I’m hardly the first son-in-law to shake his head at something his wife’s mother said, but I could be the only one to do so as a result of hearing:
“How come I can’t stop my Angry Birds game on my iPhone and continue where I left off on my iPad?”
It’s a great question, made greater by the fact that it was posed by an 87-year-old.
Upon more thought, I’m convinced that there is no way that my experience is unique. Why? Expectations of mobile users, whether they are young kids or octogenarians, are increasing as fast as the pace of innovation.
Consider this:
Amazon says that a page load slowdown of just one second could cost the company $1.6 billion in sales each year.
And Google has calculated that by slowing its search results by just four tenths of a second they could lose eight million searches per day. This would lessen opportunities for brands and significantly reduce Google’s revenue.
The upshot?
Optimize for mobile, or else. Users look for top-shelf experiences. Under deliver and many will leave for a competitor and never come back.
Furthermore, employees also have unmet mobile expectations. According to several studies, including a recent one conducted by ArcTouch, relatively few employees are satisfied with their company apps compared to their personal, non-work apps.
How do we meet, or even beat, those expectancies? With more collaboration between marketers and their IT counterparts.
For an example of marketing and IT teaming up to top mobile users’ expectations, I’ll point to the JetBlue mobile apps built by POSSIBLE Mobile. These apps have received high reviews from users and are said to be seamless and convenient while also representing a huge breakout in an industry known too often for inconvenience and frustration.
The JetBlue mobile apps make traveling more enjoyable by providing the appropriate features you would expect from the digitally-minded airline. A joint production between the airline, ROKKAN, and POSSIBLE Mobile, the JetBlue apps offer air travelers a paperless mobile boarding pass to expedite the travel journey.
When you launch the JetBlue app on a smartphone or tablet, the first screen always has relevant information based upon where you are in your JetBlue travel experience. Booking an upcoming trip? Check the home screen for local weather and other destination information. Time to check in? Retrieve your mobile boarding pass directly from the home screen.
Unfortunately, the excellent user experience that comes with the JetBlue apps is not always present in the apps we download.
According to leading app analytics firm Localytics, about one in four new app users will abandon an app after a single launch. In fact, two out of three users will have deleted an app before their 11th session.
Customers value and demand high quality apps. When leaving a one-star review, 50 percent of the time the user mentions the app’s stability and bugs. When leaving a five-star review, 60 percent of the time the user mentions speed, design, or usability.
The differentiator for brands is best-of collaboration that positively affects business outcomes. So how can we get there?
“There is nothing fundamentally different between marketing and IT,” David Chan, Director of the Centre for Information Leadership at City University in London, told Computer Weekly. “It is about the culture of the organization. If the departments work together, you shouldn’t have a problem.”
But how should we collaborate? Thoughtfully, with minds open, and through the sharing of understanding across functional departments.
Of course, the mobile user doesn’t care how the sausage is made. He or she, be it seven-years-old or 87, only wants, even demands, a better and more personal experience.
It is vital that more collaboration occurs between marketers and their technology counterparts, resulting in fewer silos, smoother processes, and better apps that drive loyalty and sales.
As Forrester says, mobile moments are the battleground to win, serve, and retain customers.
“I think expectations of consumers in the app environment are very high, and if you don’t get it right, it’s so glaring,” Paul Sweeney, U.S. Director of Research at Bloomberg Intelligence, told Adweek.
Missteps are noticeable, even to old eyes. We have to do better. My mother-in-law is watching, and she is demanding answers.
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Article first appeared here - https://possiblemobile.com/2017/04/count-plan-even-greater-expectations-mobile-users/
