Uncovering the true value of mobile apps to business
StumbleUpon“There’s an app for that” was once a key selling point of Apple’s iPhone range and had organisations scrambling to create them. But studies show that consumers limit their usage to a few core applications and many never get opened. So, what’s the true value of developing mobile apps? New Media Knowledge quizzed one expert for the lowdown. By Chris Lee.
By Chris Lee
Mobile apps have fascinated marketers over the last few years, with many creating their own for download onto smart phones. Apps have one single clear advantage over a website for the mobile user in that, so long as it’s well made, it can provide a far better user experience. But with so many developed solely for the iPhone (6.75 per cent of the US mobile market), Android-based systems (7.75 per cent) and BlackBerry (8.53 per cent), it could be argued that less than a quarter of the mobile market is being served.
According to Andy Budd, managing director of user experience and web design agency Clearleft, this has led to an “application gold rush”, with companies rushing to stake their claim. While some early app pioneers struck metaphorical gold, many prospectors in this gold rush arrived to find a very different market to the one they had expected.
Changing landscape
For Budd, those companies lured into app development have found competition tough, especially as consumers appear to have lost some of their appetite for mobile applications, falling back instead on the few must-have staples.
“Recent studies have shown that we tend to limit our usage to a few core applications and the bulk of apps never even get opened. Furthermore, smart-phone usage is still fairly low in the UK, making it difficult to gain scale” he warned.
So, despite newspapers and magazines hailing the iPad as the saviour of the publishing industry, and blue chip companies rushing to create trophy apps, does Budd believe it really makes business sense to jump on the application bandwagon?
“For a lot of companies I believe the answer is no,” he said. “Good app design takes a level of time and investment that is hard to justify commercially. Only the international brands have the mindshare and level of traffic they need to guarantee scale. Even then, most of them rush out poorly designed and undifferentiated applications with no real user need. I mean, who loves <insert generic high street brand> enough to download its dedicated store finder when you can get the same information from Google, usually a lot quicker?”
Common errors
Budd said that one common trend is for organisations to create near carbon copies of their website, in app form. These apps are often paid-for, in an attempt to claw back some revenue for content that up to now has been given away for free. However, this is rarely a successful strategy as consumers are savvy and mobile usage patterns are quite specific.
“If you are thinking of creating an application that is almost identical to your Web experience, why create a dedicated app at all? Mobile browsers have come a long way and recent advances in HTML and CSS mean you can create a mobile optimised version of your site for a fraction of the price,” Budd said.
Even dedicated mobile sites are relatively easy to produce and are likely to reach more people than your device-specific mobile app, Budd said.
“I’m not suggesting that companies shouldn’t commission mobile applications. We just need to be careful about what we build and why,” he concluded. “There is still ‘gold in them there hills,’ but it’s going to be a lot more difficult to find and a lot more expensive to extract. The days of the gold rush are now over and we need to view applications as a business rather than a faddish get-rich-quick scheme. So where’s your mobile strategy?”
Comments
bruce.cooper said:
Totally agree with the comments made and this comes from someone who's company makes very good apps! Too often we are confronted by clients wanting an app because the board have said they need one. Apps should only be considered when: - you have a clear view of how your customers are behaving. The analytics from your website will give you how many hits are coming from mobile devices and which ones. This will give you a guide as to what OS you want the app to work on (typically iOS or Android) - research what your customers want from an app, is there a clear customer benefit? If so is this really achieved via an app. In other words, are the native features of the smartphone being used to the full or could this be done by a proper mSite? Only when you have done this can you really build a business case. A proper app is not cheap and why should it be? After all it is a powerful extension of your brand that you have spent a great deal of time an money nurturing - a badly designed and produced app can start to unravel all that investment. You will also need to consider how you will promote your app and continue to do so - this is something that is almost never considered. With well over 1 million apps across various app stores you need to promote and continue to promote. Having said that if all is done well an app can really bring value to your business - just look at PizzaExpress from example.
You must be logged in to comment.