Mobile: How to create a killer app, widget or game
The mobile widget, game and app market is a huge growth area for marketers.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that in 2011 alone more than 472 million smartphones will enter the global market – a figure that is set to double by the end of 2015. As a result, the number of app downloads will rise to 183 billion within four years. While the debate over developing native apps or using more searchable HTML5 mobile web solutions rages on, branded apps are still of particular interest to marketers as they offer a direct connection between a brand and the consumer.
A recent study carried out by Deloitte examined statistics from the 1.6m monthly downloads from Apple’s App Store, Google’s Android Market and In Motion’s Blackberry App World. It found that the average smartphone user has around 23 frequently-used apps on their device. With nearly half a million apps available in the Apple App Store, the competition to get into that top 23 is incredibly fierce.
More worryingly for brands and marketers, the study found that the majority of branded apps fail. In fact, as many as 80 per cent of branded apps failed to reach the required threshold of 1000 downloads to be counted. In such a crowded market, if an app is poorly designed or fails to demonstrate immediate value to the user, it will be deleted as quickly as it was downloaded.
As a digital creative agency, here at Saint we are at the forefront of using technology to engage audiences for our clients. Apps that provide utility, like eBay (4.6M downloads) or Bank of America Mobile Banking (3m) or more entertaining apps like Audi A4 Driving Challenge (3.5m) or Barclaycard Waterslide (9.8m) prove that there are exceptions, and branded apps can be hugely successful in engaging consumers. While the findings from the Deloitte study may be disheartening, there is no reason why branded apps cannot rise to the top of the app store ladder. While Adam took a look at the app market of AdMap magazine last year, here’s our advice on how to make that killer app.
Keep it simple
While it would be incredibly difficult for marketers to take on the might of mobile game developers that notch up 100s of millions of downloads through games like Angry Birds, Storm8 or tools like those provided by Outfit7, there is still a space in the market for brands to use their reach to offer genuinely useful apps that solve problems for users and include features smartphone users will return to them again and again.
One of the most successful branded apps was also one of the first. Carling’s iPint secured several million downloads in the first few months after Apple’s store first launched. The reason it was so successful is because it showcased the groundbreaking technology included within the iPhone’s accelerometer in a very simple and entertaining way. It was the app with which you could show off your new phone to your friends, particularly in a pub environment – making it a perfect fit for the Carling brand.
In a recent thenextweb.com article on what makes apps popular, app developers were advised to focus on the primary task of the app, and make sure that this element works easily upon opening. Developers should also play to the strength of mobile –although constrained by the size restrictions of a small screen, mobile smartphones have a number of qualities that can be used to your advantage.
Nick Watt identifies five mobile qualities that app developers to consider when developing apps: communications, spontaneous, geo-sensitive, short periods of use and focused activity. The next wave of branded apps will use GPS-enabled smartphones to direct consumers towards the growing location-based daily deals market and location-specific bargains.
An emerging app trend that should be really interesting for brands is the proliferation of integrated mobile payment solutions. Brands like Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza already offer payment solutions for their products, and with the integration of Near Field Communications (NFC) technology in future smartphones, the future for apps as a real revenue stream is something that innovative marketers and developers should really explore.
App promotion and updates
The Deloitte study found that while the failure of branded apps was often down to consumer concerns over quality, usability or utility of the app itself, one of the more surprising findings was that branded apps were often poorly promoted. Even some good branded apps have little chance of being downloaded through poor marketing and promotion.
Like products, apps need to have a comprehensive marketing and promotion plan.
“Nearly all of the most popular apps have received support, often through traditional channels including PR and brand websites, but the key is that this is usually supplemented with a significant mobile media buy through a network such as the Google-owned Admob.
“The effect of these media buys can’t be underestimated, due to the compound effect you receive from pushing an app into the top 50 listing, where over 40% of iPhone users find new apps from. Even just pushing it higher within a section listing has huge implications to your overall total.”
Marketing teams need to preview apps on social media and blogs to build interest. Each and every app update and new feature needs to generate a buzz. The price point needs to be considered – is your app content so useful that people will be willing to pay for it?
While users pay little or nothing for apps, in order to stay loyal to it, they will expect it to be updated regularly. An app needs to be updated and changed as quickly as consumer needs do. Finnish firm Rovio’s Angry Birds game is an excellent example of how to make your app ‘sticky’, with its use of updates and the addictive nature of its star scoring system.
As with all innovative digital projects, there is no magic bullet for success. However, for a branded app to have any chance of success it needs to be built around a good idea that combines the culture and utility of the brand in a way that will is either useful or entertaining to the user. Brands need to match functionality with consumer expectations of the app.
The app market is not going to go away anytime soon, and innovative marketers that are able to combine a brands culture with killer content will be able to continue to ride the crest of the app wave.
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