Breathing Life Into Your Apps
HOW PUSH NOTIFICATIONS CAN CREATE
CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR USERS
Scott Kveton, September 13th, 2011
It’s an App World
60% of mobile time is spent in Apps
40
Number
hours 15 apps 1 month
Lifespan
Time spent of an app
Used/Month in-app/Month
App-ubiquity
• ~500,000 apps in the app store.
• Average user downloads ~40/year
Wait, What?!
5%
Retention on free Apps
After 30 Days
What Is Push?
push noun direct-to-pocket messaging that drives users back into mobile apps
- not SMS; no carrier relationship
required
- requires app to be installed
on users device and a data
connection
- can work for any IP-connected
device
*see figure 1 and 2 for illustration
Basic Push Use Cases
• Social
• News
• Sports
• Couponing
• Gaming
• Enterprise
• Publishing
• B2B Marketing
• Live Video Streaming
Do’s and Don’ts of App Dev
• Do – Think about how to engage in the
intent-driven strengths of mobile
• Do – Keep the feature set to a minimum
• Do – Launch quickly, iterate often
• Don‟t – Build an app if the mobile web will do
• Don‟t – Think people will use it because you‟re
a big deal
• Don‟t – Build brochure-ware
• Don‟t – Forget the context of people using
your app (on a phone, out-and-about)
Mobile Is Not Brochure-ware
• Rethink your app – it‟s not just the web
Louis Vuitton & Toms Shoes
Not bad, but not successful
Location Not Ready for Primetime
• Device limitations – current
devices can‟t do always-on
location & aren‟t pervasive
• Users don‟t want to be
spammed – anybody
remember this with BlueTooth?
• 7% of mobile Internet users
have used LBS (11/2010)
• Privacy “issues” abound
• Doesn‟t scale
Mobile Is an Intent-driven Platform
You cannot treat it like the web
Breaking News: Rebrand Constantly
Keeping your brand top-of-mind
Basic Push: Drive Social Engagement
Using push notifications related to time and geography
to get users back to the app
Kiip Users Engaged
Think about unique ways to engage your users
Swirl Push Provides a Daily Actionable Opportunity
• Expected, straightforward messaging keeps users in
the loop while propelling the app‟s purpose.
• Call to Action: Each message tells the audience of a
sale to take action on, which is the purpose of the app.
• Time sensitive: Sale notifications guarantee shoppers
won‟t miss out on limited time, limited quantity items.
• Preferences: Quiet Time and in-app filters ensure that
notifications are what users want, when they want it.
• Swirl is a shopping app based on limited time sales.
It seamlessly upgrades the email blast sale for the
mobile era. Users receive information faster and more Results:
conveniently, on their terms, with easily actionable
messaging at their fingertips. 35% of users routinely accessing the
app directly after a Push is sent.
Each day, users are informed of a new brand offered on sale.
Easy News Carefully Selects Pushes
to Maximize App Utility
• Notifications keep users up-to-speed, avoid over-messaging,
and guarantee a position as a top news source.
• Content: News chosen to be pushed is only the most important,
relevant, or time sensitive.
• Convenience: Ensures that users will not miss the most
important news, as long as they have their phone. Easy News realized how culturally
• Optimizes Platform: Push enables taking full advantage of the important as well as time-sensitive
mobile platform: users effortlessly receive news at times when this tragic news was.
they can‟t or wouldn‟t be checking other media.
• 8 1/2 Weeks of Easy News Results:
Easy access to news means high user engagement 78% of users routinely accessing the
correlating to pushes. app directly after a Push is sent.
Easy News is an aggregator of news sites and blogs which gives
users access to to-the-minute news in their pockets. It takes the
responsibility off the user to stay in tune with breaking events.
SoundTracking Pushes to Help Users Interact
• Pushes drive social engagement.
• Social: Pushes support and drive the social nature of SoundTracking
• Engaging: Users are reminded of interactions and dialogue with
friends
• Feel Good: Users are notified when friends „like‟ or „love‟ their
SoundTracks
• Customizable: Users pick and choose what information is important
• 4 Months of SoundTracking
Push use since Launch correlates with a successful app Users can easily set preferences,
ensuring they receive content
Time In-App when and how they want it.
Pushes
App Opens Results:
82% of users routinely accessing the
SoundTracking is an app about sharing the soundtrack to your life: Post songs app directly after a Push is sent.
that are playing either where you are or in your headphones, then connect to
your friends and see what they’re listening to.
Thank you.