Going Mobile: No App Required - 5 Ways to Go Mobile Without Building An App

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J o n a t h a n S u l l i v a n

Going Mobile: No App Required December 5, 2013 1:45P M Hashtag: #tech13 LS2

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There's an app for that …

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1. Understand the options for engaging audiences through mobile devices—without building an app.

Key Takeaways

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2. Understand the pros and cons of each of the alternative paths to going mobile.

Key Takeaways

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3. Map alternative paths to going mobile to your organization’s vision, people, process and technology tools.

Key Takeaways

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• Mobile Web • E-mail • Social Media • Mobile Partnerships • White Labeling

Ways to Go Mobile

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Mobile Web

m.

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• Pros – Easy for customers – Cross-platform compatibility – Potential to reuse existing resources – Low technical hurdle

Mobile Web

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• Cons – Requires effort to do well –Must be done well to be worth it –May require a second set of content or code to

maintain* –Many 3rd party web-based apps are not mobile

friendly

Mobile Web

*m.

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• Best for these organizations – Reliant on existing web content or functionality – Technical staff – Non-technical or young audience –Multi-lingual or Global

Mobile Web

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E-mail

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2013 2014 2015 2016 2017Global Business and Consumer Mobile Email Users (M)

897 1,152 1,422 1,632 1,779

% Growth 28% 23% 15% 9%

E-mail

Email Statistics Report, 2013-2017, Ó April 2013 The Radicati Group, Inc.

48% of email is now opened on a mobile device! – “Email Analytics,” Litmus (Nov 2013) !61% of consumers now read at least some of their emails on a mobile device, 30% read emails on a mobile device exclusively! – “Email Compass: The Mobile Effect,” Yesmail (2013)

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• Pros – You are already doing it – Your audience is already doing it – Inexpensive – Low technical barrier to entry

E-mail

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• Cons – Links to mobile unfriendly content create a

bad experience (but no worse) – Less real estate for content

E-mail

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• Best for these organizations – Reliant on immediacy of communications – Non-technical staff and audience –Multi-lingual or global – Those with an omnichannel strategy

E-mail

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E-mail Case StudyAIA Store Marketing E-mail

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• Business Case – Low engagement with existing e-mails – High production cost – Time to market

E-mail Case Study

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E-mail Case StudyAIA Store Marketing E-mail

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• What worked well – Substantial increase in opens, click-thrus and

orders – Saved $1,500 per e-mail – Decreased time to market – 40% of website traffic from mobile devices

E-mail Case Study

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• What didn’t work well – Low initial comfort level with simplified format – Tinkering with layout for different platforms

E-mail Case Study

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• Lessons Learned – Don’t design for Outlook – Be prepared for resistance from internal

stakeholders – Test and iterate

E-mail Case Study

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Social Media

Social is mobile

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Social Media

• Pros – You are already doing it * – Your customers are already doing it – No development expertise needed

* If not, shame on you!

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Social Media

• Cons – Social is labor intensive – You don’t control it

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• Best for these organizations – Reliant on continuous engagement – Content is highly visual – Traditional audience is declining – Socially savvy staff – Low regulatory entanglement

Social Media

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Social Media Case Study

Architecture Week 2013

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Mobile Partnerships

Your content, someone else’s experience.

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• Pros – Allows you to focus on your content – New market opportunities – Expand your reach

Mobile Partnerships

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Mobile Partnerships

• Cons – Content may need to be revised, rewritten – Editorial support – Licensing

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Mobile Partnerships Case Study

AIA–Broadcastr Partnership

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Mobile Partnership Case Study

• Business Drivers – Purpose of a design often goes unnoticed – Architectural contributions unknown to the

public – Promotion of architects who are not

“starchitects” – Engage the architectural enthusiast

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Mobile Partnership Case Study

• Why Broadcastr?

– Unique ability to deliver location based audio – Promotes engagement with urban environments

– Short 3-minute audio keeps listeners engaged

– Users spend 9 minutes in the app

– Audience of up to 250,000 users

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• What worked well – Featured on Forbes.com – Featured on a Twitter roundup about cities – High interest & engagement from AIA members – Public interest in the project – Catalyst for partnerships

Mobile Partnership Case Study

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Mobile Partnership Case Study

• Challenges – Broadcastr pivoted … and became SPUN … and then went belly up …

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Mobile Partnership Case Study

• Lessons Learned – Be prepared for change – Build in flexibility and scalability

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White Labeling

Your brand, someone else’s can.

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White Labeling

• Pros – Speed to market – Cost – Best of breed – Customers won’t know the difference – All the advantages of having an app

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White Labeling

• Cons – Cost – Dependency – Compromises

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• Best for these organizations – Reliant on functionality that only an app can

provide – Lack the resources to produce an app – Good for short-lived apps

White Labeling

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White Labeling Case StudyAIA National Convention App

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White Labeling Case Study

• Business Drivers – Reduced environmental impact – Content can be updated in real time – Attendee can customize schedule, itinerary – Greater depth of information – New source of sponsorship revenue

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White Labeling Case Study

• Why White Labeling? – Lack of in-house capability – Large selection of mature solutions – Doing a mobile website was not an option

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White Labeling Case Study

• What worked well – Time to market – Low level of effort to get started – Return on investment – Lower environmental impact

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White Labeling Case Study

• What didn’t work well – Difficult to update content – User experience fell short – Not enough time for testing – Registered under developer in app store

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White Labeling Case Study

• Lessons Learned – Requirements before vendor selection – Build in more time for reviews – Register under your own name in app store

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White Labeling Case StudyAIA National Convention App

@techconf #tech132013-12-05 16:19:54

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