How to Make Your App More Engaging

Source: mashable.com

What's the best way to grow engagement in mobile apps?

First things first: Do you want to make an app that people like? Then maybe you shouldn't conflate "engaging" with time spent.

It turns out some of the most beloved apps are those that users can zip in and out of rapidly.

That was the finding of a 2011 study that looked at rates of engagement for branded apps. The upshot: Apps are a great vehicle for engendering good feelings about your brand. But informational, ostensibly less engaging apps were more likely to engage users than games or entertainment.

The reason, says Rob Potter, an associate professor at Indiana University, and co-author of the study, is that there are essentially two experiences that people have with apps — information-gathering and escape. The former actually leads to a calmer physiological state. Apparently, when our focus is external, our bodies calm down. The reverse is also true. (A panic attack would be an extreme version of an internally focused mindset.)

"We concluded that the more info an app provides — even though it seems boring and dry — it becomes a more personal bond between you and the brand," says Potter. Potter's finding was bolstered by another 2011 survey from Zokem (now a unit of Arbitron) that found that the most engaged apps were email, social networking and browsing, in other words, information gathering.

Louie Mantia, a designer at Pacific Helm, says for many apps efficiency trumps engagement. "For a lot of apps I've created, apps that aren't entertainment or games, the focus is on getting you out of the app quicker," he says. "In some apps, the point is to spend as little time in it as possible."

Making your app a tool for simple information gathering is a challenge to the conventional wisdom that everything should be gamified. Indeed, many will find that in their own personal experience, they use Candy Crush Saga and other games quite a bit.

Of course, there is a place for gaming and other escapist experiences delivered via apps. Here, there is no checklist of attributes that yield an engaging app. "You can't bottle up a formula to make apps engaging," says Mantia. "You do it by making a good product."

How to do that? Paul Murphy, the entrepreneur in residence at Betaworks, attributes some of the popularity of the company's Dots to an obsessive focus on quality. "I think our team would say to focus on the entire user experience - each pixel, button, interaction is an opportunity to delight your players/users." Murphy believes that creating a good app is more art than science: "Once we realized we had something, we measured and tested endlessly until it felt just right."

However, in the case of Dots, Murphy says Patrick Moberg, the Betaworks co-founder who came up with the Dots concept, didn't set out to make a game. Instead he was "experimenting with different modes of user interaction, and this idea of progressing through a story.... As he continued experimenting, we realized he created a particularly fun interaction around connecting things, and we decided to turn that into a game."

Viewed in such a light, the question of what makes for an engaging app — at least one of the non-utilitarian, immersive variety — is like asking what makes a movie entertaining. The breadth of successful apps proves the point. After all, what does FarmVille have in common with Dots or Candy Crush Saga except for bright colors?

Still not convinced that there's a formula to apply to apps for maximum stickiness? Then consider these suggestions from pros:

1. Run your app on desktop first, if possible. That's what King (the publisher ofCandy Crush Saga) does. "They already know what's going to be a hit," says Paul Brady, a rep for King. If a game proves itself on desktop, then King adds social components for Facebook. Later, it hits mobile.
2. Make your app enjoyable both for a long period and in 2-5 minute bursts. Many apps are used when users are waiting on line or in other tedious situations and are looking for snackable entertainment.
3. Pay attention to the sounds you use. Nik Fletcher, product manager atRealMac Software, says the satisfying plink sound that RealMac's Clear app makes when you finish a task is one reason for Clear's success. "It just makes you feel good," he says. "That's ultimately what it is, the feel-good factor."