By Derek Eccelston

The Sky Sports News App rated highest overall with a top score of 89.9%. Feedback shows that users found the App simple and easy to use with clearly presented menus and navigational links. They particularly liked the range of additional features, including direct links to live television and radio streams.

As the Apps market continues to grow at an alarming pace, it is essential that companies and brands understand what users expect from such applications before investing time and money. Our results show that Apps must offer an element of added usability to consumers, or enhance the user experience as a whole. Apps which rated lowest with shoppers were those that simply used the App as a portal to mobile sites, social networking pages or standard websites, missing a huge opportunity to connect with users and build long-lasting relationships.

The study, which looked exclusively at the functionality of Apps available on the Apple platform, found that Apps must have a purpose and clear function, and not simply used as a ‘must have accessory’ by brands. Results indicate that users are more satisfied with Apps that had an apparent advantage of accessing information through a smart device by integrating mobile features, such as location based services.

Home service Apps, such as British Gas and O2 also performed particularly well in the study, providing useful features such as meter readings, account information and search facilities, as well as a clearly thought-out design and layout. Retailers Amazon and Debenhams also made it into the top tier of the table, offering users the ability to buy from a full range of products, as well as extra benefits, such as Amazon’s integrated barcode scanner.

In comparison, ‘directories and guides’ was the lowest performing category as users became increasingly frustrated with slow to load pages and very limited capabilities. Flight Apps did not perform well, often being criticised for not providing pricing information or booking functions, and generally offering less features than standard web pages.

The continued development of smart devices is facilitating a major change in consumer habits and expectations. Our previous benchmarking results have shown that consumers nowadays expect the same brand experience, regardless of the channel they are using; whether that is online, in-store, or on their mobile. Our first ever App benchmark shows that users also expect the same consistent brand messages to be mirrored in Apps, allowing companies to enhance customer relationships and connect with shoppers wherever they are.

Understandably, knowledge of customer’s expectations of Apps is still reasonably limited. The App benchmark report highlights some key areas for improvement to help bring the overall App industry in-line with other eDigitalResearch benchmark industry standards.

Download the App benchmark report, which includes the full league tables, by completing this short survey: https://ecustomeropinions.com/survey/survey.php?sid=156493333. Alternatively, for full access to all of eDigitalResearch’s benchmark studies, sign up or log in to the benchmark area of the website; http://www.edigitalresearch.com/login?orig_uri=/benchmarking&orig_data_hash=30eae9b5cd3de346ce417800165cbfca.

Derek Eccleston is Research Director at eDigitalResearch, a provider of digital market research. eDigitalResearch possesses a combination of research expertise, marketing background, web technology and knowledge of the cross-channel consumer. As well as providing research data, the modules of its integrated research system - ratings, surveys, panels, communities and forums - can combine to provide holistic analytics and essential market-leading insight.

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