As we entered the mobile market

Hi, Habr.
Not so long ago, we released YouDo mobile apps ( iOS and Android ), discovering a new market. This direction was new for us, as nobody had their own experience in developing and promoting mobile applications in the team. Today I would like to share my first observations (perhaps they will help someone), for example, what gives the top in the Russian App Store, what effect can be gained from reviews in glossy magazines, etc.

Start

During the creation of YouDo, we made one serious mistake: we started with the development of a rather complex web interface and did not immediately think how it would look on mobile devices. We decided that we will quickly release the application, and no one will need a mobile interface. We were mistaken and eventually lost a lot of time correcting errors. The mobile version, by the way, was made in a completely different style m.youdo.com

Which is faster

There are two ways to launch an application for an existing web product. The first way is to make a simple HTML-based application for the beginning based on the mobile version, and then bring it to the native one. Way two: immediately begin to develop a full-fledged application. We went the second way on the advice of many friends and did not lose. Taking into account our specifics, according to the first scenario, it would be possible to make two different products instead of improving one. In order to design the interface and understand how the future of the application should look, resources with numerous examples of patterns and mobile ui-solutions helped me a lot.
mobile-patterns.com
inspired-ui.com
pttrns.com
lovelyui.com
androidpatterns.com
androidniceties.tumblr.com
tappgala.com

Studio or inhouse

If your team has no experience in developing mobile applications, you should not immediately expand the staff because of this, it is better to try to find an adequate studio and release the first version with it. A good studio can help you with its expertise, give advice on the packaging of the product in the device. It will cost less than developing on your own. We did just that. But now we are personally moving on to the formation of a mobile team in-house. We understand that this will cost us more than developing an outsourced application. But work on the application will go faster.
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Under iOS or Android

From the point of view of developers, it is easier to start with an iOS application. But I would advise you to conduct a survey of your users to begin with in order to understand the ratios of operating systems. If you are just starting up, then you can read the analytics for your region. Android has a very important plus - you can quickly correct errors and upload updates to the official page after the application is released. You can involve users in testing until the application is flooded (in iOS, this requires the installation of special programs - we used TestFlight). In iOS, after the release, each review takes an average of 10 days: if you missed a bug, then users will have to suffer.

When we first added the application, we were afraid that for some reason it would not be missed quickly. In particular, they believed that we would be banned with an in-app purchase (payment outside the application). We were lucky: most recently, Apple lifted this restriction. We also know a lot of stories about how sometimes developers for several weeks trying to pass moderation, constantly eliminating the comments of App Store employees. Therefore, we decided to submit the first application immediately with an express review (such
the opportunity is given once a year), as a result, already on the second day the application appeared safely in the App Store.

Promotion

YouDo only works in Moscow so far, so the urban media have been very interested in our service.
Offline channels. The effect of offline references is almost impossible to measure, especially when it comes to print media. For example, after reviews in magazines like Posters and TimeOut, there were no jumps at all. Similarly with newspapers and stories on TV. These references do not significantly affect the attendance of the resource or the number of downloads. However, all this works fine for brand recognition and gives a deferred effect. Conversion to customers is constantly improving: people somewhere have already heard about the service and therefore become more loyal at the next meeting.

Online . It's all much easier. You can measure the conversion for each channel, banner and ad. Mobile traffic is now one of the few sources that can be bought cheaper than web traffic, especially if you set up a wide target. This is worth using. For us, the only problem is that not everywhere you can get a good
targeting For example, to my great surprise, even Yandex does not have the ability to target mobile users by region.

Top App Store

In our experience, getting into the top again does not give a sharp increase in downloads. For example, we are now in third place in the “Lifestyle” category and have risen to the 12th place in the general Russian top of free apps.
On average, such positions provide 500-800 installations per day. But given that our application is now designed only for
users from Moscow, to rise even higher with such a restriction in the all-Russian top is still very difficult.

And here are our applications






I would be happy to receive feedback. By the way, today we launched our coupon offer on Facebook (we are testing another marketing tool for promotion), everyone can get a free promotional code for 350 rubles.
Great opportunity to test YouDo :)
Thanks for attention.
Managing partner YouDo Denis Kutergin.