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分享应用开发者提升移动战略的5项建议

发布时间:2012-11-12 15:37:15 Tags:,,,

作者:Catherine Mylinh

喜来登酒店最近执行的一项调查显示,今天的出差旅行者平均持有3-4部移动设备。在这一群体中有60%表示自己出差途中很依赖移动设备。用户现在通过移动设备获取娱乐、购物、旅行、银行等内容的频率大为提升,这对各个公司来说都是个大好机会,因为你可以全天候地向用户展示公司产品和信息。所以,无论你身处哪个行业,都很有必要布署公司的移动战略。

mobile-apps(from smartbusinesscontentmarketing.com)

mobile-apps(from smartbusinesscontentmarketing.com)

但是,仅仅开发一款移动应用并不等于拥有移动战略。

要让移动体验来提升公司品牌忠诚度,用户粘性和转化率,需要考虑以下几点:

吸及并留住高价值用户

用户如何同你的品牌互动?谷歌最近针对多屏幕设备使用情况的调查结果显示,用户所处的情境,他们当时可支配的时间决定了他们所选择的设备类型。所以应该根据特定的用户渠道制定营销的用户获取策略,富有针对性地调整各种设备上的内容呈现方式。

例如,用户是在浏览智能手机的过程中首次发现你的产品,后来却转向平板电脑或台式电脑来完成交易:

*那么你是如何针对这个特定用户设计无缝隙的购物体验?

*她是否需要针对各个设备多次输入自己的付费信息?

*你设置了哪种机制来降低付费障碍?

*你是否针对这种体验进行A/B测试?

*你如何收集这些数据?

除此之外,还要注意移动用户已经习惯于下载免费应用。一般而言,只有5%已下载应用的用户有可能使用它,或者通过应用购买/预订其中的内容。

毫无疑问,这一小部分用户就是你的高价值用户。但另外95%的用户怎么办?他们可能根本就不会付钱,但如果你能想法将他们转变为自己的品牌推广大使,这可以极大降低你的总体移动战略成本。口碑营销是任何应用获得成功的关键环节——快乐的用户可以向他人扩散你的品牌影响力,并引进更多高价值用户。

了解用户所在渠道

了解高消费或高投入用户的价值只能算是实现了一半目标,鉴别出哪些移动营销渠道可以培养出这些用户才是关键。

TechCrunch曾指出,苹果独立设备标识符(UDID)政策在一年之前就已逐渐废除,“对于希望了解用户所在的开发者来说,直接的ID系统甚为关键……如果移动广告行业和开发者无法尽快找到UDID的替代性方案,它们将更难以展开富有针对性的广告活动,许多应用营销者的收益也将受到影响。”

如果你通过多个广告网络展开营销活动以获取iOS用户,就将面临无法清楚掌握点击安装追踪情况这一挑战。例如,你可能从A广告网络收到一个与来自B广告网络截然不同的数据表格。这会给对比广告营销结果带来极大困难,但也不是没有解决方法。由于移动用户获取成本上升,你会发现自己无法承担缺乏曝光度所带来的负面影响。

忠诚度可引来真正的收益

表面上看,这一点根本无需赘述,但还是有许多开发者因把赚钱当作头号目标而推出了平庸的产品。

如果你的应用并没有打动用户,他们并没有回访或者甚至安装你的应用,那么你实际上还没有迈出第一道门槛。应该先关注用户体验,这才是最终将你引向品牌忠诚度及美元的正道。

例如,旅客外出途中已经有打包行李、及时赶到机场等诸多事项要考虑。你的应用就必须智能化、直观性和简单化。可以通过地理定位服务推出个性化体验,分析用户过去的互动情况为其提供个性化的旅途、酒店、餐厅和景点等内容。

根据我们的经验,初次用户参与度、忠诚度以及整体终身价值之间存在莫大关联。可以考虑在你的应用中植入可提供出色用户体验的功能,让用户最终为其掏腰包。有些开发者鉴别高价值用户j时所考虑的KPI包括:

*第1、7、30天及更长时间的留存率

*每回投入的时间

*在应用的特定“活动”中的投入程度

测试,测试再测试

你的移动应用是一个需要长期维护的产品,并不是你创建完毕就可以搁置一旁高枕无忧的东西。

在最初阶段,要着眼于将应用推向更多用户。等你拥有数量可观的用户后,就要了解他们与产品的互动行为,掌握他们在应用中的操作情况。

*用户卸载或不再重访应用之前的3个操作是什么?

*用户执行购买交易之前的5个操作行为是什么?

*高价值用户的消费习惯是什么?

如果你清楚应该着眼于哪些问题,如何搜集这些移动参数,如何筛选数据以找到答案,你就能够鉴别出吸引目标用户的元素,分析不具吸引力的元素并改善它。你只有在更了解如何让用户爱上自己的产品之后,才能真正开始测试如何盈利。

这里没有万能法则

尽管应用领域已经发生许多变化 ,但有一点却是恒久不变的:这里没有一劳永逸的万能法则。经常使用数据来提升应用表现的开发者方有望跻身App Store榜单前10名。

无论你的公司是奉行“移动优先”原则还是以网络为根基并拓展业务,了解应用开发的细微差别有助于你创造出拥有更棒ROI的应用。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

5 Tips to Improving Your Mobile Strategy

Catherine Mylinh

Priceline’s Booking.com launched a mobile app to boost its revenue after the company saw more than $1 million in mobile transactions last year.

Recently I was in Europe, traveling from France to Italy. I used my mobile phone several times for last-minute bookings through apps such as Kayak, Expedia and Orbitz. I entered my credit card information once, and searched and compared flights and hotels. One-click shopping. The boarding passes were emailed directly to me, and I presented them via my mobile phone at the airport.

Turns out, this new way to travel is very common. According to a survey conducted by hotel chain Sheraton, today’s business traveler carries an average of 3-4 mobile devices. Sixty percent of these business travelers say they rely on their mobile devices to make traveling easier and more convenient. In fact, HotelClub says mobile users are five times more likely to book a same-day check-in than they are on desktop. Expedia expects half of its bookings will be via mobile in the next two years.

Consumers are turning to their mobile devices for entertainment, shopping, travel, banking and everything else. This is an amazing opportunity to grow your business because you can have 24/7 access to your customers. So, no matter what industry you’re in, incorporating mobile into your overall business strategy is imperative.

But, simply building a mobile app is not the same as having a mobile strategy.

It takes a mobile experience to drive brand loyalty, customer engagement and conversion. Here are some things to consider:

Attract and keep high-value users

How do your customers interact with your brand? A recent Google study on multiscreen usage shows that the context–where we are, what we want to accomplish in a given amount of time–determines which screen we choose. Tailor marketing and acquisition strategies to specific channels, tweaking content to the context of each device.

For instance, if a customer first finds your product while browsing her smartphone, but then she goes to her tablet or laptop to complete the transaction:

•How have you designed that experience to be seamless for that specific user?

•Does she have to sign in or enter her billing information multiple times–for each device?

•What mechanics did you put in place so that the friction to pay is as low as possible?

•Are you A/B testing the experiences?

•What data are you using to guide the UX?

•How are you collecting that data?

Beyond this, mobile users have become accustomed to free apps. On average, only five percent of users who download your app are likely to use it or buy and/or book anything through it.

There’s no argument, this small percentage is considered your high-value users. But what about the other 95 percent? They may not spend any money but if you can get them to be your brand ambassadors, that could significantly lower your overall mobile marketing costs. Word-of-mouth marketing is a crucial part of any app’s success; a happy user can extend your brand for you (for free!), and bring in more of those coveted high-value users.

Know where to find those users

Understanding the value of a high-spending or highly engaged user is only half the battle. Identifying which mobile marketing channels produced them is a whole different story.

Source attribution is challenging in the current iOS “black box” environment. TechCrunch reporter Kim-Mai Cutler writes of Apple’s Unique Device Identifier (UDID) policy change, which the company phased out a year ago, “A straightforward ID system is key for developers who want to understand who their users… if the mobile advertising industry and developers don’t find an alternative soon, it could become much harder to run targeted advertising campaigns and revenues could decline for many app marketers.”

If you’re running campaigns across multiple ad networks to acquire users on iOS, the lack of clear visibility on click-to-install tracking is a known challenge. For example, you’re likely to receive a spreadsheet from Ad Network A that has different data than what you might get from Ad Network B. This makes comparing campaign results very difficult, but there are solutions. As the costs to acquire mobile users rise, you simply cannot afford the lack of visibility.

Loyalty leads to the real payoff

On the surface, this may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many developers build mediocre apps because their #1 goal to make money.

That could and often should be a part of the equation. But, if users aren’t impressed and never return or even uninstall your app, then you haven’t even really left the gate. Instead, focus on the user experience; that’s what will ultimately lead you to brand loyalty and dollars.

For example, travelers already have a lot to think about, from packing to getting to the airport on time to hoping their luggage arrives at the final destination. Your app has to be smart, intuitive and simple. Personalize the experience with location services. Analyze past interactions to suggest personalized travel routes, hotels, restaurants and area attractions.

Based on our experience, there is a very strong correlation between initial user engagement, loyalty and overall lifetime value. Consider building features into your app that provide an amazing user experience, and make users want to eventually make a purchase. Some of the KPIs our developers pay close attention to when identifying high-value users are:

•1-, 7-, 30-day and longer-term retention rates

•Time spent per session

•Level of engagement with specific “events” within the app

Do you have ways to gauge these metrics in your app? Click here to learn more.

Test, test and test some more

Your mobile app is a living product. It’s not something that, once you build and ship, you can sit back and relax.

In the beginning stages, just get your app out there to as many people as possible. Once you have a statistically significant number of users, understand how they interact with it. What are they doing inside the app?

•What last three actions did users take before they uninstalled or failed to return?

•What last five behaviors did users exhibit before making a purchase?

•What are the purchase habits of the highest-value users?

If you know what questions to ask, how to collect the mobile metrics, and how to sift through the data to find those answers, you’ll be able to identify what appeals to your target users, analyze what doesn’t and then improve it. Only after you get a better understanding of how to get your users to love your app, can you truly start testing ways to monetize them.

There’s no magic formula

We’ve been in the app business for a long time. While there have been a lot of changes, one thing has remained constant: there is no magic, one-size-fits-all formula to success. To that end, the developers who use data to constantly improve their apps are the ones who make it to the Top 10 lists of the App Store.

Whether your business is mobile-first or you have Web roots and are expanding, understanding the nuances of app development will allow you to build apps that have greater ROI. In the travel industry alone, we’re working with some major clients because they see the potential of this still-nascent market.(source:kaleidoscope.kontagent


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