Mobile Application Design
Many articles are written about design, even very much, both about its UX (user experience), and UI (user interface) components. This article is not for beginners, so we will not go into the basics here.
We consider design and formulations not in terms of appearance, although there are projects in which appearance is the main value of the product, but in terms of conversion. In the article, using the examples of our Photo and Video Transfer app and Image Transfer , we will talk about working on the following tasks using design:
Below you can find baseline data and practical recommendations. It is also highly recommended to read the previous article on the promotion of mobile applications, you can find it here . So, let's begin.
So, since we are not a mono-brand company, we have to do what many marketers say - getting ready to launch every new product in advance. But bad luck - all the recommendations on the board "create landing page with email subscription" do not go. In practice, your landing page is very few people need and the maximum that you can count on is 1000 email addresses at best.
We decided to create our own marketing communications with users, we identified the following as the main promotion tools:
At the moment, we have a base of about 100,000 email addresses, 700,000 push notifications devices and the ability to show the splash screen to all new users, and this figure can reach 60,000 per day or more if it prepares for the campaign in advance. So in order.
Users leave email addresses extremely reluctantly, especially where there is no urgent need for it, for example, if registration is not required. We drew a screen with a cute iPhonecheck that offered to subscribe to our email newsletter. As a result, only 3% of users, apparently out of sympathy for our character, left their email addresses. The remaining 97% heartlessly passed by. We didn’t particularly count on a large number of subscribers and didn’t get upset, but of course we wanted to increase the percentage of conversion.
')
And we found a simple and free way - we replaced the word Subscribe with Register. Indeed, the user has downloaded our application, made it officially through the AppStore, and is quite understandable and familiar to register the application. Thus, we don't seem to have registration, but it seems to be as it is. The procedure is optional, because there would be a mandatory registration, without understandable reasons for this, we would get a stop screen, and we also need to earn money on this application. The result: the number of email subscribers has increased 3 times and now is about 9-11%.
Despite the fact that with different methods we managed to maintain a fairly large number of downloads every day (more on this HERE , the conversion to paid users was not very high.
In this case, we not only redesigned the design, but also updated a little business model. In the first version of Image Transfer, we made it possible to send free of charge up to 5 FILES (photos and video). The important point - show the purchase window only when the need for this purchase from the user is maximum, so Evernote offers an upgrade when you have free volume. In our case, this moment was the transfer of more than 5 files, when sending a smaller amount, the in-app purchase screen was not even shown. As it turned out, users quite successfully sent up to 5 video files (2-3) and did not see the purchase screen, and 10 photos could be sent twice.
As a result, we banned the free transfer of video files in Image Transfer, in principle, this could only be done for money and updated the purchase screen. Now the user had a choice: “Remove restrictions on the photo”, “Remove restrictions on video” and “Remove all restrictions”, while in the screenshot below you can see, “Remove all restrictions” costs SO MUCH how many and remove restrictions on a photo. Good deal isn't it? And users have become much more likely to see the in-app purchase screen and, most importantly, to make the choice we need. As a result, profits increased even more than doubled, because we managed to increase the conversion and cost of the product. There were even a couple of people who managed to remove restrictions in turn :)
In solving this problem, we encountered two problems:
Here we managed to kill two birds with one stone - solving the first problem, we decided the second one. Indeed, if a user clicks “Don't allow” when prompted, then you will not be able to show this message to him (remember this, creators of instant mail client services). So, before you make a system request for access push notifications, the user sees the screen where our character is iPhone, explains why it is necessary to open this access, thereby solving the task №2. On this screen there are buttons "Allow" and "Later". If the user clicks "Later", then the system request is not shown to him and we are not using our only attempt, and we can show this particular screen as many times as necessary. When the user clicks “Allow”, he already agrees to provide this access and with an incomparably greater probability, presses the treasured “Allow” button on the system message.
I must confess that we ourselves sin without adding a preliminary screen before the request, but only in those applications in which the conversion level suits us.
Here you have read that application ratings are extremely important for promotion, they influence the user’s decision making and position in search results.
I gave a talk on application design at two Apps4All and DesignLab conferences , at both I mentioned the need for Rate This App, at both I remembered one and the same story: I once downloaded the application and launched it. The application has crashed. I opened the application a second time and it flew out again. For the fifth time, it didn’t fly out, but it showed me the “Please rate this app” screen. I said Ok, put one star and deleted the application, Ie guys, I even have a quick link so that I could put one star. Caring.
The problem was that the Rate This App algorithm worked very simply - after the 5th launch, show the window (or maybe even after the 10th and 15th). The model is understandable, but not universal. We created our Rate This App algorithm, which with a high degree of probability guarantees getting high ratings from users. Of course, a disgruntled user would be more willing to give a bad review than a satisfied good one, but our algorithm is aimed precisely at restoring the balance of power. Everything is very similar with in-app purchases - ask to write a review when the probability of getting 5 stars is maximum.
We figured out how to increase the likelihood of getting 5 stars even more. We came up with, but have not yet implemented, and Facebook has already added, so we rejoice at our ingenuity and were disappointed in the efficiency in this matter :) The method is very simple: invite the user to put the number of stars right in the application. Of course, these stars will not go immediately to the AppStore, but you control the situation - if the user puts in 1 to 3 stars, ask him to write why he set a low rating directly in the application, and this message will go to your support, when the user puts 4 or 5 stars, immediately redirects to the AppStore. Notice that this method is very similar to the method with a request for push notifications? Such correspondences can be found very much.
By the way, it is not necessary to make a personalized Rate This App window as in the picture, it affects a little on the quality of ratings. Unless, of course, you decide to use our idea.
A very common mistake of developers is the lack of information about the state of the system. For example, a user has downloaded an application for viewing PDF files — take the trouble to add at least one PDF file there, and if the user deletes it, instead of a white background, a message stating that there are no files and instructions on how to add them. So, in our applications, the user is informed about each change in the state of the system or its current state - files are received, files are sent, there is no connection to wi-fi, there are no photos in the album, etc. This is a very important rule; if it is violated, then all previous conversions will also decrease significantly.
Major developers always have a lot to learn and this is what we learned from Google. For each of your applications, you can assign a unique URL scheme, which is also the unique identifier of your application on iOS. This URL scheme allows you to run another from one application and even transfer some data to it. If you take a fresh example, you can look at a bunch of applications Swarm and Foursquqre - in Swarm you check in, and information about a particular place opens directly to Foursquare, when you press the "Back" button you would go back to Swarm (!).
For the time being, we are using this only by informing the user who launched the free version of the product that he has a paid version installed and we suggest opening it. A small piece of code greatly increases user loyalty to our products.
Much more interesting is the use of this feature by Google, who managed to create their own ecosystem on the basis of iOS, from which they are not in a hurry to release the user. So in the example in the picture I tried to illustrate how the opening of a link works in the Gmail application: If you open a link in the Gmail application, then it opens not in Safari, but in Chrome (if it is installed), and the “Back” button is replaced by “Gmail »When clicked, the user returns to the Gmail application.
This functionality opens up tremendous opportunities for marketers and developers, but we use it too little.
Domestic purchases are the subject of a great article, but here I will try to collect a few tips:
Of course, this is only a small fraction of what will help you in promoting your products and increasing conversion, but even in this article you can trace some regularities and constants. One last tip - if you are going to add something to the design, functionality, create a new animation, always ask the same question “WHY?”. Thank you for reading to the end!
We created a Cool Link - http://Cool-Link.com , where a lot of information about application promotion and design has already been collected, use.
CapableBits has been developing its own applications for over 4 years. At the beginning of 2014, we opened the direction of publishing mobile applications - if you have a product or it is at the development stage and you want it to start making money, send a request to publisher@capablebits.com . More information on our website CapableBits.com
On July 22, within the framework of Odessa Innovation Week, a WebCamp: Mobile Day conference will be held, which will be devoted to the development, design and promotion of mobile applications.
The conference will consist of two streams: “Development” and “Design & Promotion”. In the “Development” stream, the main focus will be on the technical aspects of creating applications for platforms such as: iOS, Android, WP8, Tizen and others. In the flow “Design & Promotion” we will focus on the design of mobile applications, as well as on their promotion in various stores.
You can ask questions to Eugene the Bad ( plokhoj ), the author of this article, as well as listen to other reports on this topic.
Registration and all details on the conference website at: webcamp.in.ua .
We consider design and formulations not in terms of appearance, although there are projects in which appearance is the main value of the product, but in terms of conversion. In the article, using the examples of our Photo and Video Transfer app and Image Transfer , we will talk about working on the following tasks using design:
- Increase the number of email subscribers.
- Increasing the number of users allowed push notifications.
- Increase profits when working on the freemium model.
- Increased user return rate.
- Reduced bounce rates.
Below you can find baseline data and practical recommendations. It is also highly recommended to read the previous article on the promotion of mobile applications, you can find it here . So, let's begin.
Prehistory
So, since we are not a mono-brand company, we have to do what many marketers say - getting ready to launch every new product in advance. But bad luck - all the recommendations on the board "create landing page with email subscription" do not go. In practice, your landing page is very few people need and the maximum that you can count on is 1000 email addresses at best.
We decided to create our own marketing communications with users, we identified the following as the main promotion tools:
- Email database
- Base push notifications devices
- New users of the product and users of the current sessions - splash screens
At the moment, we have a base of about 100,000 email addresses, 700,000 push notifications devices and the ability to show the splash screen to all new users, and this figure can reach 60,000 per day or more if it prepares for the campaign in advance. So in order.
Increase the number of email subscribers.
Users leave email addresses extremely reluctantly, especially where there is no urgent need for it, for example, if registration is not required. We drew a screen with a cute iPhonecheck that offered to subscribe to our email newsletter. As a result, only 3% of users, apparently out of sympathy for our character, left their email addresses. The remaining 97% heartlessly passed by. We didn’t particularly count on a large number of subscribers and didn’t get upset, but of course we wanted to increase the percentage of conversion.
')
And we found a simple and free way - we replaced the word Subscribe with Register. Indeed, the user has downloaded our application, made it officially through the AppStore, and is quite understandable and familiar to register the application. Thus, we don't seem to have registration, but it seems to be as it is. The procedure is optional, because there would be a mandatory registration, without understandable reasons for this, we would get a stop screen, and we also need to earn money on this application. The result: the number of email subscribers has increased 3 times and now is about 9-11%.
Increase profits
Despite the fact that with different methods we managed to maintain a fairly large number of downloads every day (more on this HERE , the conversion to paid users was not very high.
In this case, we not only redesigned the design, but also updated a little business model. In the first version of Image Transfer, we made it possible to send free of charge up to 5 FILES (photos and video). The important point - show the purchase window only when the need for this purchase from the user is maximum, so Evernote offers an upgrade when you have free volume. In our case, this moment was the transfer of more than 5 files, when sending a smaller amount, the in-app purchase screen was not even shown. As it turned out, users quite successfully sent up to 5 video files (2-3) and did not see the purchase screen, and 10 photos could be sent twice.
As a result, we banned the free transfer of video files in Image Transfer, in principle, this could only be done for money and updated the purchase screen. Now the user had a choice: “Remove restrictions on the photo”, “Remove restrictions on video” and “Remove all restrictions”, while in the screenshot below you can see, “Remove all restrictions” costs SO MUCH how many and remove restrictions on a photo. Good deal isn't it? And users have become much more likely to see the in-app purchase screen and, most importantly, to make the choice we need. As a result, profits increased even more than doubled, because we managed to increase the conversion and cost of the product. There were even a couple of people who managed to remove restrictions in turn :)
Increase conversion push notifications
In solving this problem, we encountered two problems:
- There is only ONE the only way to show the system message for access to push notifications. Then the user needs to do it himself in the settings.
- Not obvious need to push notifications in Image Transfer.
Here we managed to kill two birds with one stone - solving the first problem, we decided the second one. Indeed, if a user clicks “Don't allow” when prompted, then you will not be able to show this message to him (remember this, creators of instant mail client services). So, before you make a system request for access push notifications, the user sees the screen where our character is iPhone, explains why it is necessary to open this access, thereby solving the task №2. On this screen there are buttons "Allow" and "Later". If the user clicks "Later", then the system request is not shown to him and we are not using our only attempt, and we can show this particular screen as many times as necessary. When the user clicks “Allow”, he already agrees to provide this access and with an incomparably greater probability, presses the treasured “Allow” button on the system message.
I must confess that we ourselves sin without adding a preliminary screen before the request, but only in those applications in which the conversion level suits us.
A bit about Rate This App
Here you have read that application ratings are extremely important for promotion, they influence the user’s decision making and position in search results.
I gave a talk on application design at two Apps4All and DesignLab conferences , at both I mentioned the need for Rate This App, at both I remembered one and the same story: I once downloaded the application and launched it. The application has crashed. I opened the application a second time and it flew out again. For the fifth time, it didn’t fly out, but it showed me the “Please rate this app” screen. I said Ok, put one star and deleted the application, Ie guys, I even have a quick link so that I could put one star. Caring.
The problem was that the Rate This App algorithm worked very simply - after the 5th launch, show the window (or maybe even after the 10th and 15th). The model is understandable, but not universal. We created our Rate This App algorithm, which with a high degree of probability guarantees getting high ratings from users. Of course, a disgruntled user would be more willing to give a bad review than a satisfied good one, but our algorithm is aimed precisely at restoring the balance of power. Everything is very similar with in-app purchases - ask to write a review when the probability of getting 5 stars is maximum.
We figured out how to increase the likelihood of getting 5 stars even more. We came up with, but have not yet implemented, and Facebook has already added, so we rejoice at our ingenuity and were disappointed in the efficiency in this matter :) The method is very simple: invite the user to put the number of stars right in the application. Of course, these stars will not go immediately to the AppStore, but you control the situation - if the user puts in 1 to 3 stars, ask him to write why he set a low rating directly in the application, and this message will go to your support, when the user puts 4 or 5 stars, immediately redirects to the AppStore. Notice that this method is very similar to the method with a request for push notifications? Such correspondences can be found very much.
By the way, it is not necessary to make a personalized Rate This App window as in the picture, it affects a little on the quality of ratings. Unless, of course, you decide to use our idea.
Blank screens and reduced bounce rates
A very common mistake of developers is the lack of information about the state of the system. For example, a user has downloaded an application for viewing PDF files — take the trouble to add at least one PDF file there, and if the user deletes it, instead of a white background, a message stating that there are no files and instructions on how to add them. So, in our applications, the user is informed about each change in the state of the system or its current state - files are received, files are sent, there is no connection to wi-fi, there are no photos in the album, etc. This is a very important rule; if it is violated, then all previous conversions will also decrease significantly.
Creating your own ecosystem
Major developers always have a lot to learn and this is what we learned from Google. For each of your applications, you can assign a unique URL scheme, which is also the unique identifier of your application on iOS. This URL scheme allows you to run another from one application and even transfer some data to it. If you take a fresh example, you can look at a bunch of applications Swarm and Foursquqre - in Swarm you check in, and information about a particular place opens directly to Foursquare, when you press the "Back" button you would go back to Swarm (!).
For the time being, we are using this only by informing the user who launched the free version of the product that he has a paid version installed and we suggest opening it. A small piece of code greatly increases user loyalty to our products.
Much more interesting is the use of this feature by Google, who managed to create their own ecosystem on the basis of iOS, from which they are not in a hurry to release the user. So in the example in the picture I tried to illustrate how the opening of a link works in the Gmail application: If you open a link in the Gmail application, then it opens not in Safari, but in Chrome (if it is installed), and the “Back” button is replaced by “Gmail »When clicked, the user returns to the Gmail application.
This functionality opens up tremendous opportunities for marketers and developers, but we use it too little.
Pro in-app purchases and games.
Domestic purchases are the subject of a great article, but here I will try to collect a few tips:
- Create multiple entry points to your store. Do not limit yourself to a simple message that the user does not have enough local currency to perform an action, immediately suggest him to buy, right on this screen. Also, if there is an indicator of the amount of local currency, tap on it also make the entry point to the store. Make a separate store button, etc. The more entry points - the higher the conversion, but do not overdo it, everything should be organic.
- Use internal currencies. It has long been proven that people spend more money if they use credit cards. This is due to the fact that there is no direct connection of expenses in the application and real money; indeed, 5 “magic cherries” are easier to spend than 2 real dollars.
- Use the appropriate virtual currency. If you have a scanner, use a tonner as local currency, if the application for sending postcards is stamps, etc. An understandable metaphor will facilitate the understanding of spending.
- Show the purchase screen when its probability is maximum. It makes no sense to show the purchase screen when you first start the application, only you will annoy the user. It does not make this sense 100 times, show the purchase screen only when the need for this purchase from the user is maximum. So Evernote offers to make an upgrade, when you run out of free 60 megabytes per month and you are trying to download new content - you also need to download this content and you will most likely pay. If the application requires preliminary actions, show the purchase screen when the user has already made them, for example, if Instagram were paid, with a limit on the number of photos, such a moment would come only after you took a photo, applied a filter, wrote a comment, noted all friends and clicked the "Share" button. Agree, it is not pleasant to lose so much work done. So in the free version of our Image Transfer application, the purchase screen is shown only when the user has selected more than 5 photos and pressed the “Send” button, i.e. He has already done work on the choice of photos.
- Subscription model. The most profitable model is the subscription model, as it guarantees a constant, monthly income from the user and makes almost any advertising campaign profitable. In order for such a model to work in your application, try to make its value constantly grow with time. Returning to the example of Evernote - dozens of new notes appear in it every month, which increases its value for you and reduces the likelihood of abandoning it.
- Excellent article Game developers have a lot to learn, they know about monetization more than anyone. In this article, a selection of great tips here .
Total
Of course, this is only a small fraction of what will help you in promoting your products and increasing conversion, but even in this article you can trace some regularities and constants. One last tip - if you are going to add something to the design, functionality, create a new animation, always ask the same question “WHY?”. Thank you for reading to the end!
We created a Cool Link - http://Cool-Link.com , where a lot of information about application promotion and design has already been collected, use.
O CapableBits
CapableBits has been developing its own applications for over 4 years. At the beginning of 2014, we opened the direction of publishing mobile applications - if you have a product or it is at the development stage and you want it to start making money, send a request to publisher@capablebits.com . More information on our website CapableBits.com
WebCamp: Mobile Day
On July 22, within the framework of Odessa Innovation Week, a WebCamp: Mobile Day conference will be held, which will be devoted to the development, design and promotion of mobile applications.
The conference will consist of two streams: “Development” and “Design & Promotion”. In the “Development” stream, the main focus will be on the technical aspects of creating applications for platforms such as: iOS, Android, WP8, Tizen and others. In the flow “Design & Promotion” we will focus on the design of mobile applications, as well as on their promotion in various stores.
You can ask questions to Eugene the Bad ( plokhoj ), the author of this article, as well as listen to other reports on this topic.
Registration and all details on the conference website at: webcamp.in.ua .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/226407/
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