Your online magazine is live and running, and you are expecting your first visitors. Of course, if you want to last in today’s competitive market, you need a carefully crafted marketing strategy that will result in high traffic and solid visitor retention. If we take into account that 52% of site visits last year were from mobile devices, it is understandable why mobile optimization is the centerfold of customer experience for any online publisher.
This puts publishers up for a big dilemma – is a mobile-optimized website enough to attract and keep visitors, or a news app would be a better choice? While the news app is a significant investment – it pays off ten-fold. Here are the reasons.
1. News apps are popular
News apps are among the most popular app categories. According to Statista, 41% of mobile users’ digital time is dedicated to news apps.
In Australia, almost a quarter of mobile users have a news app on their phone. This number has grown annually by a solid 7%.
Source: Statista
So, it is safe to say that your news app won’t be sitting idly in your readers’ mobile phone – people have a habit of using news apps to get their daily dose of information.
2. People prefer mobile apps to websites
Although there is some conflicting data on this one, bear with us. While approx 78% of users prefer mobile apps to mobile browsers for shopping, the reasons can easily apply to news apps and magazines.
According to Compuware survey, users prefer mobile apps because:
- Mobile apps are more convenient
- Mobile apps are faster
- Mobile apps are easier to browse
- Mobile apps offer a better user experience
Source: EConsultancy
You can easily see how these conveniences can come into play with a news app – so let’s delve deeper into that.
3. News app offers more personalization
There are plenty of tools that allow marketers to personalize ads for website visitors. However, on most news sites, there is no such option for curating news content. On the other hand, a news app allows you to collect data about the user’s interests and behavior and leverage it to curate content based on the individual’s needs.
Unfortunately, if you take a look at some of the major publishers, you will notice that their news apps are simply a mobile-friendly version of their website. Having an app that behaves differently is thus an amazing way to get ahead of your much larger competitors.
The way you personalize content doesn’t only have to come from the app’s machine learning technology. Users will be more than willing to give feedback and shape their own news feed.
4. News app nurtures engagement
An engaged visitor is a visitor that is going to open your app several times a day and keep coming back. News apps offer plenty of opportunities to nurture engagement by enabling and encouraging users to:
- Rate news stories
- Pick and save their favorites
- Play various games
- Earn loyalty points and rewards
- Access exclusive stories
- Submit their own content
The possibilities are endless. News apps also allow you to nudge users via push notifications and reminders.
5. News app offers a better user experience
News websites often blast users with information overload – stories, images, videos, ads, pop-ups. This is often a frustrating experience for website visitors. News apps, by their nature, push you to be very savvy with the little maneuvering space you have.
This will drive you to focus on user experience by categorizing news and separating an overwhelming news feed into easily “digestible” feeds and chunks of headlines and stories.
6. News app is easier to monetize
Online publishers often sacrifice user experience for monetization, overloading their website with intrusive banners and pop-ups. Visitors have learned how to strike back by employing ad blockers and developing banner blindness.
Surprisingly, when surveyed, users said they understood the value of content and were willing to put up with ads, but only under one condition – that they are not annoying or intrusive. How is a news app solution to this problem? By offering ample opportunities to make ads feel like a part of your news feed, instead of an interruption.
Source: MobileAds
There are six types of mobile ads, and you can read more about the pros and cons of these mobile ad formats here. Long story short, native and expandable mobile ads are the least intrusive formats. Native ads come in different sizes and form, but their main characteristic is that they are blended with your news app’s content. On the other hand, expandable ads are displayed as a teaser that expands to full screen if the user taps on it.
A neuroscience study conducted by True Impact and Neurons Inc confirmed that embedded, opt-in mobile ads will engage close to 90 percent of viewers who will pay attention to the brand, retain and understand the message.
And savvy marketers recognized this! In 2018, mobile ad spends worldwide amounted to 147.6 billion U.S. dollars and is expected to reach 231.3 billion by 2021. So, it is clear – a news app is a great way to monetize your online magazine and keep both advertisers and users happy.
But news apps also offer an easier way to generate paid subscriptions. If your news app offers a truly unique and convenient user experience and loyalty rewards, you are more likely to introduce paid content. Also, a seamless app subscription process can also help you grow your readership base by minimizing shopping cart abandonment.
Think about it – most news websites and online magazines require a manual subscription process that includes data entry, confirmation emails, and links, etc. In most cases, shopping cart abandonment happens because users feel the process is too complicated. By running app subscriptions through Google Play or App store, this becomes a process that requires 2-3 taps.
Conclusion
Finally, creating a news app that will help you stand out among your competitors requires a top-notch development team.
Gomeeki is a company with ample experience and knowledge in the field of mobile app development that responds to our client’s unique customer acquisition strategies, as well as retention and engagement challenges.
Want to see it first-hand? Check out Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s news app built by Gomeeki team which features:
- Up to the minute news
- News in 90 Seconds video bulletins
- ABC TV and Radio shows on demand
- Live audio streaming of over 25 ABC Radio stations
- Live video streaming of ABC24 television
- Location-based weather information
We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions, so give us a call so we can discuss challenges and creative solutions for your online magazine!
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Email: enquiries@gomeeki.com
