User Experience and Data Analytics Rule at OCTANe OC Mobile Conference
On March 10, 2015, K:D Design Researcher Eunji Park and User Experience Designer Kyrsten Sanderson attended the OCTANe OC Mobile Conference. Held in Costa Mesa, OCMobile is the largest mobile conference in Orange County. This year’s event featured visionary speakers from Google, Samsung, Mobilitie, Ericsson, and Glu games, and covered topics raging from wearables to the Internet of Things (IoT) to Mobile App Acquisition.
Diving deep into mobility and the rapidly changing mobile tech industry, Eunji and Kyrsten left the event with three key takeaways:
1. An app or experience must create a meaningful experience for the user.
Unless your app or experience solves real needs, people will abandon it. The average U.S. user relies on 4-5 apps (only!) on a daily basis—regardless of how many apps they actually have on their phone. Occupying a user’s time and focus is key. In order to do this, the user experience must be engaging and relevant to the user. A developer cannot put something on the app store, let it sit, and expect success—updates and added features are key to creating a true relationship between the user and the app.
2. Data Analytics are transforming the mobile industry.
Based on a recent study, only 21% of developers deploy any sort of analytics solution. And, as app discovery is broadening, users are becoming more selective in what they download. This means that those out of tune with their user’s habits are being left in the dust. Data tells the story—listen to it! Traditionally users were segmented based on demographics, geography and psychographics, but now there is whole new area of data analytics to identify users based on user characteristics and behaviors. Developers should and are starting to use these analytics to drive user acquisition, foster user retention, and supercharge monetization strategy.
3. Cooperation across all verticals of the technology chain is necessary for mobile success.
When creating a mobile app or product, one of the first things you should consider is how you’re impacting other people in the technology chain. The network/cloud, infrastructure, hardware, devices, software, and applications are all equally important—as is their interplay. More sophisticated user experiences demand more from organizations outside of the software and application vertical.