If you have an active audience or a community that is loyal to your brand or services, why not let them take you with wherever they browse the web?  Imagine your brand, your logo, and your content in front of a user’s eyes every time they browse the web.  W3i’s 3quency custom toolbar platform is just the solution.  3quency allows you to build your own custom toolbar that installs on a user’s browser, increasing engagement with your users, and keeping your brand top-of-mind.

Over the last month, we’ve rolled out a ton of great changes to 3quency.  Most notably, you can now request access for a 3quency account and then login to our powerful platform to build your very own toolbar.  We’re ecstatic to be able to put more options in your hands. 

With a 3quency account, you’ll be able to do the following:

Custom Toolbars Built to Your Specification

With 3quency, you’ll be able to build custom toolbars with the features and apps you desire.   Easily pull or link to content from your site within the toolbar via the 3quency platform.  Add cool apps like YouTube, Facebook or Twitter that are sure to increase engagement.*

Customize Multiple Toolbars for Multiple Market Segments

Want to build a custom toolbar for games and another for social media?  You can do that with 3quency.  Test toolbars with different configurations head-to-head to see which resonates more with users.   Work with W3i’s optimization team to get the most out of your toolbar and grow your business.  You won’t find service like this anywhere else.

Once your toolbar is built, work with our team to wrap your custom toolbar with InstallIQ and make money on the installation of your toolbar.  Generate revenue up front and make up for marketing costs by leveraging the power of the W3i Application Network.

3quency aims to increase the frequency that users see and are engage with your brand as well as make you more revenue.  By opening up our solution to you, we’re giving you more control as well as more options to grow your business.  If you haven’t signed up for an account, go to 3quency.com and click “Get Started” to start building your custom toolbar. 

*W3i and 3quency are not associated in any way with YouTube, Twitter or Facebook.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLC
Eric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.  

An app developer of iPhone® and iPad™ apps, Evan McMahon of Veiled Games.com, pointed out something to consider when doing app development for the iPhone and iPad—the app only counts on the ranking for the iPhone or the iPad, splitting the count for a universal app. 

In the end, all apps want to score it big in the iPhone app ranks.  Evan pointed out that there is an additional consideration when designing a universal app (a single application that can be run on the iPhone as well as the iPad), and the way it is counted in the ranking.  With a universal app, purchases on the iPhone count for iPhone rankings only, purchases on the iPad count for iPad rankings only, and purchases in the iTunes desktop application count for iPhone rankings only. Also, if the intended use for the app is iPad and purchased through iTunes, it is counted as an iPhone app.  Therefore, creating a universal app creates value for the user as they can use the app on both the iPhone and iPad, but as a developer, creates a possible disadvantage since it splits the count in the rankings.

Another situation that arises from this scenario is the inability to create different price points for the iPhone and iPad app to capitalize on the different price tolerances of the two markets.  

Creating a universal app is advantageous to the user, but as a developer attempting to optimize the revenue generated from the app, the developer must choose the most effective pricing and sales strategy possible.  It is a difficult balance for developers who want to provide the most utility for users while fully monetizing the investment in the application. 

Creating a universal app and how it affects your app ranking is another thing to consider when doing app development for iPhone and iPad apps.  Please comment if you have additional tips for app developers.

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.

Featured on ClickZ, Jul 13, 2010

Through increased understanding of what drives users to heavy mobile app consumption, a more effective marketing plan can be created and executed to increase Android, BlackBerry, and iOS app distribution. My company conducted mobile app distribution research with both B2B mobile app developers/marketers and B2C mobile app users in an effort to understand more about successful distribution tactics. The results are useful as you develop a kick-ass distribution plan.

This month’s column covers the results of our B2C mobile application research focused on Android, BlackBerry, and iOS applications. The results of the B2B mobile application research were covered in my last column.

B2C Mobile Application Research Summary

Method

This data was derived from 448 valid and fully-completed responses to our mobile app survey. The survey was hosted online with links distributed through a third-party site. Recipients of the survey link were asked to participate in the survey and received $2 for completion.

Purpose

This survey seeks to quantify aspects of mobile app discovery, acceptable ad formats, app purchases, and Web search from the three leading U.S. smartphone players: Apple (including iPod touch), Google, and RIM.

Criteria

Due to the difficulties in obtaining Android respondents, the survey company focused more than half of their efforts on targeting Verizon customers. Valid users included only those that correctly answered trap questions and met minimum qualifications. User composition by primary device was: 130 iPhone, 103 BlackBerry, 100 iPod touch, and 115 Android. All were from the U.S. All have an app-capable device. All have at least one app installed on their primary phone.

Quantity of Apps on Smartphone

Tip: Make the iPhone your starting point. Currently, iPhone users are the largest, most passionate user group and install the most applications.

How many apps do you currently have installed on your primary phone?

• 1 to 5 (24 percent)
• 6 to 10 (21 percent)
• 11 to 15 (16 percent)
• 16 to 20 (15 percent)
• 21 to 30 (10 percent)
• 31+ (13 percent)

Twenty-three percent of all users have 21 or more apps installed (heavy app users). IPhone owners have the highest ratio of heavy app users (iPhone – 34 percent, Android – 30 percent, iPod touch – 21 percent, and BlackBerry – 7 percent). These figures are reasonably consistent with the secondary research reviewed.

How many apps do you download per month to your primary device?

• None (7.61 percent)
• 1 to 3 (51.23 percent)
• 4 to 10 (29.31 percent)
• 11 to 20 (6.94 percent)
• 21 to 30 (1.79 percent)
• 31 to 50 (1.57 percent)
• 51+ (1.57 percent)

Forty-one percent of all users install four-plus installs per month. IPhone owners rank the highest in achieving this minimum (iPhone – 48 percent, iPod touch – 43 percent, Android – 38 percent, BlackBerry – 29 percent).

Role of the Desktop Computer in Mobile App Discovery

Tip: Syncing is a routine behavior, so marketing via the Web is a viable distribution tactic with links back to the App Store. Don’t ignore the influence of desktop websites to mobile app discovery in your mobile distribution plan. Submit free copies of your app along with marketing information to the various mobile app review websites. Users prefer to search the App Store for your app, so make sure the keywords most commonly used for your app quickly bring up your app in search results.

Syncing their mobile device with desktop computer: Eighty percent of Apple mobile device users fully sync at least once per month. Sixty-two percent fully sync at least once per week. These figures are relatively the same between the iPod touch and the iPhone. It would appear that Apple mobile device users are familiar with syncing and for most it is a routine behavior.

Downloading apps using desktop software: Ninety-two percent of Apple mobile device owners understand that you can download apps using the iTunes desktop software (96 percent for iPhone, 86 percent for iPod touch). Seventy-two percent download at least one app per month using this method (76 percent for iPhone, 64 percent for iPod touch). Forty-six percent download at least one app per week using this method (48 percent for iPhone, 40 percent for iPod touch).

Preferred method for downloading an app discovered while using their desktop computer:

Apple mobile device owners:

• 56 percent prefer to search the App Store from their mobile device for the app
• 17 percent prefer to use the iTunes desktop software
• 13 percent prefer to have the download link sent via e-mail
• >7 percent prefer taking a picture of an app’s designated bar code, receiving a link via SMS
• >7 percent prefer receiving an alert via a mobile app

BlackBerry owners:

• 42 percent prefer to search the App Store from their mobile device for the app
• 40 percent prefer to have the download link sent via e-mail

Android owners:

• 72 percent prefer to search the app store from their mobile device for the app
• 11 percent prefer to have the download link sent via e-mail

Mobile App Purchases and Advertising Formats

Tip: Offering the mobile app for free increases distribution. IPhone app users are most willing to pay $0.99. Users are receptive of an ad-supported model. Users are also receptive to paying for additional features. IOS app marketers are successful with the freemium model.

Installing free apps as a substitute for paying: Most users would prefer to install three free apps (52 percent) over paying $0.99 for an app or premium feature (42 percent). IPod touch, Android, and BlackBerry users all shared this preference (58 percent, 53 percent, 55 percent, respectively), whereas iPhone users preferred to pay the $0.99 (54 percent compared to 43 percent to install three free apps).

The remaining users (6 percent) selected the other option, which asked them to submit their own custom answer. The general response was that these users would simply avoid apps that require some form of payment.

Ad formats for free apps: Users showed a strong interest in new advertising formats when asked to select their top three options in supporting free apps.

New advertising formats:

• Submit a rating and a review for an app I like every five uses (25 percent)
• Complete a short survey every five uses (24 percent)
• Select and install a free app from a recommended list after every five uses (21 percent)

Existing advertising formats:

• See a 20 second ad once during each use (33 percent)
• See persistent small ads during use (24 percent)
• Select and install a free app from a recommended list in exchange for a virtual good (16 percent)

Influences to purchasing a paid app or extra feature: Forty-two percent of all users have purchased an app or extra feature, after first trying the free version of an app. Apple mobile devices show a much higher composition of users that made such purchases (iPhone – 55 percent, iPod touch – 49 percent, Android – 27 percent, BlackBerry – 34 percent).

Users ranked what motivates them to purchase a full version app or an extra feature (selecting all that apply):

• Expanded features and capabilities (77 percent)
• Remove ads (44 percent)
• Trial expired (35 percent)
• To support the developer (22 percent)
• Curiosity (16 percent)

Mobile App Discovery

Tip: Appearing in the top 25 and category lists is essential for effective mobile app distribution. Users prefer to find apps using the top 25 and category lists in the app stores. Popularity (past 24 hour downloads) and total following (overall active users) are the two preferred options for sorting apps from a list. It’s no surprise that in our B2B survey, incented app distribution was the most effective type of advertising for mobile app marketers. This is generally the low-cost, predictable, high-volume source of distribution. Since search is also important, paying close attention to keyword and description SEO tactics is important in your app marketing campaign.

Methods tried by users for finding new apps (select all that apply):

• Categories (57 percent)
• Search (57 percent)
• Featured – new (52 percent)
• Top 25 overall (52 percent)
• Features – what’s hot (48 percent)
• Featured – personalized recommendations (e.g., Apple’s Genius) (18 percent)
• Ads in other apps (12 percent)

Apple mobile devices have the top two selections being categories and top 25 overall (iPhone Top 25 – 65 percent, iPod touch Top 25 – 63 percent, iPhone Categories – 61 percent, iPod touch Categories – 64 percent). IPhone users are far more likely to try a personalized recommendation solution than other device owners (iPhone – 27 percent, iPod touch – 17 percent, Android – 12 percent, BlackBerry – 15 percent).

Methods preferred by users for finding new apps (rank order):

• Most popular topics (7.3)
• Ads in other apps (7.0)
• Featured – personalized recommendations (5.2)
• Search (4.5)
• Featured – what’s hot (3.9)
• Featured – new (3.3)
• Top 25 overall (2.3)
• Categories (2.6)

There was no significant variance between devices.

User preference toward different sorting options in their app store (rank order):

• Buzz – media mentions and links (7.2)
• Recommendation – based on other apps you have installed (7.1)
• Discount (6.8)
• Newest (4.9)
• Expert’s rating (4.9)
• Friend’s rating (4.8)
• Everyone’s rating (3.8)
• Total following – active users (3.4)
• Popularity – past 24 hour downloads (2.1)

The order is consistent between devices, but on Android, the Everyone’s Rating option is noticeably closer to the Total Following option (Everyone’s Rating – 3.6, Totally Following – 3.5, Popularity 2.0). It’s noticeable that several very popular sorts are not yet available in Apple’s App Store (Total Following, Friend’s Rating, and Expert’s Rating).

By understanding user preferences, you can put a more effective mobile app distribution plan together for your Android, BlackBerry, or iPhone app marketing campaign. Hopefully this application research gives you some ideas on elements that are important in your marketing and design tactics. Be sure to read last month’s column on B2B mobile application research and its implications. If you have any thoughts on how to get top iPhone apps, please leave your comments below.

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.

Thinking about developing an iOS or Android app?  Find out more about the five mistakes to avoid when creating an iOS or Android application; and how you can learn from others’ mistakes, made in the creation and marketing process, that will save you a lot of time and money.

Boring Doesn’t Sell- Remember, there are a ton of applications available to users.  Make sure your app says something to your intended customer.  If it’s a game, make it exciting and interesting for the people downloading it.  If it’s a weather app, make it intriguing to your target demographic.  There is a lot of noise to sift through, so make sure your app doesn’t get lost with the rest of the apps that are failing.  If you are creating an app that was developed six times…it is going to be BORING to the user.  Be creative and think of something unique.  According to Read Write Web, Apple receives 15,000 app submissions a week and 95% are accepted within a week of submission.  Apple paid out over a $1 billion in AppStore revenue shares so there is a major opportunity to make money.  You need to create something that catches people’s attention with significant user value to alleviate them from their boredom. 

Your App is Good, Not Great- After creating your app, you may think that this is the best thing that’s happened since bubble gum in Blow Pops.  Well I’m here to tell you that that isn’t true.  You need to look at your product from a consumer standpoint.  Point out flaws you see and what needs to be improved.  Don’t become blind to what your product really is.  After all, it is an application and that application needs to serve a purpose.  Whether it’s providing information, entertainment, or music, it needs to be demonstrated.  Listen to people that are close to you.  If they think it has flaws, most likely other people will as well.  Be creative and have fun with it! 

Track Your Success- Be sure to realize who’s installing your app and what group these people fall into.  Make sure to form a contact list of people that are contributing to your success.  This will help when it comes to market other applications you create.  Realize who is covering your application and where the buzz is coming from.  What are the characteristics of the typical user and how can you target more of them?  These sources are helpful when you decide you want to pitch other companies your new application.  I highly recommend you get an account with Google Analytics.  It provides you with information on traffic and marketing effectiveness.   

Advertising- Once you settle on your product, it is time to determine available avenues for free advertising.  Many social networks exist such as blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and your own website.  Learn how to use these networks effectively, and it will save you time and money in the long run.  There are ways to inhibit your success, so I recommend reading…yes reading, a few pieces of literature.  Moller Marketing lists the top 10 social media marketing books that can improve your knowledge.  They outline ways to be productive using social networks.  Having your app on a web store list is important to get your app seen by the greatest audience.  If you have a mobile web store, you better be promoting your app on it!  Paid advertising is also an option.  Email and text message campaigns can help you get the word out.  Customers that already exist can receive messages via their phone or email or by building in a cross-sell feature in your apps.       

Highlight Features- Make sure that users are aware of all the features included in your app.  I for one don’t want to have to search around for what makes your app unique and helpful; it should stick out and impress me.  Your app’s features need to be apparent to the user, don’t hide anything important that should be noticed. 

So what struggles and success have you had regarding mobile app development?  How has your business improved from avoiding development mistakes at the beginning?  This article highlights key areas to focus on when developing and marketing your iOS and Android application; but if you have more to share, please feel free to leave a comment.

Matt Machacek, Marketing Communications, W3i, LLC
Matt is a senior in the Marketing program at SCSU.  Matt is applying his learnings to W3i’s social media outreach.

Twitter works.  Read on to find out how we used Twitter to successfully launch our new app business, Apperang; along with other ideas, from a tech journalist, on how to use Twitter for app promotions.

I read Twitter Means Business by Julio Ojeda-Zapata on vacation in Mexico. Julio is a nationally recognized tech journalist (for example, see his post about his recent appearance on TWiT) who covers tech news for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

A quick tangent on my Mexico trip before I continue…

I knew Nokia was #1 in global market share for mobile phones, but I haven’t traveled outside of the U.S. much over the past year so this hadn’t really sunk in. I was amazed at how many low-end Nokia feature phones there were in Mexico. For example, I sat on a ferry ride next to a young guy who worked for mobile game company Gtech.  In my extremely choppy Spanish and his choppy English, we discussed the difference in iOS versus Android, and games built for feature phones.  Pretty funny discussion on who’s the target market for various phones.

I was late to adopt Twitter… Why?

I was down on social media after watching Facebook transition from its initial early adopters to its current position of mass consumer penetration. Through the transition to the mainstream, Facebook ended up becoming a pretty worthless professional tool for me. I’ve always been a LinkedIn fan, but I find LinkedIn tends to be where relations go to die versus to develop.

What caused me to finally pay attention to Twitter?

I was urged by friend and fellow Minnesota tech entrepreneur, Philip Hotchkiss, to adopt Twitter for professional purposes about a year ago.

How did I get started?

I started following individuals I came across during my general professional life.

Eventually, the number of relationships I followed became hard to manage so I started building Twitter lists on key conversations I like to participate in, such as app marketers, app developers, tech media, and Minnesota tech.

What did I miss during the Twitter early days?

By being a late adopter to Twitter, I missed out on some of the early business success stories. Julio’s book did a great job of retelling these early stories.  Here are a few excerpts that specifically apply to app developers:

Evernote’s stellar customer service, for Windows apps and other OS apps, fix problems before most users even notice them. “Twitter has proven invaluable for identifying problems with its software, if a bug crops up, Evernote will hear about it, almost instantly,” comments Andrew Sinkov, Evernote Marketing Director (page 58). Evernote built a strong following due to its popularity with the web-tech set.  Tweets help identify bugs, as well as capture usage ideas, as a vehicle for new product/feature communication, and a polling medium to get user feedback. 

Graeme Thickens and DoApp: “He (Graeme Thickens) used his @DoApp identity as a sort of news feed to keep followers apprised of developments in iPhone application development, which was a superhot subject in the consumer-technology universe” (page 57).  Thickins searched for mentions of DoApp on Twitter and asked for permission to post some of the more creative tweets.  Users were finding all kinds of interesting uses for the myLite program, which is a combination strobe, emergency flasher, and rock-concert lighter.  Nearly two dozen uses were identified including: a radiologist setting it to red for use in the x-ray room; and a WVA medic using the emergency flasher at night festival “so other members of rescue and fire could find me in a dark sea of people.”

Amy Worley, Director of Digital Marketing, H&R Block, used Twitter to increase awareness of their desktop software (page 41). Worley was on a crusade to publicize the company’s digital offerings, including its TaxCut options, for doing taxes online. She used Twitter to broadcast tax tips like tax deductions commonly missed or W-4 tips.  She also used Twitter to answer tax questions, creating a two-way conversation with users.   Twitter evolved to become an integral part of their marketing efforts showing that H&R Block is a true advocate for the taxpayer.  

My own personal Twitter business success story

While on vacation in Mexico, I joined my fellow colleagues at W3i in launching Apperang, a service which pays consumers to try iPhone and iPad apps. 

A couple of weeks prior to the launch, I used Twitter to reach two app developers, which resulted in their participation in the public launch of our iOS app promotion service before we were even live. I found that many app developers are hard to reach, and Twitter is a very useful tool for engaging in conversations with them.

Perhaps even more telling of the business value in using Twitter, as a part of our launch, was how an unsolicited tweet was able to connect me to a writer at TechCrunch named, Gagan Biyani, which ultimately landed us a story in Mobile Crunch. This was no small feat for a company headquartered in central Minnesota, far from Sillicon Valley. Later on, several other tech blogs followed on the TechCrunch coverage and they wrote their own stories. The post Biyani wrote ended up being among the most popular in Mobile Crunch for the entire week – during a week that was competing for coverage against the iPhone 4 launch. Not only was it good industry buzz that resulted in several leads from additional new app developers who wanted to participate in our app promotion service; but it helped provide a big organic boost in early adopters on the consumer side of our service as well, which has provided great feedback while we are in our public beta phase.

I would highly recommend Julio’s book for anyone involved with using Twitter for business purposes.  I am also looking forward to reading Julio’s new book when it is published on how businesses are using the iPad.

If you are an app developer interested in tips around the business of apps, I would recommend following @W3i, or if you are interested in following me personally, @robertjweber.  Please comment if you have any interesting stories on how you used Twitter to grow your app business. 

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.

Follow me on Twitter at @robertjweber

It was Christmas in June for me this week. I received my backordered iPad 3G (yes, I waited for a few weeks, I wasn’t completely sold on the iPad initially) and my backordered Droid Incredible (I tossed my Blackberry after ten plus years with RIM) within a couple of days of each other.

After I played with each device for a couple of days, I started to form some entrepreneurial opinions in terms of how I might think about the iOS versus Android as an app developer and app marketer.

1. Both Android and the iPad need more apps! After scanning through the games which were available in the Android Marketplace, I was pretty disappointed. Most of the titles and genres I was familiar using with my iTouch for the past couple years had no viable alternative in the Android Marketplace. As for the iPad, there were very few apps available in the utility categories I count on. For example, I was only able to quickly locate one free Twitter app specifically built for the iPad, versus on the iPhone/iTouch, where there are many free Twitter apps.
2. Android makes me think about the user interface to navigate, the iOS makes me feel stupid. In Android, I have encountered several different user interface challenges which would cause me to not want to hand the device over to my four year old daughter to play with. With the iPad, as with other iOS devices, my four year old has no trouble. The result? The iOS makes me feel stupid after awhile. I like a technology that is a little rough around the edges and makes me think. At times, the iOS is too simple for me. With that said, the iOS is the best mobile operating system for the mass market right now. This week on MediaPost, Jeff Litvack, GM of global product development at The Associated Press, said he’s not seeing the same level of engagement on Android devices as he is on Apple devices. I think this is directly related to the UI not being completely dummy proof, and the lack of apps on Android.
3. The Android OS is lacking a robust ecosystem of tool providers for app developers when compared against the iOS- Whether it is leader board functionality, in-app cross promotion networks like W3i, etc, Android fundamentally does not seem to have as many robust tool providers bringing functionality to the app developers. This is very apparent when you engage with apps in Android. This will likely change as Android’s market share grows, as I know many top tool providers on the iOS are planning to enter the Android market soon. Apple’s unpredictable policies are causing a lot of tool providers to look for other viable options. Microsoft and RIM should take note.

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.