Brands' Mobile Apps Frustrate Users

Nearly four in ten mobile users (38%) say they're dissatisfied with most of the apps currently available from their favorite brands, and 69% agree that if a brand's mobile app isn't useful or easy to use, it contributes to a negative perception of the brand, according to a survey from EffectiiveUI.
Mobile is a key part of the brand experience for many: 76% of mobile app users say brands should have mobile apps to make shopping or interacting with them easier.
Though the apps market is relatively new, user expectations are high: 73% of mobile app users expect a company's mobile app to be easier to use than its website.
Echoing the experimental nature of the market, most users who download and use apps do so based on recommendations and good user experience, rather than the brand that released it. Only 18% of mobile app users consider the brand name when deciding whether to download an app.
Below, other findings from the study by Harris Interactive and EffectiveUI.

What do users want from branded mobile apps? Usability and experience are more important than brand name alone: 74% of mobile app users want ease-of-use and 75% want apps to perform as expected.
When things go bad with apps, people spread the word: 32% of app users say they have told others about a bad experience with a mobile app. Some 13% have avoided downloading applications from a brand because of a previous bad experience with another app offered by that brand.

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Many of the mobile app experiences created by brands over the past year were driven by a competitive “me too” environment. They simply looked to check the box that they were hip to the exploding mobile app market. Often neglected in the process was an adherence to the brand and product management acumen that prevails in every other element of these businesses – accountability for delighting the customer. The sophistication around managing the user experience of mobile apps and the mobile web are moving at warp speed pace. Over the course of 2011, brands will shrug off the unknowns of the mobile experience, moving from experimental art to quantifiable science.
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