Mobile Moms The Truth About Apps

PSRF/MRA Conference Keeping It Real in the Real-Time World April 11, 2013

Hemispheres Confidential

Research DataWorks, Inc.

Our Question

Are apps fulfilling their promise for moms?

(The promise of making life easier, that is)

Who are Mobile Moms?

Women 18-54 Children under 18 at home

Moms in the US

Own and use a smart phone, cell phone, and/or tablet.

Mobile 88%

Not Mobile 12%

About 33 million Moms in the US today fit our definition

Source: Hemispheres Mobile Moms Survey, July 2012

2009: Tech Trifecta

Remember this? As recently as 2009, moms tech life was defined by a cell phone, digital camera and laptop.

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IMAGESOURCE: GETTYIMAGES.COM

2012: 4x More Moms with Smartphones

2009: 14%

2012: 57%
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Source: Hemispheres Moms and Technology Survey, July 2009; Mobile Moms Survey, July 2012

2013: Smartphone Singularity

Laptops are still important but smartphones are dominant and moms are using them to do what used to take multiple devices.

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IMAGESOURCE: GETTYIMAGES.COM

What Mobile Means

Although true for everyone, its especially important to Moms that mobile means convenient, free, immediate and always easy to reach.

The accessibility of mobile (both being reachable anywhere and being able to reach out from anywhere) has reduced the stress on moms of managing multiple family responsibilities.

Mobile to me means being able to relax where ever I want in the house and not have to sit at a desk.

Mobile means not being wired to one spot. It means that I can do what I need to be done, no matter my location!

Mobile means "easy."

Smartphones = A Lot More Done on the Go

86%

Using a Mobile Device for

69% 58%
28% 18% 9% 8%

52%

62%

68% 54%

67%

8%

3%

2009

2012
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Source: Hemispheres Moms and Technology Survey, July 2009; Mobile Moms Survey, July 2012

Tablets Are for Content

Tablets are considered small laptops, rather than a bigger phones. This means tablets are used less for communication band more for content creation and consumption. Tablets are not connected as phones.

27% of Mobile Moms own a tablet

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What Mobile Means

Yet for all the talk of convenience and ease, moms have something of a love/hate relationship with their mobile devices, as they try to find an appropriate balance between technology demands and personal interactions

have what I need at my fingertips all the things I can do stay in touch with family and friends, no matter where I am

so dependent on it reach me anytime anywhere time away from family and friends

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What Mobile Means

In addition, dependence on mobile devices carries with it the fear of life without them.

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The World of Apps

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The World of Apps

Apps that

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Bad App!!
Characteristics of apps that moms hate include:
Dont run reliably Drain battery life Arent up front about costs to play Require frequent updates Are complicated and difficult to learn how to use

The Pandora app totally disappointed me because it takes up too much space.

Apps that are not user friendly make my life more difficult because I am wasting my time trying to figure them out.

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Infotainment? Entermation?
Moms strike a balance in app use between entertainment and information. More often than not, an entertainment app download is accompanied (or followed closely) by a more utilitarian app.

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A Day in the Life of Moms Apps

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A Day without Apps

Without Apps, moms days are more stressful because of the need to rely on wired, not-as-mobile things like laptops and phone calls.

Word cloud from comments about what it was like to be without apps for a day.

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App Search
Current app search processes are mostly satisfactory, although the sheer volume of apps can be overwhelming.

It was easy to find a weather app, as there are over 4000! But with 4000 apps, its hard to choose

Weeding through all the crappy ones to find a legit app [is] the most time consuming part.

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Choosing Apps
Because of the volume of search results, moms are often looking for recognizable brands when choosing apps.

Moms will also choose apps based on reviews and recommendations from friends.

I usually download apps after reading about them in magazines or hearing about them from other moms.

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Free vs. Paid

Moms mostly try to use free apps. They will upgrade to paid apps if they enjoy an app and want additional content; not surprisingly, however, performance expectations are much higher for paid apps.

I think I will really have to need that specific app to pay for it since there are so many free ones that might serve the same purpose.

Occasionally I will pay $.99 to $1.99 for a game if I or my son really liked it and you can pay for a complete version of the game.

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Managing Apps
App overload happens often and moms would like better systems for categorizing, sorting and finding apps. Bookmarks and shortcuts that mimic a browser experience for favorites would be a welcome improvement.

I have so many apps that it would be great if they were categorized by topics.

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Managing Apps
One current way to manage apps: allocating screen space based on frequency of use (i.e., most-used apps on the home screen)

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Managing Apps
Another way to manage apps: creating folders

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Managing Apps
A typical behavior: a little bit of everything (folders, most used) and a grudging default to app roulette scrolling through pages every time.

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The perfect app would ______________ .

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The Perfect App: Extend the Boundaries of Communication

Moms hope for apps that can extend communications, such as Skyping with a doctor instead of having to take a child to the office.

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The Perfect App: Automate My World

Moms also want apps that automate life more, saving time and allowing household management to happen from anywhere.

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The Perfect App: Merge Functionality

The Perfect App would seamlessly integrate multiple current capabilities: not just help with meal planning, but plan meals, download coupons, create a grocery list and put in a delivery order all from the same place.

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The Perfect App: Blue Sky Ideas

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The Perfect App: Helping with the Most Stressful Things

Thinking more fantastically, moms would like apps that navigate the car through traffic

Or stop the kids from arguing in the back seat.

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The Perfect App: On the Horizon?

Of course, these apps may not be as far off as we think

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The Really, REALLY Perfect App

Finally, the truly Perfect App would provide Rosie, right from your screen, to cook, clean, put away the dishes and the laundry, mop the floors, wash the dog

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We look forward to continuing the conversation

Lynn Reed lreed@hsrsh.com Lynn Lefkoff llefkoff@hsrsh.com 4703 Ballard Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107 Phone: 206.706.7618 www.hemispheresinsights.com