‘App’ has become part of our daily conversation with the likes of ‘there’s an app for that’ and the constant broadcasting on Facebook of a friend’s latest Bejewelled score on the iphone. (By the way how do you get a score over 350,000 on that game! Tips always welcome.)

Every boardroom across the country is jumping up and down to get in on the app and capitalise on the maturity of the handheld device.

But through this mass adoption of installing applications onto our mobile devices, and our rush to join the ‘in crowd’ are we perhaps missing the true meaning of what App actually stands for?

I went looking for a suitable definition.

Define: Application

The work of applying something; “the doctor prescribed some cream that would require some assistance in application”

Nope not that one.
How about…

The act of putting to a special use or purpose.

This got me thinking about ‘the act’. To me this implies that ultimately for the act to be deemed a success, the user has to be satisfied that the application is carrying out the special use or purpose, as they interpret it.

As with all marketing initiatives, the customer should come first, and so the understanding of their needs and whether an ‘App’ would wholly or partially satisfy those needs is a fundamental step in its development.

The app released by the international fashion retailer, Zara, is a primary example of how their desire to get ahead of the market, hasn’t been combined with actually understanding the need of their customers and then making an active push to then meet their needs.

Think like a customer

If I am downloading an app for a retailer my primary thought is:

Can I now buy Zara clothes on my phone? Genius!

Unfortunately not. Whilst the interface is reasonably pretty and is updated regularly with fresh product, it lacks enough detail to help me make a purchase decision, or any m-commerce functionality allowing me to purchase there and then saving me a trip into the city at the weekend.

For their target customer, who is looking for fashion excitement, value and potentially advice on what’s in style and what’s not, it fails on all counts

The counter to the Zara example, is Next.

Not only have they thought about the needs of their target customer, they have managed to provide an experience that both makes it easy to search for a product, add it to a bag and buy it but also goes further to add value to it’s user via style and fashion advice and think about it’s multi-channel operation with a store-locator.

Next, to me, acts on satisfying that special use or purpose.

So in summary:

Maybe we should help work with our directors and technology partners to ensure that what we deliver as an ‘App’ is in fact something that does truly have an application for its intended user base. i.e start with the customer and understand how that application could satisfy that need

As with the evolution of a species, as the need of a user changes we should constantly review and adapt our applications to meet those changing needs and push out a new version for them to download.

In the next couple of weeks I will be looking at whether you actually need to develop and app or whether creating an alternative look and feel for your current website may actually be a better fit. Drop any thoughts into the comments below and we’ll include.