Over the past few years, one of the most important shifts in the digital world has been the move from the wide-open Web to semi-closed platforms (apps) that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display. It's driven primarily by the rise of mobile computing. The Internet is less about the searching and more about the getting.
That was Wired's Editor-In-Chief, Chris Anderson in a recent article that Media Post included as one of their four Trends that will shape Q4 and beyond.
It's the 'getting' terminology in the last sentence that's worth paying extra attention to, I think...
Are we providing enough 'getting' in our digital strategies?
We use our websites primarily as the general information portal to a brand. Where the unfamiliar go first. Where those looking for solutions are sent after their search query. Hopefully, the site does a good job at enticing a call-to-action or capturing some type of data for analysis or further customer engagement.
We then use our social sites as a forum to encourage interaction and positive sentimate. Environments where discussions and real-time information can be passed along and shared. A public proclimation of affinity.
These, of course, are about searching and sharing. Always have been.
And now we have getting. Which is where apps come in.
Long has the question of the value of apps been circulating throughout marketing war rooms. But we are now at the point where we have some answers. Smartphones have brought technology to a point of consumer adoption where ROI now isn't just reserved for major companies.
People still want one-on-one relationships with their favorite and most used brands. But there are many times where a semi-closed platform is preferred to an open one. And within such one-on-one brand relationships people want to know: 'What can I get right now?'
If a business is one that's made up of re-occuring sales and frought with competition (e.g. retail, fashion, food, airlines, etc.) then it's perfect for an app solely about 'getting.' An app that showcases the five things on sale this weekend. An app that delivers the newest fashion arrivals tailored by age and gender of the user. An app that reserves one of the limited dinner specials on Friday night. These things might not be grand enough to list on the homepage to entice a new buyer altogether, but they're surely powerful enough to get a known user back again. Multiply that out and the ROI returns quicker than we might think.
Currently, 38% of users are not satisfied with their branded apps. Let's make them useful and drive this number down.
As we move into 2011 the app is speeding up the convergence of the physical and digital worlds. And now we have distribution channels... In all liklihood, the social audience building of the last few years has produced a good batch of people of which to launch a new or refined app to.