"Apps are going to come back" predicts SeeWhy founder Charles Nicholls
Mobile apps will make a comeback despite the rise in mobile optimised websites, Charles Nicholls, founder of SeeWhy, has predicted.
Nicholls, who founded the real-time analytics firm in 2003, was speaking alongside Gemma MacNaught, lead conversion consultant for Conversion Factory at Conversion Conference London, where they offered advice on retail mobile conversion. Discussing mobile conversion, Nicholls explained that research showed that retail brands were still prioritising the development of apps despite consumer demand for full cross-screen experience.
"If you're in media or music or gaming, then apps are going to be really important to you, but if you're a pure-play retailer, unless you are really big into loyalty, you are better getting the full experience on the screen," he advised, before discussing the growth of mobile couponing, which he said would be "absolutely huge" and would "change the way that we use mobile completely".
He added: "There will be a revolution there simply because if you look at what is happening with PayPal and Apple, it's giving the usability to target in-store. All of the browsing behaviour leveraging mobile is based on where they are in-store and their proximity to that, then the logical step is through an app... consumers will sign up for apps specifically if they know that they are going to get something back in-store. Initially you get this phase of optimising for the full-store experience on the small screen, but apps are going to come back."
Meanwhile, during the presentation, MacNaught also offered some best practice tips for mobile retail websites, using ASOS mobile site as a prime example, a list of which is outlined below:
Snappy headlines and to the point copy
Users are happy to swipe and scroll
Easily readable font size
Tidy up navigation
Finger friendly links and buttons and form fields
No hover-over states on mobile
Autocomplete functions
Limit pop ups