Mobile Activity and Usage

Establishing a mobile presence is more important than ever. If you are cynical about this fact, just look at how mobilization is being encouraged by our society.

1. An estimated six billion people will be using mobile devices by 2020.
2. Mobile apps were downloaded approximately 194 billion times in 2018.
3. Within just 2 years, consumers spent 75% more money in app stores, reaching $101 billion throughout the world.
4. Worldwide consumers spent 120% more money on in-app subscriptions for apps that were not games.
5. On average, people used their smartphones for 3 hours per day in 2018.
6. In the United States, the average mobile phone user has more than 100 mobile apps currently installed.
7. On average, smartphone users engage with their mobile device approximately 47 times daily.
8. 80% of smartphone users look at their devices within 60 minutes prior to going to sleep.
9. 35% of smartphone users look at their devices within 5 minutes prior to going to sleep.
10. People between the ages of 16 and 24 (Generation Z) are spending 20% additional time using apps than everyone else.
11. In 2018, out of every form of digital media which was used that year, 57% of it was mobile apps.

People are clearly dependent on their smartphones. Because of this, business models should be established which coincide with the behavior of your target audience. For instance, if your audience mostly uses mobile devices for communication, then you need to accommodate their preference by using mobile technology to communicate with them.

Performance of Mobile Devices

Mobile users have set pretty high expectations as far as the performance and functionality of their mobile devices are concerned. The mobile content you create must show up perfectly on different mobile devices and screen sizes. After all, not everybody uses the same smartphone model or tablet model.

Mobile web content cannot be ignored. When you create web apps for mobile devices, they should be suitable for consuming content. In fact, you can design these apps to emulate original apps. Although, the usability of these web apps is dependent on the performance of the web browser. Therefore, your mobile web content must be designed to detect the resolution of the mobile device being used. After that, it can adjust the content accordingly to show up on that screen in the best presentation possible.

All mobile apps must be tested vigorously. You need to know how long they take to load, whether they crash, and if the registration fields are complicated to fill out. Overall, these tests determine the quality of the user experience. If you want your app to be successful in the market, then you must put yourself in the shoes of the users.

1. 71% of app uninstalls are because of crashes.
2. iOS devices account for 67% of all reported bugs.
3. Users find 44% of all in-app flaws.
4. 47% of all apps require additional testing time.
5. 58% of mobile app users experience frustration related to interface irregularities.
6. 52% of mobile app users experience frustration related to the general performance of apps.
7. 29% of mobile app users won’t want to use an app anymore if there is no apparent value.
8. 70% of mobile app users will quit an app if they must wait a long time for it to load content.
9. 43% of mobile app users expressed unhappiness with having to wait over 3 seconds for something to load on their apps.
10. 65% of mobile app users claim that a bad mobile app experience causes them to think negatively about the app brand.

Your app product is not ready for the marketplace until it is tested, and all its problems are fixed. Make sure you incorporate documented testing into your mobile strategy.

Mobile Advertising

It is difficult for any enterprise to gain momentum in the app marketplace, regardless of how big that enterprise may be. That is why creating a mobile app marketing plan is essential to do if you want your app launch to be successful. Your marketing plan will change regularly, so consistent maintenance is required.

1. 54% of advertisers claim they utilize a mobile application platform for advertising to customers and potential customers.
2. There has been a 29.9% drop in the cost of obtaining mobile users. Now it is just a $2.89 cost to get each user.
3. In 2018, it cost $4.58 to obtain a user that totally fills out a registration form. This cost is actually a 44.2% decrease from previous years.
4. Taking advantage of an engagement strategy with multiple channels is great for retaining users. In fact, this retention technique creates a 62% increase in app retention rates versus apps which have only one channel of user engagement.
5. Description updates were the most popular type of optimization for the app store. Its popularity rating was 46%.
6. Mobile app icon updates came in second place on the app store optimization list of techniques. It was rated at 30%, which was a 24% increase from the previous year.
7. Out of all the money spent on digital advertisements in the United States in 2018, 65% of it was mobile ads.
8. There was a 10% increase per year in the number of high-ranking apps that were downloaded due to a paid marketing strategy.
9. 25% of additional advertising platforms were leveraged by the Apple App Store each year.
10. 20% of additional advertising platforms were leveraged by the Google Play Store each year.

Mobile apps are evolving in the marketplace at a rapid rate. Establishing customer experience connections have become a new requirement amongst companies now. But there needs to be more done than using channels, common tactics, and toolkits to connect with audiences and satisfy app users’ expectations.

Vertical Trends

Thoroughly examining every vertical of a mobile app can show us the ways in which users engage with it. There are various session lengths, in-app activity, and retention rates for every category and vertical.

FinTech and Banking

1. In 2018, there were a whopping 3.4 billion app downloads for FinTech and other banking apps. This was a 75% boost over a 2-year period.
2. Between FinTech and banking apps, each session lasted for an average of 3.1 minutes.

QSRs, Food, and Restaurants

1. In 2018, there was a 130% increase from 2016 in the number of consumers who used their mobile apps to purchase food and beverages.
2. In the United States, there was a 175% increase in the use of food delivery apps.
3. In Canada, there was a 255% increase in the use of food delivery apps.

Travel

1. In 2018, the 5 most popular car-sharing apps saw 25% growth each year.
2. Sharing apps for bikes and scooters saw a 530% increase in usage in just one year since their debut.
3. Travel apps were used for an average of 2.8 minutes.

Retail

1. The greatest month ever for mobile shopping was November 2018. This was calculated by the total amount of time in which consumers spent shopping.
2. Retail and shopping apps were used for an average of between 4.6 minutes and 5 minutes.
3. Shopping on mobile applications saw a 70% growth over 2 years in the United States.

Remember that each app vertical features its own benchmarks and recommended practices.

Predictions for 2019

1. In 2019, consumers will spend over $120 billion on apps.
2. For every 60 minutes that people spend watching media content, 10 minutes of it will be devoted to watching mobile video streams.
3. An additional 60% of apps will use in-app marketing for monetization purposes.
4. Consumers throughout the world will spend an extra 460% on streaming and entertainment apps because of streaming services and in-app subscriptions.
5. The market share will see a 60% increase in mobile gaming.
6. It will be easier to obtain new users. However, converting new users will have a 63% increase in cost. This increases the challenge to build loyalty with your users.
7. In 2018, it cost about $53.12 on average to obtain a female user that purchases something in an app. This cost is expected to increase in 2019.
8. In 2018, it cost an average of $53.12 to obtain a female user that actually converts. It will stay expensive in 2019 as well.
9. Female users engaged at a rate of 39.6% in 2018. This is 44.4% more than male users. In 2019, this rate will remain stagnant.
10. 78% of teenagers will make their primary mobile device a smartphone.