Planet of the Apps How Messaging Apps Conquered the World
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Planet of the Apps How messaging apps conquered the world PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 1 Planet of the Apps How messaging apps conquered the world 1. Context 2. Do you know who you’re getting close & personal with? Where they’ve texted before? 3. The App-ortunity: What role do brands play in these hyperpersonal spaces? 4. Alexa, what happens next? Future opportunities PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 2 Context PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 3 Vancouver, February, 2016. Joe Gebbia, cofounder of Airbnb is on stage at TED 2016. Nervous laughs can be heard throughout the auditorium. Seconds earlier Gebbia had asked the audience to unlock their smartphones and hand them to the person closest to them. He was trying to make a point. When we’re given the responsibility of handling someone else’s private device, or in the case of Airbnb, their home, we feel obligated to take good care of it. This is how Gebbia explained Airbnb’s model for trust. Over the centuries our most private spaces have evolved; from castle keep to smartphone. This anecdote illustrates how mobile phones have become the ultimate receptacle for private information. It’s not just personal, it’s Hyperpersonal. Javier G. Recuenco, CSO & Founder of Singular Solving, describes hyperpersonal spaces as those which involve a number of characteristics, including: Brands can communicate with users in ways they cannot face to face, based on user profiling - they have access to information on interests, traffic history, app usage...etc. The user builds the environment to reflect their most personal values or identity. As Javier points out, “A hyperpersonal space is, therefore, a communication space where you have a basic dual probability to be tremendously relevant or really annoying, on the fringe of personal injury.” PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 4 Context & privacy concern As technology evolves, resulting in new solutions and methods of interaction, brands are looking for ways to implement this technology and to connect with an audience that is always one step ahead and which increasingly demands a more personal and private space with room only for those companies who provide real value. PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 5 The ubiquity of smartphones has massively affected our own interpersonal relationships. We are hyperconnected; we can connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere. We can reach macro-audiences via social networks, and chat with our nearest and dearest through private messaging apps. This is the new digital relationship landscape and it is not showing signs of slowing down; the amount of time spent on mobile devices increases each year. We are constantly and intermittently connected, experiencing what Google calls “Micromoments”. The average smartphone user dedicates roughly 15 to 20% of their monthly mobile time to chatting. How is all that screen time used? We might agree that mobile devices are hyperpersonal, but what role do they really play in our lives? We spend most of our time in front of a screen. Research has shown that the average American now spends half of his or her life looking at a screen, and most of that time is spent on a mobile device. For some of us, the time we spend staring at a screen is even greater. What are spending all our time actually doing? Primarily, messaging others or watching videos. PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 6 In the following graph we can see clearly how apps help blur the lines between public and private, as the bulk of the time spent interacting with apps is connecting with others. Source: Flurry Analytics, 2015–2016 Year-Over-Year Time Spent Growth Whilst interacting via social networks is still a popular mode of communication, it’s messaging apps that are taking up most of our time. The most popular messaging applications have already surpassed the most popular social platforms in terms of number of active users. They’re also leading in terms of time spent interacting with the platform. PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 7 Source: Business Insider Despite increasing screen time, our attention span is more fragmented than ever, which is only further complicated by a limited amount of space in which to store apps produced in an already oversaturated market. In summary, time is limited, phone memory is limited, but what we’re able to offer the consumer is limitless. People are looking for more direct communication and, at the same time, they’re exploring new ways of enhancing their social experiences with digital tools. In August 2015, a study of US Smartphone users revealed that 43% of smartphone owners used a daily average of 4-6 applications. A recent study by App Annie saw this number increase to 10 apps per day. PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 8 Source: AppAnnie What can we say? People have got a lot to share. Messaging apps are evolving to incorporate most of the activities that we perform on mobile, namely - sharing photos, location or watching videos - three activities which tie in with the top 4 mobile-first activities from this October’s Global Web Indtex Data. We might not perform the original activity within the messaging app itself, but we’ll share it there. As chatbots evolve, we’ll begin to see them used more frequently to consult our bank history or receive shoppable product information. PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 9 Source: Apprival How do you engage users when there is so much competition for their attention? The main challenge brands face, in this landscape, is achieving engagement, and then retaining users. How long till they delete your app? In 2015, eMarketer revealed how app engagement decreased from the first day of download; 29% for android and 25.5% for iPhone, decreasing to 11% and 10% respectively on the seventh day and down to 3% on the 30th day. Other sources claim that 84% of applications are deleted the same day of download, after only one use. PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 10 Case study Spotlight on: REON Energy Consumer context: Insights The unanticipated Reon were in the process of developing a branded app, to promote events and group gatherings around the user’s location. Reon came to Good Rebels with the intention of finding out what their audience might want from the app and what features they could include to maximise uptake. We conducted a series of WhatsApp panels. Each participant was given access to the app and asked a series of questions over the course of a day. Our team communicated directly with participants. Throughout the project, we collaborated with the brand team and the app developers to evaluate the responses week by week and make relevant adjustments. Our objectives and the nature of our questions evolved during the course of the project we had to rethink out focus because the initial response to the app was quite lacklustre. We shaped the remaining waves of questions to focus on a more general perspective. We then invited the participants to come up with new ideas, developing the most popular and creative of these into new app concepts to consider. As a direct result of our findings, Reon made a strategic decision to reconsider their investment in the app. Whilst this might not have been the expected result at the start of the project, it proved to be an extremely beneficial one for the client, providing them with key feedback to help them redefine the project and informing their next steps. PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 11 In 2016, Deloitte divulged that 80% of apps developed by brands never exceed 1,000 downloads. As the app development market continues to grow at a breakneck pace, the situation becomes even more daunting. Looking at the most downloaded apps today we see that messaging apps (and mobile games) are leading the way. Recurrence of use is higher than average as well. Source: Emarketer Source: Statista PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 12 “Messaging is one of the few things that people do more than social networking.” Mark Zuckerberg, 2014 When Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014, Zuckerberg’s vision of the app landscape clearly reflected our own need to connect with others. Three of the top four most popular apps now belong to Facebook. They understand how people communicate and what they are interested in - and rest assured, they will maintain their dominance in the field of socialisation for some time to come. For the purposes of this study, let’s review our definition of messaging apps: Messaging apps are a bidirectional multimedia communication tool. They are intended to be primarily used on a mobile device and have strong evolutive capabilities in terms of functionality. How have messenger apps evolved to become such a great business opportunity? Because they can provide brands with a measure of relevance that has been so far unattainable on mobile devices. What can brands do with Messaging apps? Let’s reformulate the question - what are users doing with messaging apps? Who decides what users can and can’t do using a messaging app? The introduction of different app functionalities doesn’t revolve around user demand. It is messaging apps themselves, that enforce the functionality of the app, that educate users on what they PLANET OF THE APPS How messaging apps conquered the world 13 can expect from a messaging app.