Aug
12

Why users are more engaged on our iPad application compared to our web site

The numbers are pretty startling: our website visitors come for 1m 34s, and our iPad users come for just over 14m 20s each time they come to FanFeedr. I was recently asked why this was the case, and the usual answers came out:

  1. We offer a personalized service, so viewing it on a personal device should increase the time spent per session
  2. Using Facebook and Twitter, which we require for login, is easier on an iPad than on a work computer (our peak usage is around 3p ET (GMT -5).) Some workplaces restrict access to the social networks
  3. The iPad application is an easier way to consume information than our web application

That explains part of the 10-fold increase in time per session, but it doesn’t seem like enough.

Perhaps it was timing?

  1. We launched the FanFeedr iPad application on April 3rd, the day that the device launched.
  2. We were a featured application for the first week in the iTunes app store
  3. The 2010 World Cup began two months later, right after the 3G version of the device debuted in the United States.

That still doesn’t seem to full account for the difference.

The single answer that makes the most sense is that the iPad interface can’t multitask, and that single-threaded application behavior forces users to focus solely on our application.

Which sort of underscores that multitasking doesn’t make you smarter, and greatly impedes time spent on web sites, to boot.

Ty Ahmad-Taylor says:
August 20, 2010 at 9:58 pm

Andy, your take is a good extension of my initial thoughts, and more true.
But following the paradigm introduced by someone smarter than I is quite germane: the future is here, it’s just distributed unevenly.
Specifically, many folks in conversation downplay the platform as a business opportunity, when I/we see it as the largest business opportunity at this time.

rafer says:
August 20, 2010 at 7:40 pm

Maybe. Donna, Aaron, and I are wondering if it isn’t that web page design sucks. Think Conversion Funnel for Content.

aweissman says:
August 20, 2010 at 4:29 am

Which suggests something that feels true, that the iPad is a different device, and normal analogies to what it is fail, it’s a new experience and thus apps/services/content when done consistent with the grain of this new product will achieve massive increases is user engagement.