BostInno's State of Innovation is a month-long feature on mobile, marketing, retail and e-commerce, and higher education innovation in Boston. #BSOI will include research reports, indexes, and more exclusive content for Channel members and the State of Innovation Forum on June 27th. Contact us to learn more.
Some days it seems like everyone under the sun is working on an app. By now there are apps for everything and very nearly for everyone. Brands are keen to get in on the game, customizing a new delivery vehicle for their content or to drive sales. Only one problem: customers mostly don't care.
As part of our forthcoming State of Innovation report we surveyed hundreds of readers about their online preferences, and one thing became clear: they don't want to download an app to interact with your brand. Take a look:
Perhaps surprisingly, mobile web dwarfs apps in terms of consumer preference. Of course, a word of warning: our audience isn't necessarily representative of your customer segment; it skews young and is mostly within Boston (more details in the report). But the finding is interesting nonetheless.
What's going on here? Basically, people aren't using their phones primarily to interact with brands or even to find out about products, and when they do do those things, they want to do them through the apps that they already use for other things.
Take a look, via Business Insider, at what people do on their smartphones:
So the best way to actually interact with customers on mobile is through social networking and, perhaps surprisingly, email. Consumers don't want to add an extra piece of software that they have to check; they want you to engage with the channels they're already using on mobile. And this came through loud and clear in our survey:
To be fair, mobile apps do have some demand; 28 percent of respondents said they want to engage with brands through apps. But that doesn't mean you'll necessarily make the cut. Even if they download say five or even 10 apps, that means you have to already be in their top five or 10 favorite brands. Better, if only at first, to get in the door with a strong social media or web presence and a mobile-friendly website.
Interestingly, the businesses we surveyed for our report seemed to get this, and were pursuing strategies accordingly. More on that in our State of Innovation Mobile report.
