[Photo courtesy of Rob Enslin]
As an investor, I get to see several
new companies every week. User
experience is a key dimension of success for these companies, especially the
mobile applications companies. I can't
tell you how many times I see UIs that are completely cluttered and don't get
to the crux of the value-add fast enough.
Now the end-user perspective: In the
last few months, when at home, I'm now spending more time on my mobile device
than on my laptop. Whether it's for
checking email, doing a web search, getting directions, reading blogs, looking
at photos, listening to music etc., my mobile device has become my preferred
computing device. So I asked myself why
this was the case. Here’s why:
Other than the need to use a
smart/super-phone such as the iPhone or Android-based device with a 3G or Wifi
broadband connection, the key is that the app immediately gets me to the #1
value-add of the app... and in most cases, I don't need two fingers - just my
thumb. Some examples:
- Flixster: The first menu item is
"Movies I Want to See". Instant gratification.
- Google Reader: Get me to a
directory where I can read all unread posts or post by category
immediately. Great.
- Pandora: Immediately starts
playing the channel that I was playing when I exited the app the last time.
Perfect.
- INRIX (full disclosure: Venrock is
an investor) - on the iPhone, as soon as I launch the INRIX Traffic!
application, it zooms in to where I am and displays road traffic flow and
incident data around me. Great.
- Gowalla: Immediately finds places
around where I am and lets me check in. Done.
- Echofon: Shows the latest stream
of tweets in reverse chronological order immediately. Sets my screen at the
oldest tweet that I haven't yet read. Perfect.
I wish some of these mobile apps did
a better job (I still like them a lot, though):
- LinkedIn: The latest release of the LinkedIn iPhone app
is a huge step up from what LinkedIn had before. What you get now is a laundry
list of functionality to pick from e.g. "Status", "Connections",
"Favorites", "Invitations", "Themes" etc. Why not pick one of these items as the first
screen to drop users into?
- Tripit: The mobile app is
fantastic value-add. However, why not drop me into my current trip immediately
instead of showing me a menu listing all my trips?
I think the wired Web has spoiled developers
in one dimension - it's given them too much real estate to play with and, as a
result, they have crammed too much into that interface. An example is Flixster
- unlike the mobile app where I immediately can get to 'Movies I'd like to
Watch', on flixster.com, I have to list all the movies I've rated and then sort
them by categorization - it takes too long and is very frustrating. The main value-add for me on Flixster is to
get to the 'Movies I'd like to Watch' list.
So effectively, Flixster has put a giant barrier between my
in-the-moment need and its gratification.
The moral of the story: If you're
building a mobile app, think carefully about what this one key value-added
feature is and immediately get your users to that portion of the app when they
launch the app. Preferably with no
clicks but at most one click.
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