The Story Behind the Latest Mobile App Stats

Insights from the latest mobile app stats: companies agree that mobile apps are a vital and yet, they lack insight on how their apps are performing.

Ported Post: This entry was originally published in the Artisan Mobile blog. Artisan was rebranded as In-App Marketing after being acquired by TUNE in July of 2015. 

There’s a narrative emerging from the latest mobile app stats. Companies agree that mobile apps are a vital channel for engaging with consumers. And yet, they lack insight on how their apps are performing, and as a result, many company apps aren’t living up to expectations. Negative results include customers who turn to competitive brands for information, and lower-than-hoped-for sales in the mobile channel.

Here’s a round-up of corporate mobile app stats today:

• 71% of retailers surveyed agree or strongly agree that mobile apps will become the single most important touch point for engaging with consumers in the next one to three years.  – Artisan
• Only 46% of businesses surveyed report that they’ve implemented a mobile analytics solution despite the fact that understanding the mobile channel is critical for improving consumer engagement.  – Forrester
• 31% of consumers report they are less likely to spend money with a company if they have a poor mobile app experience.  – Akamai
• Only 11% of e-commerce sales came from mobile commerce in 2012… which means there is huge upside potential if the mobile experience improves. – eMarketer
• 34% of consumers report that if they have a bad experience with a company’s mobile app, they are likely to switch to a competitor’s app the next time around.  – Akamai

The stats aren’t encouraging for corporate app developers. But there is a way to improve the outlook. Companies need to radically increase app usage analysis and optimization efforts.

In the Forrester report linked above, the analyst firm cites one example that highlights just how positive the impact of app optimization can be. Priceline increased conversions 400% just by simplifying its checkout process.

Understanding how users interact with a mobile app makes a huge difference. Monitoring, testing, improving – these are the steps in a virtuous cycle of app optimization. Rinse and repeat.