Business Model Principles: iPhone, iPad, and Web

In my last post in this series, I talked about user experience design principles for the iPhone versus the iPad versus the Web. In my first post, I said that many businesses are missing the boat by trying to duplicate features, and described how the feature set for applications should match the platform. Many of these same businesses are missing the revenue/business opportunities afforded by treating each platform differently and developing complementary strategies for them.

Entry Points and Conversion Points

As a company, your goal for your various websites and applications may be to sell a product, get users to contact you, have users register, and so on. Whatever that goal is, it’s referred to as a customer “conversion.” Theoretically, all three platforms can act as conversion points. For example, it’s possible to build an iPhone app that can be used to make a sale. That’s the ideal scenario. So, if you can build applications on each platform that are compelling enough to get users to download them and convert via the application, by all means do so.

In many circumstances, though, the iPhone and iPad platforms act as touchpoints with the customer. The customer doesn’t make a purchase through the application, but you hope it will be a way station on the road to a purchase. Ideally, you want those touch points to reinforce each other and to help potential customers become actual customers via whatever platform you’ve built for conversions.

Brands seem to understand this model best. They often create apps that complement their sites and are used to get the customers contact information or give users reasons to visit their website. (Of course, they don’t always do it well.) iPhone app developers are the group that gets this ladder strategy the least. They build an iPhone app and hope to make millions selling large volumes. Few do.

These developers and many of the companies with websites who have entered the iPhone app race fail to build their apps strategically. The key is to look at each platform as a piece of the puzzle, and make sure the pieces fit together. Build in ways that move customers up the ladder, and give users reasons to do so.

iPhone Strategy: Capture and Keep

Use your iPhone application to capture new customers and retain contact with consumers. The app is a way to keep in regular contact with your customer base. You capture and retain them by providing a must-have app. It provides features that your target customers “need”; something they feel they just can’t do without. It needs to be related to your business in some way, as well.

The hard part is finding something really compelling and useful to your customers. The great thing is that you don’t have to do a lot, you just have to do one important task well.

Focus on:

• A utility, game, or service that relates to your business and is of real value to your customers
• A narrow app that does its one job superbly (with a great user interface)
• Promoting it through all your channels to gain adoption
• Conversions via the application, if you can

Ladder up:

• Give users added features that they can only get through the website or the iPad app. Make those features a better with experience: the iPhone app works even better when you enter this information through the website.
• Give users discounts, special notices, or other tangible value that they can only get by providing email or contact info.
• Always make it opt-in, but give customers reasons to opt-in.
• Make the transition easy: let them create their account from the phone app or get their email via the application and send them an email reminding them to register from the iPad or computer.

The goal is to give your customers an app they love and find real value in, but hold out a carrot–or maybe a delectable dessert–that they can only get through a different platform or by providing the contact information you need to move them closer to conversion.

iPad Strategy: Engage and Convert

Your iPad application is a great place to convert customers. The iPad can provide a terrific online shopping experience, for instance. However, the experience on the iPad needs to be especially engaging–and designedspecifically for the touch screen device. The iPad is all about engagement. To get your customers to convert, you’ll need to be compelling–preferably exciting.

Focus on:

• An experience. An interactive experience if at all possible.
• Personalization. Tailor the content to this user, if you can. Give them reasons to tell you about themselves by improving their iPad experience when they do.
• Provide reasons to share. The iPad is portable, like a phone. But unlike a phone, the screen is large enough to be easily viewed by and used by more than one person. This is a great opportunity to create an app that is more fun with two or three people playing. Think about board games. The iPad can bring people together in that way, giving your app more exposure.
• Build it iPad application for conversion. Make sure to provide ways for users to buy, register, etc.

Ladder up:

• Give users a reason to come back. Build something into the experience that requires the user to return for more of something or a better experience.
• Tie it into the iPhone app. Provide some features or benefits that they now get in their iPhone app because they used the iPad app. Try to make those benefits something that encourages the user to return to the iPad app or your website regularly.
• Always make it opt-in, but give users reasons to opt-in.

Web Strategy: Inform, Add Value, and Convert

Your website should provide all the information your customers could want. It can also provide additional downloads or tools for your users, some kind of added value. It’s reliable and predictable. It’s where users can see all the information about you, and your business, and your products. Most importantly, it’s always a place where they can convert: make a purchase, contact you, chat with a salesperson, etc.

Focus on:

• Providing a superset of functionality. Surface all the information and functionality that you’ve provided as subsets in your iPhone app or iPad app–plus more.
• Duplicate (with appropriate changes) the iPad experiences, for users who don’t have an iPad.
• Add value, if appropriate. If you need users to come to your website, then provide key value that they can only get on the website, such as managing the information or settings for the matching iPhone application.

An Example Mobile Strategy

Let’s say that you are an online wine retailer, GreatWine.com. You sell and ship wines, in quantities of a case or more. Sometimes, you get remnants or limited quantities of various highly sought-after wines. People register on your website and provide a credit card. They can look through the wines available on the site and order them, pay for them, and you’ll ship them to the customer. You also preview wines that will be coming out in the next year and highlight wines or vintages that are expected to rate highly.

GreatWine iPhone App

You create a must-have iPhone app. The application lets you scan the barcode on a bottle of wine and see the ratings for that wine and the price range for it. Any wine afficianado would love this app and happily download it.

To ladder up, you build in additional features. When a customer scans a bottle, in addition to the ratings and prices, you have a button the user can click to see information about new releases expected from the same winemaker, in the next year, and their expected rating and price.

You also let users click another button if they want to be notified when those wines come out and are for sale. Users can enter their email or choose to be texted about the wines. Users who register also get an email with a link to your website. They can go to the website to find out about more wines and arrange additional notification, among other things.

GreatWine iPad App

GreatWine’s iPad app is an immersive experience. Users can really dig into wines here, with pictures of the bottles and the ability to zoom in on the label, video or pictures of the wine as it’s poured (so you can really see the color of each wine) and video interviews with the winemakers and wine experts. There are interactive maps and Google map views of the wine regions of each country, where you can zoom down to the wineries themselves to see the actual building where the wine is stored, and then view a catalog of all the wines made there, seeing their year, ratings, availability, cost, etc. And of course, you can purchase wine right through the iPad application. To tie the iPad application to the iPhone app, users can register for notifications about wines, to have them sent to their iPhone app.

To ladder up, you give users a reason to keep coming back. The app lets you provide information about the kinds of wines you like, lets you rate wines you’ve tasted, share your ratings with others, and view their ratings. You can use the app to plan a wine tasting and get suggestions for good wines to compare, or find the right wine for a given meal.  You can use it create a catalog of the wines you have, pulling in the information provided by your app on each wine, and be reminded when the wines you’re laying down should be tasted.

GreatWine Website

GreatWine’s website is what you’d expect. It has much of the content that the iPad has, but structured differently. The site is designed to make it easy for you to search for, review, and buy wine. It also lets you register, manage your account, and manage your iPhone app notifications. If you’ve created a catalog of wines on the iPad application, you can use the website to print labels for your wines, put wine up for sale, etc. If you don’t have an iPad, you can create the catalog on the website, of course. And, you can buy wine.

By providing complimentary and seamless experiences for users on all the different platforms, and using each strategically as an appropriate touchpoint with the customer, GreatWine will gain and retain the wine-lovers that make up their core customer base.

What do you think? How would you create an integrated approach for your company’s applications?

Don’t forget to check out my other posts in this series:

Picking features: Feature design principles for the iPhone, iPad, and Web
User interface: User experience principles for the iPhone, iPad, and Web