Insights on how to build a successful app
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Transcript of Insights on how to build a successful app
1.4 million
1,000
Number of apps in App Store As of Jan. 2015
Daily number of new apps added to the App Store
Mobile Commerce Market
▧ Mobile Commerce is growing like a weed
▧ 34% of global eCommerce
▧ will be 40% of all e-commerce by end of year
Mobile Commerce Market
▧ $300 Billion global value in 2014
▧ Projected to reach $850 Billion in 2018
App Usage
▧ App usage much greater than web
▧ 89% time spent on mobile is in App
▧ 11% on mobile web
Reasons Users prefer Apps
▧ Quicker to load
▧ Simpler to navigate
▧ Provides more functionality
▧ Provides better user experience!
Lean development/startup
▧ You have an idea?
▧ Don’t start developing your app just yet
▧ Tak a lean product development approach
1. Problem / Solution Fit
Problem Space Solution Space
Hypothesise on problem
Interview users to better understand problem
Observe and synthesise
Define potential solution
Interview users to validate solution and learn more
Refine and iterate
1. Problem / Solution Fit
▧ Outcome = Minimum Viable Business
▧ You’ve defined a viable solution▧ Better confidence that your idea will work▧ Proceed to MVP (minimum viable product)
2. Product / Market Fit
▧ Develop MVP
▧ MVP only includes features that are ABSOLUTELY necessary
▧ Purpose is to focus on core problem/solution
▧ Roll-out MVP to early adopters (not prime time yet)
3. Scale your product
▧ A successful MVP = product/market fit
▧ Now it’s time to scale product
▧ Start focusing on user acquisition
▧ But always continue improving product
Mobile Platform
▧ Start with one platform
▧ Choose wisely ○ based on customer demographics
▧ Keep in mind○ growth of mCommerce faster on iPhone○ android market highly fragmented○ over 18,000 unique android devices
App Dev
▧ Go 100% native app development
▧ Android = Java development
▧ iOS = Swift development
▧ Remember: users love apps because they’re responsive, simple to navigate
App Dev
▧ Quality of developers is critical
▧ Bad code = customer churn○ slow app○ high crash rate
▧ Hire or contract carefully
▧ Note: More difficult to find than web developers
Cloud Service
▧ Most apps consume and generate data
▧ Eg. Instagram
○ Image filters done in App
○ Account info, social networking, image storage >
in the Cloud
Cloud Service
▧ Cloud service powers your app
▧ Datastores / Databases○ Store customer data ○ Data required for app/service
▧ API○ Service Layer used to read or store data○ Adds “intelligence” to your app ○ Eg. Business logic or algorithms
Cloud Service
▧ Good Apps also require good APIs
▧ In mobile world, cloud services and APIs must be super quick
▧ Build high throughput services
Cloud Service
▧ Good news: no longer need to invest in hardware and infrastructure
▧ Great platforms available!
▧ Lots of companies offering all kinds of APIs
Team Structure
▧ A great app requires a great team, not just an app developer
▧ Create a cross-functional Product team○ Product Owner ○ UI / UX Designer ○ Mobile Marketer○ App developer○ API / BE developer ○ Tester
Continuous Improvement
▧ Your app is live, you have some users, now what?
▧ Measure▧ Hypothesize▧ Experiment▧ Improve
▧ Acquisition○ How many users are downloading your app?
▧ Activation○ Of those, how many have opened/signed up to
your app?
▧ Retention○ Are users coming back, how many, how often?
▧ Revenue○ How much revenue is each user generating?
▧ Referral○ Are users spreading the word?
Measure: AARRR
Hypothesise
▧ Users download and open the app, but don’t come back, why?
▧ Is the app not serving the need
▧ Too complicated, app is slow… ?
Experiment
▧ Once you’ve Hypothesised on problem, next step is to experiment○ Increase marketing spend to attract users? ○ Or simplify login process? ○ Improve app performance (speed)
▧ Measure your experiment and see if it improves… keep going
Summary
▧ Follow lean development practice
▧ Make sure you build a stellar cross functional product team
▧ AARRR metrics
▧ Apps are all about great user experience