The consumer landscape in 2020 is very different from 2019, or any other year for that matter.
In 2016, 2.5 billion people had smartphones. In August 2020, that number reached 3.5 billion. And it’s only expected to rise.
The smartphone generation has meant that today’s customers are used to fast-paced digital consumerism.
Purchases can be made at the click of a button. Apps are an integral part of many businesses, and, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, online purchasing is rising.
In fact, by 2023, mobile apps are projected to generate over $9935 billion through paid downloads and in-app advertising.
At Global App Testing, we wanted to see whether changing consumer behaviours have had an impact on mobile app usage and what the state of consumer app habits is in 2020.
What’s more, we wanted this insight to become a valuable piece of research for tech-first companies looking to meet the needs of today’s consumer.
Our original research, ‘The State of Consumer App Habits,’ does just that.
In this increasingly competitive market, quality matters.
We surveyed both millennials and Gen Z app users - two key consumer groups in the app market day.
And both take quality very seriously.
In fact, 20% of smartphone users will lose trust in a brand when they encounter a software bug.
That’s a fifth of your consumer base who lose trust in your product entirely if they find a bug.
And over a third (34%) of smartphone users said they would delete an app if they encountered a software bug.
Large sections of your consumer base churning after encountering a singular bug is enough to keep any developer up at night. It seems that customers value quality highly in the digital age.
This high expectation for software reflects the competitive nature of the app market today. The Apple App Store at present has 2.2 million apps available to download. And there are 2.8 million available on Google Play.
With a saturated market, users won’t hesitate to delete your app if they find an issue or don’t believe it meets their needs.
In fact, of those surveyed, 50% said the most common reason they would delete an app is that it doesn’t have the functions they expected. This suggests that customers expect a lot from an app: amazing functionality, high quality and no bugs.
Delivering on all of these points is a key step to avoiding customer churn.
What’s more, star ratings matter too.
Customers value the opinion of other customers. In the same way that you wouldn’t buy a speaker that had a 1-star rating and terrible reviews on Amazon, you wouldn’t want to download a 1-star app with some unfavourable feedback.
Over a third (36%) of smartphone users say a bad app store rating would prevent them from downloading an app altogether.
Your app store page is like your storefront. If it has an angry mob outside of it, the likelihood is potential customers won’t be enthused. But a queue of happy customers waiting to enter will let others know that what you’re selling is worth the wait.
Our survey also found that just 2% of smartphone users never base their decision on whether to download an app on its app store rating. That means that only a small slither of your potential customer base don’t mind a poor rating.
The majority? Well, they want the best of the best.
Discover the other key findings and statistics from our report by downloading it here.
More than ever, customers expect quality.
That means, to stand out from the crowd in today’s tech landscape, engineering teams need to be shipping software that is near perfect. The QA function will inevitably increase in importance in the coming years to match consumer expectations.
However, we all know perfection is hard to achieve. Bugs are unfortunately an inevitable part of the software development process.
But, a sub-par release that was rushed due to a tight deadline just won’t cut it in a consumer world where quality is paramount. A buggy app will lead to poor reviews, deleted apps and loss of trust in your brand. These will all put off potential customers, too.
And, unfortunately, today’s consumer landscape is a double-edged sword.
As businesses have an increasingly mobile focus, the pressure to release at speed is mounting for engineering teams. The fast-paced market means keeping up with the competition is more difficult than ever.
Developers are expected to code fast, and engineering teams are expected to ship quickly. Devs are managing 100x more code now than they did in 2010 and SDLCs are getting shorter.
Economic issues, also, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, have meant that many companies face budget restrictions and recruitment freezes.
Tech leaders are trying to do as much as they can today with far fewer resources than usual.
This all means one thing: pressure is mounting.
The traditional toss-up being quality and speed won’t cut the mustard in 2020. Companies need to be delivering quality at speed, time and time again.
So, how can teams achieve this?
If your engineering and QA team is feeling the pressure in the 2020 consumer landscape, we have a solution for you.
Global App Testing’s crowdtesting platform leverages your current QA process, working with your team to help alleviate stress and increase testing capacity.
Using our self-serve platform, Ada, your team can run tests at any time of the day, any day of the week. Our crowd of professional 50,000 testers in 189 countries across the world will then set about testing, meaning that you can have test results in 48 hours or less. Plus, our in-house customer support team will moderate bug reports for you, so you never have to waste time sorting through duplicate bugs.
We call it Elastic QA because our solution stretches to meet your needs. If you need to run 10 exploratory tests on a Friday night, we are here. If you need to run monthly tests in Brazil, we are here. Our platform is flexible to your QA or engineering team, fitting seamlessly into your SDLC.
Speak to one of our growth experts today to find out more about how our platform can help your team.