Mobile is now everywhere. In today’s reality, we can hardly imagine spending a day without our mobile left at home, so much that it turned into an addiction for many of us: feeling the „phantom vibration“ in our pocket or being anxious when the phone is not with us are just two of the obvious aspects reflecting our relationship to the mobile. From an object that we often forgot at home barely fifteen years ago, it turned into a pocket computer that has replaced many of the daily life objects (photo and video cameras, music player, recorder, calculator, agenda, and everything that a powerful, internet-enabled computer provides). From the moment it became „smart“ with the first iPhone release in 2007, everything has changed and more and more of our lives and daily actions are going through that object. Smartphones and tablets have completely changed the way we live, buy, research, communicate – mobile has basically put the digital world at our fingertips 24/7, wherever we are, freeing us from the desktop-sitting and immobile position. This has also drastically changed our approach to common tasks: we expect to perform them at our convenience, according to our needs: what Forrester calls „the mobile mind-shift“ : it replaced the computer as the first and main interaction for daily tasks. Such mind-shift forced every business to adapt their offers and service, as mobile becomes the front door of their organization. All this led to the development of „mobile-first“ design website in a first time, but more and more businesses decide to develop their own branded app. The mobile market is an incredible opportunity for businesses to interact with their customers and know them better thanks to the app analytics, provided they handle these analytics correctly. Let’s go over the key factors to consider when developing a successful mobile app, and how to manage your analytics with reporting tools.
APP ANALYTICS: A GOLD MINE
Mobile app analytics are multiple: they can be used for analyzing the app performance on various app stores, but also bring a lot of insights about the way the users are interacting with it.
Thanks to app analytics, you know how many people have downloaded your app, on which app store, and if they found it directly browsing the store or via another website or app as referrer. It gives you already basic information to shape and adapt your mobile strategy over time.
You also find usual marketing analytics you would use for your branded website or blog: – the number of impressions (how many times your app icon appeared in the store)
– how effective are your different in-store marketing campaigns
– how effective your app product page is, comparing the number of people reading it to the number of people downloading it
– the average visit time and screen views per visit, evaluating the average session duration and how many “app screens” a user read on your app.
– the app retention, measuring how many users come back to your app after their first visit.
Just like in Google Analytics, you can also learn about the demographics of your users:
– who they are
– their age
– their gender
– where they live
– which language they speak.
That will help you define more specifically your target audience and adjust your product and content to their interests and needs.
With mobile app analytics, you also learn a lot about the users’ behavior and habits within your application: these are referred to as in-app analytics. They gather data on:
– how often the users are opening your app,
– how long they engage with it
– on which device they are doing so (the type -mobile or tablet-, the manufacturer, the operating system)
– event tracking (which buttons or ads are clicked for instance)
If you decided to have a free version with specific in-app purchases, or premium version, you can also compare how many paying users to how many free users are using it. You can also learn on a user’s journey through your app: do they always go back to the homepage, or follow deep links and exit? In-app and user behavior are essential to analytics to optimize their experience and see what leads to conversions.
Mobile app analytics will tell you a great deal about the application itself and its performance:
– which pages lead to an app crash
– which device is more likely to make it run slow or crash
– the carrier latency
– the app uptime and downtime,
– the number of errors
A Compuware study showed that 79% of users will retry an app once or twice it fails the first time, a figure that drops to 16% if the app fails more than twice. Same study found out that a poor mobile app experience led to 48% of users less likely to use the app and 34% switching to the competitor’s app! All these figures show how important it is to analyze your performance app analytics in order to diagnose potential problems, troubleshoot what needs to be and identify root causes of issues. This is key to improve the operational aspect of your app, which can frustrate users and drive them away.
Finally, you can look at rating and review analytics. Today, 88% of users look at reviews before engaging with any business – this is why you are app review are critical to the success of your business. Now, we also know that the overwhelming majority of users don’t leave reviews, and those who take the action to do it is usually to report a bad experience. It is thus important that you communicate your users how important it is to leave a feedback and that such feedback is taken into account to improve the app to their expectations.
You can find a great list of various app KPIs to track in order to perform the best analysis and enhance your application performance. Just like for any analytics, equipping yourself with a reliable business intelligence software will greatly help you in the management and data analysis of your metrics.
Now, we know that you’re ready to break new grounds in the app industry. You’ve got a great app idea, your market study on the technology it would require and the features it would have, is on point. To make it all way less complex, you have even partnered with a great team of app developers. You are now looking forward to a bright and profitable future.
And since you are the one who has come up with this revolutionary mobile application idea, what can go wrong? Believe it or not, such wishful thinking can be the death of your app.
It is important that you realize that you won’t operate in isolation. You will be competing with millions of other apps in both Apple and PlayStore combined, which will be staring at you as your competition in the app industry. So, the chances of yours being a never thought before app idea is very slim. Hence, it is absolutely imperative for you to perform a mobile app competitive analysis.
In this post we would like to acquaint you with the why and how of running a competitive analysis for your app idea.
What is a Competitive Analysis in terms of Mobile App?
Competitive analysis is a nerdy term for identifying and evaluating your current and potential competition’s strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own whole app or even some of its features.
Why do You Need to Perform a Competitive Analysis for Your Mobile App Idea?
Competitive analysis is no exact science. While every app developer will have their own way of performing the analysis, the upshot would largely remain the same: Identify your competitors, see how you can outwit them (of course, by compensating where they are lacking), and draft a plan to do so.
Delving deep into your competition would help you analyze the position of your mobile app in the market and reassesses the viability of your app idea. It would help you with acquiring competitive intelligence, which will not only demonstrate your great business acumen to the investors but will also give you an edge in the crowded app industry.
Let’s begin with the fun part
While this is no battle, you would need to equip yourself with the correct armoury to take on your competition. There are a few app competitor analysis tools that can help you with performing competitive analysis for your mobile application idea efficiently and effectively.
Here’s what you would need:
Internet
Spreadsheet
Some quiet time for assessment
The 2 steps mentioned below to do a competitive assessment matrix for your app
Step 1– Profiling current competition
Mobile app developers are part of a very competitive industry. Hence you need a complete understanding of your competition to get an idea as to what you are up against. Map each and every one of your competitors, even the potential ones.
For this, you can search for keywords that are related to your app idea. It’s a relief that you don’t have to be an SEO expert to do that. All you need to do is put yourself in your target audience’s shoes and imagine what they’d search.
For instance, if yours is a professional photo editing app, your searches should look something like this: “best photo editing app” “photo editor”, “photo editor with cool camera effects” etc.
Even a simple Google search as this, will garner a series of photo editing based apps currently available on the App Stores.
Step 2– Market Analysis of an App
Be a Stalker! (A harmless one)
After identifying your competitors, the first thing you would want to do is going through their website, apps, social media profile. Make a log of each competitor based on your research.
You can use tools like SimilarWeb, Alexa, Ahrefs, etc. You can rely on their expertise in revealing your competition’s analytical and online strategies. If there’s a new kid on the block, they would be sure to know about them and keep you up to date to the competition.
Another good place to scrutinize is ProductHunt. It can be a great pit stop in your long journey in deciphering your potential competitors. It’d give you details about new app ideas or people are coming up with across the globe. It would be instrumental in mapping out your completion at a very early stage.
This would open up a door for you and let you see right through their strategies, tactics, weaknesses and strengths that are relative to yours.
Your research should essentially focus on the following parameters.
Competitor’s Web Presence
You can copy your competitors’ website URL and paste it on the search bar of pages like Alexa, Quantcast. These will help you attain competitive intelligence and help you gain information about a website’s traffic and consumer demographics, which will eventually help you enjoy better benefits of creating user personas.
The work doesn’t end there. You also need to keep tabs on their social media presence.
What kind of articles or reviews were published to promote your competitor’s app? How do they serve their customers via social media? What sort of paid campaigns do they run? Which social channels are they missing? Is there an opportunity for you there?
Basically you need to get a feel of their web and social media strategies that they use to endorse their app. This would help you gain a competitive edge.
Competitor’s Unique Value Offering
Every business has its unique selling point (USP); something that distinguishes it from the others. What we mean is that each business brings with itself it’s own “value offering”. You can discern your app competition on this particular paradigm.
For your competitors, it can be anything – timely response to customers’ grievances, regular updates, greater look into security, or a feature that others are adopting to at a very slow rate.
Knowing your competitors’ unique selling proposition and measuring it up against what your common audiences are looking for, will give you an understanding of what you need to offer as your USP.
Rankings of Competitors’ Apps
An app’s ratings speak volumes about its foothold in the market. You can tell whether or not your competition is treading well in the market.
Sensor Tower is one such tool that can get you access to critical data regarding your competitors’ keywords and rankings in app store. It would also help you discern them on the basis of threat they post to your app idea.
While App Ratings matter to a great extent, there can be a number of reasons affecting them. For a more detailed study on how the users are liking the apps your competitor has to offer, go to their reviews section.
Reviews on Competitors’ Apps
App reviews are a great indicator of how successful an app is. And one of the most important stages of App Competitor Analysis.
Look for complaints made by the users, especially the ones that are repetitive. Don’t forget to look out for recurring praises as well. If a competitive app has negative reviews saying that it is quite difficult to navigate, you should remember to keep your interface smooth and easy flowing.
Combing through the reviews will tell you exactly what your potential customers’ pain points are and what is keeping them happy. With that information in hand, you can add more features into your mobile app development process or even plan an update plan at the back off.
Competitor’s Strengths and Weaknesses
Remember the much learned and talked about SWOT Analysis concept? While generally used for internal business analysis, you can use the concept for making a tab on your competitors’ as well. Use the Strength and Weakness part of the SWOT analysis for understanding what they have to offer on both these fronts. And, keep the Opportunity and Threat part on hold for now and come back to them at a later stage (when you are analyzing your brand).
After such diligent research, you can map out your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. Try to avoid the mistakes that might have cost your competitors dearly. Aim at outdoing their strengths by pushing your own limits and achieving newer horizons.
All of this superfluous competitive intelligence might get you confused or overwhelmed. However, do not lose sight of your task at hand, which is to meticulously analyse your competition. Planning your mobile app competitive analysis with these elements, will bring you at par or even way above your competitor’s level.
So now you know where your mobile app competitors’ stand, what next?
But what do you do with this information? Now that your bubble of being the sole proprietor of the app idea has burst, what next? How should you go about utilizing the generated insights into your app business plan?
Once you know where your app competitors stand, the next step in line is to see where you belong. Note how your app ranks among the ones the others in the similar category. Chances are you will have to get back to the development stage and make some tweaks here and there to give your users an app they ideally want.
The idea is to constantly update your app to give your users newer, more useful updates, those that will keep them hooked to you, all the while keeping a lookout on how your competitors are performing. You can make use of tools like Google Alerts, Ahrefs, Social Media, BuzzSumo to remain updated with what’s new with your competitors.
Need More Information on How to Perform Competitive Analysis for your App? Contact our Team of Mobile App Marketing Experts, today.
Development of an Addictive App that gets its first thousand users straight under 24 hours of its app store launch, is believed to be a privilege that is only bestowed upon the brands that have already established themselves in the crowded market, like Rovio or King.
However, the belief is far away from the truth. Every brand that knows the formula for creating an app that gets hooked in users’ minds, can become the next Rovio or King or much bigger.
But, is there a secret formula behind giving the users exactly what they need? An app that they would not just become a regular user of but would also make their friends and family follow with same dedication?
In his book Habit-Forming Products, Nir Eyal attributes app virality to the elements of a circle, which he calls a hook model.
The model helps understand the human psychology that works at making an app viral in the market.
Let us Look at the Model that Paves the Roadmap to Develop Addictive Apps:
Hook Model: The Secret to Creating Addictive Apps
The model portrays that there are four elements – Trigger, Reward, Action, and Investment which run in a circle and together lead to the conversion of an app or a product into a habit. Thus, making an app the most viral app in the app store.
These are the four elements explained in detail –
Trigger: For an app to become an addictive app, it should be able to hook the user using triggers. The triggers, which are divided into –
External Trigger: These simulations are based entirely on the outside information. Those triggers could be an ad image, notification, a review or rating, recommendation, emails, or CTA buttons etc. These are how the user reaches an app or gets triggered to use any of the app’s functionality.
Internal Trigger: These are mainly the reasons behind the development of the app, i.e. they define the real intention behind the creation of the addictive app. For example: The apps could have been the response to users’ boredom (Social Media/Games/Music or Video Streaming), need to productivity (Slack), or for making a difference by introducing a unique concept (Sea Hero Quest).
Both the external and internal triggers affect each other. For example: One external trigger, like suppose an image of some beautiful top shown on a Facebook or TV advertisement creates an internal trigger, which then forces the users to order the top. Here, an advertisement, our external trigger, is directly responding to purchase, our internal trigger.
Action: Once your users get the push, the time comes to take a planned action. Now, the action entirely depends on the users’ ability and motivation. When the user’s desire to take action comes in sync with their capability to do so, it brings you one step closer to the realization that you have developed an addictive app. Just take a simple, real-time scenario.
Here are two real-life scenarios to help you understand the Action element of the model better –
Suppose you are feeling bored and are logged in some social app. Now the net connection suddenly becomes low and the app is not able to show the content. Here, even though the motivation for using the app is pretty high but the ability to stick with the app is very low.
Next, imagine you open an app that is offering news. You are able to read the articles and are even able to share the one you like with your friends. By a single tap on Facebook Share button, you are done with the sharing. Here, both the motivation and the ability to finish an action were present.
To develop addictive apps that mix motivation with ability, ensure that your app has bare minimum hooks to help keep all the users invested.
So what you can do to ensure that you hit upon motivation and ability at the same time? You do this by offering features even when the internet is low. Plan your app in a way that the users are able to work around the app even when the speed and network conditions are not in their favour. Allow them to continue what they were doing when the network reestablishes.
Reward: For doing even the simplest of the action inside the app, the user must be rewarded. The reward can be anything – appreciation, a form of acceptance, or special attention, all in return for an action, which they perform within the app.
Here is an example to explain the point:
Suppose you are enjoying your time in a puzzle game app and after reaching the 50th level, you get a notification saying that you are top 5th player of that round and then soon you start seeing praises flowing in from all directions in your notification feed and you get 5 extra lives to use in the game.
The puzzle game here is offering you appreciation in form of the extra lives and attention in form of all the messages you are getting from the other users.
You can offer a reward through your app in any form. For example:
A cashback
Name listed as the top player among other names
Free access to content
Investment: as soon as the user gets hooked on the app, they start investing. The amount of investment user has is directly proportional to their reaction towards the hook. The blend of triggers, ability, and motivation together create Hook, which is what keeps your user invested in your app. Hooks are the features that keep your users coming back to your app. They can be anything – Name Mention Tweets, comments/likes/share on Facebook, live stories on Instagram, or picture filter on Snapchat.
Good hooks work, irrespective of with what intent the users are involved in the app with.
So now that we know how the users’ psychology works and what elements your app must have, to make the users get hooked with it, let us now move on to looking into some other time tested ways that are known to have set the standards for the top mobile app development companies.
1. Develop Something That Users Would Get Inclined to Share
The number one way of getting the users hooked to an app is through giving them an app that they would love to share. Now, the kind of apps that users tend to share have either of these three and at times a mix of these features –
Apps Offer Some Value
Apps Evoke Emotions
Apps Offer Something Interesting
The route to offering all these features starts with a valuable app idea, the one that users would get some benefits off.
2. Select your Target Audience Right
The mobile app time belongs to the millennials. A generation that is impatient, loves everything that has a buzz and craves being updated with everything that is happening around the lives of people they admire or are even remotely acquainted with.
Snapchat, one of the most popular social platform, got their first 10,000 users through word of mouth of high school students and as the history of Facebook goes, the app was first launched to enable students to rate their classmates and schoolmates.
So, to successfully develop an addictive app, find a way to include millennials in it, one way or the other.
3. Have Sharing Buttons Visibly Present in the Right Places
The no brainer but sometimes gravely ignored secret of creating an addictive app is having sharing button placed at steps which the users would want to share.
How many times have you visited a mCommerce site, liked a product but have not been able to share it with your friends in a single click because the social APIs are missing? I am sure it’s a common occurrence. As users, we always end up copy pasting the product page link to another window.
If you want yours to be an addictive app, it is time to enable single click sharing to social platforms in your app.
4. Get a hold of your app analytics
You can only keep the users hooked to your app when you know why they are leaving in the first place. The right set of tools when integrated into your mobile app, will give you the numbers and highlight the problem areas.
Every information related to – the stage where your users left, the season in which your app saw maximum uninstalls or bounce rate, and even the acceptability of your app sharing reward can be measured and acted upon in time using the analytics.
While there are a number of other ways you can make users get addicted to your app, our secret as the top social media app development company for addictive apps, has been the inclusion of features that – make an app useful, make it different from what the users have worked around, and offer something that the users need in return of them sharing the app with their friends.
Although the framework, language, and tools that go into the development of an addictive app in no way different than what goes into creation of apps that get uninstalled after two runs, what brings in the difference is the development process that is followed and above all the app idea.
If you have an app idea that you know people will fall in love with, contact our team of developers who have developed apps that have hit the million download mark, today.
Not every brand has a six month to year time frame for getting their application launched in the market. It might happen that the app idea you have come up with, has the potential to attract a lot of competition from the industry.
So what do you do? Do you compromise on quality and deploy an app that is a peek into your concept? Or do you extend your time and increase the probability of coming face to face with greater competition?
None of it.
We get a lot of queries from brands looking for strategic mobile app consultancy for finding ways to deploy apps in the least possible time, without compromising on the app quality or paying hefty amounts. The solution that we offer them is, – Rapid Mobile Application Development Platform.
This article is dedicated to the concept where we will be looking into the various phases and characteristics of rapid application development using the RMAD model.
What is RMAD Model?
Rapid Mobile Application Development (RMAD) means using code free tools to expedite the process of creating mobile applications.
RMAD can be seen as the mobile version of RAD model, which is based on a concept that high quality products development can be expedited by using processes such as reuse of software components, early prototyping, and lesser formality in team communication.
Phases of RAD
Business Modelling
Data Modelling
Process Modelling
Application Generation
Testing and Turnover
1. Business Model
The main business plans are decided and their need of achievement is determined. The sort and flow of information are settled between various business models. The questions regarding what information will be required to choose the kind of data structures and how the communication gap bridges between various business administrations be set up is resolved during this process.
2. Data Modeling
The next stage includes review and analysis of information objects as compared to the business model. The credits of these data collections are characterized and their relevance to the business is plainly mapped out.
3. Process Modeling
The data sets and business models are adjusted to create a flow of information for different business models. The process for development and change, both are determined. In this stage, the process structure for adding, erasing, changing or retrieving a data set are set up at one place.
4. Application Generation
In this model, automated tools are utilized for the construction of the software, that is to convert the processed and data models into prototypes
5. Testing and Turnover
RAD is famous mostly because of its focus on the testing and turnover. Each prototype is tested by the user and every feedback is used to optimize the current structure and integrate changes as per the feedback.
For a brand that is looking for a smaller launch time and has a low feature mobile app, Rapid Application Development (RAD), with its USP of delivering quality apps in the least possible time, comes in very handy. There are a number of reasons that come attached with this that has brought in a demand for RMAD among the businesses.
Let us look at some of the pros and cons of rapid application or low code no code app development that is turning brands into the direction of the in-trend approach.
Benefits of Rapid Application Development
1. Quick Delivery
Under the Rapid Mobile Application Development Process, the whole project is segregated in modules, which are treated as an individual prototype. Each of these prototypes are tested instantly, before being winded together. This helps in faster delivery of an app which is tested to ensure lesser bugs.
The primary benefits of RAD is a faster development life cycle, and a better turnaround time of the software product. This is achieved by rapid prototyping, and by using automated tools like Computer Aided Software Engineering or CASE tools, that enable the developers to re-use previously generated codes, thus saving the time needed for manual coding. The CASE software tools are a major contributing factor in reducing the delivery time in the RAD methodology.
2. Fast Action on Market Analysis
Since every module is treated as a separate prototype, brands can easily get it reviewed by the end users, without having to wait for the final product to be launched. Also, since changes are to be made on one module out of the supposed 5, the maximum portion of the app remains unchanged.
3. Reduced Waste Time
When developing mobile apps, it is found that the elements like wait times, task switching, handoffs, and defect solving contribute to extension of the app development cycle time.
The RAD process comes with rapid app development tools that help with visual development, on the spot testing and deployment. All these processes and supporting tools together bring substantial reduction in waste time.
4. Better Quality and Low Production Cost
Even though the Rapid Application Development Process comes with compromises related to range of features in the app and its scalability, the overall quality of the app is better when compared to their counterparts.
Since they provide greater reduction in error by using prototyping and automation tools, there is a reduction in errors and bugs.
One of the advantages of RAD model involves the use of reusable software components, which ultimately leads to lowering the cost range that goes into the programming of the mobile app.
5. Aligned IT and Business Teams
IT professionals across the globe admit to spending half of their time on rework. The occurrence of rework happened because of the change in views between the IT and Business Team. Rapid Mobile Application Development eases the process by bringing both the IT and business together, in all the processes – Requirement Analysis, Development, QA, and Production (As shown on the right side of the image above). Since the method works on bringing development and validation to operate side by side, rework is immensely reduced and cost overrun is protected.
6. Faster Release of Product Versions
Rapid Mobile App Development makes use of a method known as timeboxing, which controls the features that are to be deployed in the present, and the next-level versions of software products.
The method helps with releasing product versions in the least possible time, by keeping the next version features added in the app development process.
7. The Innovation Pyramid
As of recently, businesses have observed the advantages of RAD just at the application level. However, RAD benefits are significantly more noteworthy at the enterprise level. To get that, you need to look at enterprise applications from the point of their rate of change, as clarified by Gartner in their Pace-Layered Application Strategy. Gartner has characterized three application categories, or “layers,” to recognize application types based on their rate of change. A close examination uncovers that these layers likewise indicate the extent of focus and financial plan traditionally accorded by undertakings.
Parting Words
So, here were the seven benefits that have brought Rapid Mobile Application Development in the business decision of brands looking to develop quality apps in the least possible time.
Want help with expediting your Mobile App Development Process? Contact our Team of Experts today, or Hire a well-known mobile app development company, who knows the ins and outs of the development process.
If you are looking to develop an app with an up to date and all the latest technologies of the current time, you should partner with known mobile app development services that are well-adapted with the changing market needs. You can also opt for remote companies like mobile application development company USA. But make sure you choose the best to get quality results.
Have you launched and deployed an app following the RMAD process? Let us know in the comment below.
For a sector that has been on a roller coaster ride of innovation and growth ever since the launch of both Android and iOS platforms, 2017 was its year of activity. Last year came with a lot of new technologies and trends that were designed to make the app industry user friendly and innovative. If 2017 was about introductions, 2018 is about application and growth.
As the industry steps into 2018, there are a number of stats and facts that have followed it from 2017, which has set a platform that is open for exploration and innovativeness. With the foundation set on most of the new technology entrants, there is a lot to look forward to this year when the industry will reach maturity level.
Let us look at the 2018 Mobile App Predictions, as set by the Top Mobile App Development Trends of 2017 –
1. Gross Consumer Spending in App Store will cross $110 Billion mark in 2018
With mobile apps extending their reach to a greater number of industries, app monetization is on a rise. It is expected that the global consumer spending will cross $110 Billion, after growing at a rate of 30% every year. The trend is a hint towards how app economy has now reached its maturity level, where it is offering real value for which users are ready to pay.
2. Phablet will dominate the device category list on which mobile apps will be used
Just like 2016, Phablets won the most active device race again in 2017, with 55% users opting for the device for working on their mobile applications. Seeing the increase from 41% in 2016, it is safe to assume that the device type will also rule 2018.
Second to the device type that is a blend of tablets and medium configuration phones, standing at 35% middle level phones were the ones most used.
3. Mobile Journey: What Apps Users will Move Towards and From Where
Irrespective of what Operating System the users were functioning in, almost half (46%) of the sessions started with Communication apps as soon as the device was unlocked. Next, the users moved to launch web browsers, which counts for 16% of the session time. Utility apps like App Stores, Contacts, Gallery etc. stands at the third operation of a session, with 10% of the total session time.
While these are the three categories users will continue to move around when their device is unlocked, Entertainment apps like YouTube, SnapChat, and Netflix will also find itself in the journey at 5.5%, but not at the start point. Along with the entertainment apps, gaming apps will also find itself amounting to 3.7% of the total device session time.
4. Independent Publishers will get Greater Discovery Opportunity
In June 2017, both Google and Apple announced changes to Play Store and iOS Store aimed at better showcase of editorial content and app curation. This has made both Play Store and Apple Store powerful platforms for the less famous apps launched by independent publishers.
This will give the lesser known apps an opportunity to be visible and come at the same level as that of their renowned app counterparts.
5. Demand for Video Streaming Apps will Continue to Rise
2017 was an extraordinary year for Video Streaming apps. The app category has been single-handedly responsible for 85% and 70% increase in annual spending in iOS and Google Play respectively. Our expectation is that in 2018, the number of streaming apps on users’ devices will rise from just one.
The biggest names of the video streaming industry – Netflix, Snap, and Disney, etc. have announced their plans to continue investing in the category. This trend guarantees that the category will continue to witness steady growth in both engagement and revenue, with more players coming in to take a piece of the profitable sector.
6. Instant Apps will Continue to Give App Stores Quality Check
By giving users the freedom to first try and then install the apps that they actually use, Google will be adding the “Try Now” option to more apps than the current limited list. Clicking on it, users will get a preview of the app with very basic features, without the need to install the app on their devices.
Introduced in 2017, Instant Apps were limited to just seven to eight apps in the store, but in 2018, it will be available to greater number of apps – a move that will bring an inordinate focus on quality.
With this move, Google has taken the ball out from app publishers’ court and has put it in users’ court.
For an app to have a chance at getting installed in user’s device, it will have to give an outstanding first point experience in the Preview Mode itself. This has already started bringing in a greater demand for android app development companies that could help app getting installed right after being ‘Tried’.
7. The Session Rate per App will Continue to be Low
As compared to 2016, the app session growth activity declined in 2017 to just 6% which was 11% in 2016. Even with the declining session rate, users now spending more than 5 hours on their smartphones, daily. But with a changed behavior.
As users are now spending more than five hours on their devices daily, they are dividing their time between new and old app experiences, instead of devoting to any specific app type. This movement has brought in a volatility in the session rate in a number of app categories –
Shopping category saw a rise by 54% as the consumers shifted their spending in mobile shopping apps. The adaptation of mPayment also played a major role behind the number. Media, music, and entertainment sat at 43% annual growth. While these categories rose to the occasion, Lifestyle and Gaming were the two categories that saw the least takers in 2017.
In another report by Vertoanalytics, it showed that the overall time spent has reduced in the social and news category, while it has risen for the travel and sports category. The trend hints toward the shift in content preference from once social centric to now sport and travel focused.
8. PWAs Will Lower App Bounce Rates and Give Faster Page Load Time
While being in the industry for quite some time, the adaptation of PWAs has been quite slow. The reason behind which can be attributed to lack of knowledge in the industry. But 2017 saw a number of brands investing in Progressive Web Apps, with all of them returning with similar experiences that showed – faster page load time, greater conversion rate, lower bounce rate, and higher page session time.
With brands getting acknowledged with the vast benefits that PWAs has to offer, 2018 will see not just a greater acceptance of the technology but will also witness a shift from Native Apps to PWAs.
9. Blockchain will Place Itself in a Range of App Types
One of the most talked about technologies of our time, Blockchain, will find itself getting applied in a number of apps across a range of industries. From Real Estate to Healthcare and Payment, the technology will penetrate itself across a number of industries in 2018.
While the number of blockchain apps made live on the App Stores in 2017 were so few that they could be finger counted, the number will see a rise in 2018 with more brands exploring the security and ease benefits that the technology has laid its foundation on.
Imagine yourself as Stephen Strange a.k.a as Doctor Strange for a minute. Suppose it to be your alternate ego, different from your primary Mobile App entrepreneur personality. Imagine being given the power to know what is going to happen even before it does. The power to know the bad things – when your users would abandon the app, what would drive them to leave your mobile app for some other app and the power to know the opportunity that is waiting to be explored – which device and operating system version will they visit your app from and even how many times in a day would they visit your app. Sounds like a modern-day mobile app business-centric scene from Marvel Franchise, doesn’t it? But what if we tell you that you have the ability to estimate what is going to happen next in your app and how your users will react, all before it does? Believe it or not, estimating your app users’ moves before they make them is possible. Imagine what this knowledge would get you – Lower Churn Rate, Skyrocketing User Engagement, and a Revenue Scale flying off the roof. The superpower that will get you all these and so many other benefits – the one we are going to looking into in much detail today – is Predictive Analytics.
Being one of the four most insight offering Analytics forms – Descriptive Analytics, Diagnostic Analytics, Predictive Analytics, and Prescriptive Analysis – Predictive Analytics is one that gets you the information on how users are going to act within the app.
The ultimate aim of incorporating Predictive Analytics in a mobile app is simple: Know what is going to happen and prevent/boost the action.
Let us look at what Predictive Analytics is before we move on to the mobile app development stages in which it can be incorporated, the benefits it would bring \+-
hs,ingto the mobile app-centered businesses, and some use cases on how the analytics can be added to different industries.
Predictive Analytics Definition
The Predictive Analytics Definition goes somewhere like this – The Analytics form tells what is going to happen. The estimation form analyzes data and statistics to create a pattern which then helps in doing the guesswork on what is going to happen next.
With predictive analytics definition now attended to, it is now time to look at the impact of the insightful analytics technique in the two phases of Mobile App Journey – Mobile App Development and Post Mobile App Launch.
How Does Predictive Analytics Expedite Mobile Application Development
Mobile app developers generate a huge amount of data specific to mobile app testing and quality check, running of a build, and a number of other daily tasks; these data mainly dictates short and long-term project success. Mainly, mobile app developers who have integrated Predictive Analytics in their development process gather data and then create a predictive analytics framework to find out patterns that are hidden in the many unstructured and structured data sets.
The end result: The mobile app developers get an algorithm using which they can forecast problems that the development cycle might face.
While this is the high level explanation of how Predictive Analytics in Mobile App Development Process works, let us now give you a practical insight by showing how we use Predictive Analytics in our mobile app development cycle to make the whole process a lot faster and quality ensured.
How Anteelo Uses Predictive Analytics For Mobile App Development
1. Predictive Planning
Mobile app developers and project managers very often underestimate the time, resources, and money it would require to deliver code. They might run into same delivery issues time after time, especially when they work on similar projects.
We use predictive analytics to identify the repetitive mistakes that result in buggy codes. We also factor the number of code lines delivered by the developers and time that it took them to write them earlier. It gives us the information to predict whether or not we would be able to meet the scheduled delivery date.
2. Predictive Analytics DevOps
The merger of mobile app development and operations – DevOps is known to expedite the mobile app delivery time. When the production environment data flows back to the developers, predictive analytics can help identify which coding approach is causing bad user experience in the market.
We analyze the data specific to the usage and failure pattern of the mobile app to then predict which features or user movement are going to make the app crash, then we fix the issue in future releases.
3. Predictive Testing
Instead of testing every combination of the user actions and interfaces with other systems, we use predictive analytics to find the path that users commonly take and identify the stage where the app is crashing. We also, at times, use algorithms to measure commonalities between all user execution flow and identify and focus on overlap which indicates common execution paths.
Now that we have looked at how Predictive Analytics in Mobile App Development works, it is time to look at the benefits that the analytic framework has to offer to the mobile app centered businesses and entrepreneurs.
How to Use Predictive Analytics for Bettering Your Mobile App Experience
There are a number of ways businesses can leverage predictive analytics for bettering the overall experience their mobile app leaves.
From giving them better insights on the research front, in terms of which geographical region should they promote their app more in to identifying the devices they should get the apps designed according to, there are a number of ways Predictive Analytics come in handy for the future centered mobile app businesses.
1. For Greater User Retention
Predictive Analytics helps in bettering the user retention number to a huge extent. By giving the app admin a clear statistical based picture of the problem areas of the mobile app, giving them the time to get it corrected before it becomes a persistent issue making app users abandon the app.
By giving the businesses an exact picture of how users are interacting with their app and the ways they wish to interact with the app, Predictive Analytics help entrepreneurs correct issues and amplify the features that are attracting the users.
2. For Personalized Marketing
Personalized Marketing is the biggest sign of how companies use analytics to lure customers to use their app.
Ever wonder how Spotify gives you recommended song playlist or how Amazon shows you Customer who bought this also bought list? It is all a result of predictive analytics. By implementing it in your mobile app, you will be able to give your users a more personalized listing and messages, thus making the whole experience a lot more customized for the end users.
3. For Identifying which Screen’s Content Need to be Changed
Predictive Analytics help identify which element of the app is turning down the users or which screen are they using before leaving the app, this information helps mobile app entrepreneurs immensely as they get face to face with the problem area. And now, instead of changing the whole application, they are only concentrated on improving a particular segment/ section.
4. For Identifying the Time to Make Device Switch
When employed right, Predictive Analytics in mobile apps gives entrepreneurs insight into which device and in fact which operating system their users are getting active on to use the app. This information is a goldmine for the tech team as they can then get the app designed according to the specificity of that specific application.
5. For Making Their Notification Game Better
Predictive Analytics helps businesses identify which notification message is causing what reaction and if there is a difference between varying time and content. This information helps marketers plan their notification push in a way that it gets a maximum positive outcome.
By categorizing the mobile app users in segments like those who are interacting most with the app, those who are most likely to abandon the app, and those who have simply made your mobile app the case of install and forget, Predictive Analytics help mobile app marketers with a platform where they know how to segregate their push notifications and between what people.
With this, we have now looked at the contributing role that Predictive Analytics plays in the mobile app development industry, both from the end of the mobile app development agency and the mobile app centered business, it is now time to look at some use cases with respect to how you can add the analytics form in your mobile app, across industries.
Predictive Analytics Use Cases in the Real World
While there are a number of Predictive Analytics examples around us, let us look at those areas that are more prone to give instant high returns when incorporated with Predictive Analytics.
1. Predictive Analytics in Healthcare
The reason this is one of the prominent Healthcare Trends in 2019 in beyond is that it has expanded itself from its once prominent role of being a personalized healthcare enabler.
Earlier used only to help send a personalized recommendation to the patients in terms of health and care considerations that they would have to make, it is now being incorporated in the healthcare industry for three crucial requirements – For risk estimation, Geo-mapping, and for planning out the what-if scenarios in terms of both surgery and patient inflow in the hospital.
The prospect that Predictive Analytics in Healthcare comes with is one that promises mass transformation of a complete industry.
2. Predictive Analytics in eCommerce
When we talk about Predictive Analytics examples, it is important to have a discussion without the mention of the eCommerce industry. The analytics not just help users by giving them listings related to ‘Customers who bought this also bought’ but also in showing them ads of offers that have arrived on the products that they were looking to buy earlier or have in their shopping cart.
The benefit of keeping the users hooked to the website by giving them offers and discounts on the products that they actually wish to purchase and at the same time helping them decide what to buy next are the two factors that have drawn eCommerce giants like Amazon, eBay etc. integrate Predictive Analytics in their website and mobile apps.
3. Predictive Analytics in On-demand
In the on-demand economy specific to transport and commutation, predictive analytics come in very handy in terms of estimating the areas that are going to ask for maximum fleet demand, the price that users are most likely to pay for a tip, the stage at which they are cancelling the ride, etc.
Apart from this, it also helps in estimating the accident scenario in terms of drivers who are most likely to rash drives, the geographical area that is most prone to accident, etc.
The on-demand fleet economy has a lot to take advantage of from the predictive analytics algorithms. The industry-wide realization has led to brands like Uber and Didi Chuxing apply Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning in the business model.
4. Predictive Analytics in Enterprises
The what would happen next information that Predictive Analytics offers to the company’s business team comes in as a golden opportunity for enterprises who are struggling in their CRM domain and also in the HR area.
Predictive Analytics can give insight into the stage at which a customer is most likely to take their business elsewhere and the performance-based analysis of employees, giving the HRs an insight into whether or not the employee should be kept associated.
By researching on the skills that are most demanded by the industry, predictive analytics and enterprise mobility can together up the employees’ skills to a huge extent.
Now that we have seen all – Impact of Predictive Analytics in Mobile App economy (an impact that both mobile app development company and the mobile app businesses face) along with the real world use cases, it is now time to bring the guide to an end by giving you an insight into the Predictive Analytics tools that offer the most calculated inferences.
Predictive Analytics Tools
While a quick search on the internet will get you a great list of predictive analytics tools, here are the ones that we rely on to help our partnered entrepreneurs get a better hang on where their app business is headed –
This brings to an official end to our 10 Minutes guide to Predictive Analytics in Mobile Apps. If you need more information on how to integrate predictive analytics into your mobile app and reap the benefits of low churn rate and minimize the app abandonment instances, get in touch with our team of Predictive Analysis Experts, today!
