Silence of the App Users

Although I am involved in the Android app market, I haven't talked about Android apps in this blog for some time. I was recently compiling some statistics of one app that's been out in the market for over a year, and I suppose it is no surprise that what my stats show are not unlike what other app developers typically encounter: silent users.

You'll get an idea of what I mean if you look at the following numbers gleaned from this free app that has garnered downloads well into the six figures:

• Rated the app: 0.6%
• Emailed us: 0.01% (includes complaints, questions and compliments)
• Posted a review: 0.05% (or about 1 in 10 of those who rate the app)

To sustain my anonymity I have left the app unnamed and kept all the figures as percentages rather than actual numbers. I will only say that the app is useful but not terribly complex to use. Some use it only once or a few times, and whether they like it or not, for them it's enough and they then uninstall it. That's fine by me, and I even expect it. About 1 in 3 keep it for the long haul, which I consider quite good for this particular app. We only put it out there to gain experience with the mobile app market and its users, and especially to learn something about what works and what doesn't work in this slice of the market.

You also learn that people who use apps are a diverse lot who often judge apps in what I can only describe in a very subjective, egocentric manner. (This is meant as an observation, not an insult.) For example, if a user doesn't like what the app reports in response to info entered by the user, the user will often rate the app poorly. If they don't like the phone or network performance, they rate the app poorly as well: perhaps they do this in frustration since there is no way to rate the phone itself or the carrier.

Because the app does make what I can only describe as judgments about the user, they don't like this even if the information is correct. In retaliation some seem to see the app, phone or the developer (or perhaps all three) as things that are safe to lash out at, anonymously; I have seen user angst in both public and private feedback and, trust me, some of these comments are things I would rather not know! Perhaps app feedback works in the manner of ELIZA, the ancient software psychoanalyst that, despite its transparent primitiveness, still managed to get some people to empty their souls to the machine even when they fully understood that it was a mindless automaton.

Although I don't have complete analytical data, I will conclude by making the following general observations about many users:

• They do not read instructions or any of the help provided;
• They do not know they can use the Menu button to bring up additional features and options; and
• If it is at all possible to mess up the simplest operation, they will (and occasionally blame the app developer).

It's been a lot of fun and educational, and also useful to our future business plans.