3 S’s of Successful Mobile Apps

3 S’s of Successful Mobile Apps:

Years ago, I owned a Blackberry. I know. It's hard to imagine now. I remember distinctly making the decision of whether to purchase an iPhone or Blackberry for my first smartphone. A smart friend tried to nudge me in the right direction. She said, “If you get the Blackberry, you won’t have apps.”

At the time, I had no experience with mobile apps, so I didn’t appreciate their potential. Now, most smartphones and tablets have applications (apps) of some sort. And, now I own an iPhone full of applications I love and use on a daily basis… as well as applications I downloaded, tried once, and never used again.

When I think about what makes me go back to certain apps and not others, I think of the content. I find that content for successful mobile apps is simple, scalable, and sticky. Let me explain a bit more.

Simple Content

Let’s start with simple. Plato once said, “Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.” So do mobile apps. Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper, wrote a script to crawl customer reviews for keyword patterns. He found that among the most used adjectives for 5-star reviews was the word “simple.” His finding says a lot about what users expect from content on a mobile platform. “Simple” isn’t always easy to achieve, especially for organizations with lots of content. How simple is too simple? Take newspapers, for example. The New York Times has struggled to perfect their iPad application “Editors’ Choice.” Their first version was too scaled down.

Users bashed the app, saying “No content” “Where’s the content???” and “is an upgrade with full content planned?” Among the haters was Steve Jobs himself.

Times then released an updated version with more content. For Times, simple did not necessarily equal less content; simple equaled content that users wanted and could digest easily. That brings us to the next important characteristic for content in a mobile app, scalable.

Scalable Content

What do I mean by scalable content? In this case, I’m referring to the organization of content. Scalable content is organized in such a way that even if it is extensive, it is still easily digestible. Scalable content can be expanded or upgraded easily, without sacrificing its organization. When you offer users a large amount of valuable content or you know you’ll potentially be adding more content down the road, you must organize it so that the app always appears simple.

E*Trade Mobile Pro for iPhone is one example of an app that has added new content and features without sacrificing organization and design. If you take a look at early reviews, you’ll see a mix of praise for the user interface along with requests for new content and features. Here are a few older reviews:

“good for the basics, but lacks extended hours info” “I can’t see my accounts” “should include current market news” “very well designed and easy to use… hope they improve the charts. I’m waiting for the upgrade”

More recent reviews indicate E*Trade listened and revamped the app to deliver the content users wanted in a scalable way. Let's take a look:

“pretty much any information you want is here”

“I can even access my accounts”

“I get current market news”

The positive reviews about the added content and features go on and on...and yet the design still receives praise, too:

“these people know mobile and hand-held” “slew of useful information” “super design” “intuitive UI” “by far the best trading app out there”

Users noticed and appreciated the new content and features that were added to the existing “super design.” Scalability pays off.

So, let’s say you have an app with simple, scalable content. As we’ve seen, users will appreciate your efforts. But, what keeps them coming back? Sticky content.

Sticky Content

Sticky content is not content that people use once and then forget. It's content people want over and over again. No matter how simple, well-designed, and fun an app is, if it doesn’t have some value to be reaped over time, people will eventually abandon it. Instagram, for example, has a very basic function: To create, enhance, and share photos. Yet people continue to use it daily.

Besides being used on a frequent basis, content is sticky when it keeps users on an app or site for extended periods of time. A good example of an app with this goal is the new iPad app from Zappos: ZN Magazine.

The app is a lifestyle magazine, with articles about style and fashion geared towards Zappos’s target audience. The articles don’t directly push products. Instead, they take an editorial approach, educating and entertaining users on topics of interest to them.

Users can shop directly from the app as well as share the articles and products with their social networks.

Sticky content doesn't happen magically. It takes extensive planning. Before launching the app, Zappos dedicated the resources required for research, writing, and editorial oversight to produce fresh, quality content on a regular basis. If users enjoy the content, they’ll stay on the Zappos app for longer periods of time just to read it, and they’ll keep coming back to view new articles. All the while, Zappos extends awareness of their brand and guides users to products that interest them.

Is all sticky content either a photo enhancer or a lifestyle magazine? No—the possibilities to explore are almost endless. The key is to make sure your content gives users a reason to stay on your app and a reason to return later.

Will Your App Succeed?

If you're thinking about creating an app, consider that the content will make or break it. If you invest time upfront to plan content for your mobile app, you'll save yourself from desperately reworking your app or watching it slowly die later. Give your app staying power by giving it simple, scalable, and sticky content.