens Will Provide Greater Context to Images
- Mary Meeker Report, 2017
In sum…
• Mobile apps are a critical part of business success for several categories
• A technology partner who understands the business and crafts an optimal strategy & design solution is a critical factor for success
• Seek to provide value and delightful customer experience
• Embrace emerging technologies to add value
Some best in class mobile apps
McDeliveryIntuitive navigation, joyful interactions and improved visual appeal
Key areas of the app re-design: 1. Making discovery easy 2. Promote decision making 3. Delightful interactions
38© Robosoft Technologies 1996-2016 - Confidential Document
25% reduction in support tickets with new apps
2x increase in mobile orders in a span of 3 months
More users customising their meals on the mobile app.
Around 80% of the users have rated the McDelivery app experience as good or loved.
McDelivery: results
DubberA simple but smart call recording app
A cloud-based call recording and audio asset management service on iOS and Android.
A ‘game-changer’ app in client’s words.
An all-in-one, many-in-one news app
One of the first news apps in India to create a native mobile app for iOS and has grown in content across platforms over the years.
This iPad app for a leading US airline had a host of ground breaking features: a unique Glass Bottom which allowed the user to see an aerial view of the map as from the air. The development of this app required that we integrate geo tagging in addition to developing PDF readers for the in-flight magazine within the app. Users can customize their profile, view transactions and frequent flyer account on the go
A LEADING US AIRLINE
This app, nominated at the prestigious BAFTA Awards, is an exercise buddy and coach in your living room. It features an avatar which demonstrates the exercise routine. At the end of the session the app displays fitness scores and levels of progress. These points are graphed over time and a tailor made exercise regimen is set to suit your needs.
Activity Friends Leader board Profile
A MAJOR US FOOTWEAR & APPAREL COMPANY
About Robosoft
1500+ apps developed
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300 million+ downloads
3
200+ apps featured in Apple’s ‘New & Noteworthy’ section
Several prestigious global awards
A talented team of 600+ across six offices
1 4 5 6
20 years of software development experience
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