3 Questions that help Determine if You Should Ditch a Mobile App Idea
A few months ago at the Worldwide Developers Conference Apple shared that there are 900,000 apps in the App Store. Research firm Adven found that 64% of those apps, or 580,000 apps, are zombie apps, meaning they are downloaded under 100 times a day and never make most used lists.
Below are 3 questions to help mobile developers determine if an app idea will result in a zombie app.
1. Is the app expected to be used at least daily by most users?
Popular apps solve a pain point that occurs frequently. Whether it’s a need to stay connected, capture a moment, get directions, or see recommendations, if the use case for an app doesn’t come up often enough, an app will be forgotten, and is likely to be a zombie app. Bottom line if there’s a need to use an app daily then it is likely a winning idea.
2. Is there a negative emotion that’s associated with the app?
According to Nir Eyal, a professor at Stanford University, successful apps have a negative valence (or negative emotion) that is used as a trigger to get users to come back to an app. Below are examples of negative emotions associated with top apps.
Facebook: fear of missing out
Instagram: fear of missing the moment
SnapChat: fear associated with permanent media
Pandora: boredom
Candy Crush: boredom
3. Can the app be built to respond as quickly as a TV remote does?
Mobile app users are often on the go and have no time or patience for slow apps. Based on a study by Ilya Grigorik from Google users expect apps to respond instantaneously, within a second. If the app takes up to 3 seconds users perceive it as still working, but beyond that their minds start to wonder and they leave in droves. Therefore when picking an app idea validate that the app can be designed to respond as quickly as a TV remote does.
Bonus Question
Here is another less important question: is the app category popular among top apps? Many top apps are improvements within already popular app categories. Looking at the top 100 apps, as listed on Onavo.com, these categories emerge:
– Photos / Videos
– News
– Shopping
– Games / Entertainment
– Music
– Communication
– Weather
– Maps / Local Businesses
– Finance
– Sports / Fitness
This is probably the least important question to satisfy. Even if an app does not fit into a popular category there could still be an opportunity to have a popular app. Examples of such apps include Bible, DropBox and Flashlight.
Final Thoughts
The above questions can be a useful tool for gauging whether to invest time and money launching a mobile app. If there are additional questions that could be useful please suggest them below.
