There were so many developments last year that excited consumers and challenged app developers to up their game. From experimenting with AR/VR technology to utilizing the power of personalization to deliver an even more intuitive smartphone experience, apps are becoming bigger, bolder and more brilliant.
With such rapid developments underway, I turned to some of our industry’s most insightful thought leaders and influential innovators to get their views on the developments we can expect this year. We touched on everything from how OEMs are facilitating app discovery away from crowded app stores to how 2023 is the year AI goes totally mainstream. In short, their predictions make me think we are only now entering the golden age of mobile.
OEMs and Operators: Simplifying App Discovery
The last few years have seen mobile manufacturers play an increasingly important role in app discovery. OEMs are seeing the benefits, particularly in terms of brand awareness and improved customer satisfaction, of facilitating app discovery directly on devices.
Daniele Servadei, CEO and co-founder of e-commerce payment processing platform Sellix, told me that the key to the success of preloads and on-device discovery is in the convenience and efficiency of these models. However, he noted that to reap the full benefits, OEMs are partnering with third-party platforms to help “expand their reach, tap into new user segments, and enhance their brand image — they enable them to offer a wider range of services and experiences to users.”
Kevin Lee, the Chief Digital Officer for Consumers at the BT Group, observed that for manufacturers, there will be a greater focus on striking a balance between guiding users towards specific apps and services and giving customers the autonomy to create their own unique mobile experience. “While OEM partnerships and preloaded apps offer prominence to specific utility and ‘household name’ applications, OEMs and operators need to strike a balance between increasing their installed base and promoting specific apps, while still offering customers autonomy to create a personalized device experience that suits them, he explained.
Of particular importance is how the role of OEMs and operators in facilitating app discovery will continue to evolve. The digital communications & advertising director for Turkey’s leading telecoms company Turkcell and the CEO of BIP, Gökhan Yüksektepe, predicted that as it becomes more difficult for users to discover new apps through traditional channels, there will be a greater emphasis on preloads and device-level discovery. However, Gökhan said that other channels should not be ignored: “It is also worth noting that other discovery models, such as social media, influencer marketing, and user reviews, are also becoming increasingly important in app discovery. As users increasingly rely on recommendations from friends and influencers to discover new apps, these models may become more important in the future.”
Gökhan also forecasts surging demand for third-party discovery platforms to help manufacturers and operators keep their competitive edge. “By partnering with these platforms, manufacturers and operators can gain access to a larger pool of apps that they can promote to their customers, which can lead to a more diverse and personalized app experience,” he said. “Additionally, these partnerships can help manufacturers and operators to keep up with the latest trends and innovations in the app ecosystem, which can help them to stay competitive and meet the changing needs of their customers.”
Jinesh Vohra, the CEO of mortgage app Sprive, said that third-party platforms had been key to his app’s success: “With Sprive, such partnerships have quickly allowed us to offer our customers a solution where every time they shop at brands such as Morrisons, M&S, Waitrose, Costa, Primark and a whole lot more they get paid extra towards the mortgage. Such partnerships can lead to being able to perform join marketing efforts to help acquire new customers, build trust and improve overall brand awareness of the app.”
Personalization: Creating a Unique Mobile Experience
The customer demand these days is for a totally customized and utterly personal device experience. As far back as 2015, surveys were showing that this was the number one expectation for users. App personalization is the most certain way to keep your audience engaged and responsive, with statistics consistently demonstrating that tailoring apps increases retention and conversion rates.
Predictive analytics have been a powerful tool for creating greater personalization. Machine learning techniques allow us to analyze historical data and identify the patterns for understanding future customer behavior and preferences.
James Malcolm, Head of Engineering (Mobile) at digital development firm xDesign, said that to harness the power of data analytics, app developers should consider putting out features in an “incomplete” stage, to monitor customer engagement with the feature without spending too long developing it. “The ideal scenario from an app perspective is to put a lot of features out in incomplete phases and see if the end-user interacts with them. This way teams and companies will stop spending months developing features that end users don’t, and won’t, engage with,” he explained. “A developer or team could spend a day on an incomplete feature and put it out with analytics to monitor engagement. If the user then uses it they know it is worth them spending time on that feature. If not they know they can abandon that feature and focus on something else.”
Successful personalization has corresponded to the development and utilisation of artificial intelligence technology, said Adnan Masood, the chief AI architect at software company UST. He commented: “AI is increasingly being used to understand users’ preferences and behaviors and deliver highly targeted marketing messages for demographic, contextual, and personalised marketing messages. Any app that understands a user’s purchase history and current location can deliver highly relevant and time-sensitive promotional offers, just as a news or social media app that understands a user’s interests and reading habits can present articles tailored to their preferences, resulting in a more enjoyable and informative experience.”
Adnan predicted huge advancements in how AI will better personalize the user experience. He said that there will be more fluid, seamless, efficient and effective interactions in the future, particularly with the rise of multi-modal interaction and conversational interfaces. He said these intelligent interfaces are “transforming the smartphone landscape with capabilities such as understanding speech, images and text.”
Emerging Trends: The Future of Mobile
Data from mobile marketing platform Adjust indicates there are several app categories that will go from strength to strength. Stats showed that fintech apps enjoyed an outstanding year in 2022, with the yearly average of sessions on these types of apps up 17% on the previous year globally. In the EMEA regions that figure was 37%.
Alexandre Pham, Adjust’s VP EMEA, said this is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has cemented certain trends — in this case, users becoming far more accustomed to managing their finances digitally. “What’s more, as increasing cost of living drives consumer interest in easy money management, consumers will continue to realise and take advantage of the benefits of fintech apps in 2023,” Alexandre added. “Simple payment processes, quick access to funds and effective money management tools, to name a few, will continue to draw in consumers.”
In addition, Adjust has predicted an increase in so-called “citizen developers,” which will emerge as a popular way to scale application development beyond traditional means. “Complex coding practices will become widely replaced with low-code and no-code tools, enabling non-technical individuals within everyday teams to utilize simpler development formats to build more customer-centric applications,” explained Katie Madding, Adjust’s Chief Product Officer. “No longer will businesses solely rely on highly educated developers, data scientists or engineers for product development.”
Turkcell’s Gökhan Yüksektepe said the COVID-19 pandemic had momentously changed the app industry and irrevocably changed consumer behavior. He said that one area where this is most noticeable is the dominance of food and grocery delivery apps, which proliferated during the pandemic and remain hugely popular. Gökhan also highlighted how health apps, particularly virtual consultation services, as well as remote work & education apps and e-commerce apps will remain in demand for the same reasons.
Gökhan also noted that mobile personalization will become even more sophisticated this year as AI and ML are integrated into more apps. “This will enable apps to provide more personalized and relevant content to users, optimize app performance, enhance security measures and enable new capabilities and features,” he commented.
Lastly, data from digital analytics firm Amplitude show several COVID-19 pandemic era trends are here to stay. The app usage for food delivery apps has grown 164% since January 2020, which is faster than any other industry in the analysis. Personal finance apps have also seen momentous growth in usage, with 77% of all end users accessing banking products via apps by December 2021 — the highest percentage of app use among industries. Daniel Bailey, Amplitude VP, commented: “On top of that, the growth in digital activity over the last two years means that companies with digital products have even more touchpoints with the customer and more first-party data available to them. Leveraging this information to build a seamless digital experience is mission critical for any forward thinking company. After all, every touchpoint with the customer is an opportunity to drive engagement, retention, and growth.”
Originally posted on Forbes
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