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SMARTWATCH APPS THAT WORK

5 Value Drivers To Make Your App Indispensable July 2015

WHAT’S THE VALUE OF A SMARTWATCH? For more than decade, the wearables industry has produced an increasingly steady stream of unitasking devices. Fitness trackers have enjoyed recent widespread adoption—while gadgets like pet activity monitors and gesture-controlled presentation remotes fill more obscure niches.

Now, multitasking smartwatches have the potential to upend the wearables market.

How can brands take advantage of this tiny addition to the device ecosystem?

To investigate, AnswerLab and Kerry Bodine & Co. partnered on a research study. We examined the expectations, needs, and behaviors of smartwatch owners and prospective buyers.

SMARTWATCHES ARE FUN, FLASHY… AND EXPENDABLE

THE LETDOWN

10

LETDOWN #1

Hardware limitations curb smartwatch usefulness.

•  Short battery life

•  Steep learning curve

•  Still tethered to phones

LETDOWN #2

Smartwatch apps don’t provide anticipated value.

•  Big shoes to fill

•  Back-to-phone syndrome

•  …Why bother?

I was surprised by how few functions there are. The idea is that you do most stuff on your iPhone.

– Pebble owner

“

”

App apathy

Many users in our study didn’t use apps on their watches. Most opened new apps once, failed to find value, then forgot about them altogether. Others didn’t know where to find apps— or didn’t realize they existed at all!

BAD NEWS FOR BRANDS

Nuance Participants made allowances for the watch’s failure to live up to expected features and functionality. But they had zero patience with apps that fell short.

Smartwatch app is forgettable

Smartwatch app is desirable

Smartwatch app is indispensible

Many of today’s smartwatch apps

are here

Smartwatch stagnation

A dearth of killer apps lowers the value proposition of the smartwatch as a whole.

BAD NEWS FOR MANUFACTURERS

I would want the watch to do more. Something needs to be added before I would buy.

– Prospective Samsung buyer

“ ”

It’s a fun thing to have and to talk about. But it’s not a necessity like your phone.

– Prospective Apple buyer

“ ”

Smartwatch is abandoned

Smartwatch is a luxury

Smartwatch is an appendage

Today’s smartwatches

are here

HOW CAN YOU CREATE APPS THAT MAKE SMARTWATCHES— AND YOUR BRAND—INDISPENSABLE?

VALUE DRIVERS

5 VALUE DRIVERS TO CREATE KILLER SMARTWATCH APPS:

1.  Get intimate with your users. Tap into preferences, past behaviors, and current context.

2.  Curate ruthlessly. Strip content and design elements to the bare minimum.

3.  Enable bite-size interactions. Empower users to complete meaningful tasks in a flash.

4.  Leverage the device ecosystem. Provide value while utilizing the strengths of other devices.

5.  Show utility now. Provide immediate evidence of your app’s benefits.

I’m pretty sure I know what to expect from this app…

Expectation

5. SHOW UTILITY NOW

“ Reality:

”

WTF is this?!? What does this even do? ” “

Don’t do this JetBlue’s app provides no guidance on what makes it useful. Can users book a flight? Check flight status? Make onboard purchases? There’s no way to tell, and the countdown clock feels…ominous.

Or this The Fandango app shows movie info, but only if a user has already purchased a ticket. Without an upcoming reservation, the app only shows screenshots of unrelated movie quotes.

Try this OpenTable makes a very specific promise: users can expect a reminder of existing reservations on their wrist — presumably, at the appropriate time.

SHOW UTILITY NOW.

High Hopes Our study participants had very specific mental models

that shaped their expectations for smartwatch apps—

models that had little to do with descriptions in the app

store, which they were unlikely to read. If functionality

didn’t match up, users’ interest in the app cratered.

No second chances Once disappointed, users were unlikely to open an app

in the future to check for additional functionality.

Watch this As users gained more smartwatch experience, most

admitted that perfect phone app replicas wouldn’t be

useful on the watch interface. Instead, they advocated

for transparency as soon as they opened an app.

What does it do and when?

Why it matters SHOW UTILITY NOW.

I imagine the watch does the same thing as a cell phone. – Prospective Apple buyer

“ ”

To an app whose function she didn’t understand: Go away!

– Moto360 owner “ ”

What it might look like SHOW UTILITY NOW.

Too soon Julia’s flight is later in the week, so when she opens her airline app she’s reminded: “check back here for your boarding pass.”

Ready to go After parking at the airport,

Julia looks again: she can see both

her boarding pass and her flight status

on her watch.

Cruising altitude Once Julia is connected to the onboard wifi, her airline app gives her a quick nudge to show it has switched functions: she can use it to make onboard purchases.

Touchdown Julia checks her hotel app from the tarmac to get the hotel address. The app also tells her “your room key will appear here after you check in at the front desk.”

Around town After she stops to pick up her rental car, an app buzzes to life. She sees she can use it for two things: Remotely unlocking her car, and calling emergency services in case of an accident.

Home again After her trip, Julia’s travel apps switch function again, this time showing that her she can use them to request her recent receipts.

Julia is a 60-year old business

traveler.

To learn more about what drives smartwatch app value and how to get started, download the full report now!

Download FREE Report

AnswerLab Kerry Bodine & Co.

Kerry Bodine & Co. is a customer experience consultancy with a passion for human- centered design. We believe that remarkable customer experiences can’t be outsourced. They must be built from within. And that requires new ways of working and thinking. That’s why we approach our journey mapping engagements as coaches—not as traditional business consultants. Happy customers lead to happy shareholders. LET’S MAKE HAPPY HAPPEN.

AnswerLab.com @AnswerLab

KerryBodine.com @kerrybodine

Unparalleled Insights. Exceptional Experiences. AnswerLab delivers the insights and advice that shape exceptional digital experiences. Our proprietary solutions and objective user experience experts enable the world’s leading brands to dramatically improve marketing effectiveness and product performance. We help you envision new digital marketing opportunities and products, optimize existing ones, and measure their impact.