Signature January/February 2015 - 13

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How your association differentiates
itself from its competition plays a big
role in designing the core functionalities of your app and increasing member
engagement. Do you offer certification
or CEUs? Then your app should facilitate registering, paying, and studying for
the educational classes. Does your group
exist to provide legislative resources and
representation? Then your app should be
a grassroots organization and mobilization tool. Do you provide best-in-class
industry knowledge through publications,
blogs, and various media? Your app should
be an additional plank in your multi-platform publishing efforts.

Separate it. The so-called Mobile
Elites are primarily focused on their
smart phones, so resist the temptation
to develop your app as simply a copy of
your website. The extra effort and budget
devoted to app development gives your
association a fighting chance for their
time spent on screen. According to a
Nielsen Cross Platform report, mobile
users spend the majority of smartphone
time in apps: 88 percent of time spent is
in apps, while only 12 percent of their
time is spent browsing on mobile web.
Your members still connect to and interact with your databases while in an app;
with a well-designed interface, you'll keep
them immersed in your brand's experience longer. Anne Lewnes, senior vice
president at Adobe, explains in a recent
Adobe blog post that an app's inherently
immersive environment allows organizations to "engage with customers in ways
that the mobile web experience can't."

Simplify it. With professional, personal, and technological distractions
plentiful, design your app for ease of use.
Keep the following tips in mind to help
streamline the user interface and increase
engagement:
n■ Make it easy: Require only one login
and transfer member data throughout the app. Keep forms simple;
typing on a smartphone is challenging for many users.
n■ Make it clean: Keep the interface

simple to use, and avoid flashy (distractive) content and design.
n■ Make it short: Monitor the word
count in your app content; reading
lengthy content on smartphones is
tiresome. Some experts recommend
five paragraphs or less per page.
n■ Provide videos for in-depth content:
Short videos deliver great volumes of
content that would otherwise overwhelm readers in text format.

Personalize it. Your members all
have one thing in common: your
association. Beyond that, each member is
different and likely expects a unique experience based on level of engagement and
interests. To help increase engagement,
create an app that provides personalized
interaction based on a member's individual profile in your membership database.
To those members requesting participation in your legislative efforts, include
a grassroots advocacy campaign tailored
to your member's congressional district.
For those members who've chosen your
association for its educational offerings,
provide a customized curriculum specifically for their industry or interests.
Don't forget to include your business
development team in your app personalization efforts. Sponsors and underwriters, often also dues-paying members,
join specifically to create and maintain
mutually beneficial relationships with
your active members. Provide and monetize the ability to target specific, opt-in
members with sponsor content unique
to each member.

Gamify it. Gamifying your app
means using game mechanics and
reward systems like points, levels, challenges, goods, and leaderboards to influence behavior within your non-game app.
If your association's goal is to increase
attendance at seminars, keynotes, and
tradeshows, consider creating an app with
a modern take on the old-school tradeshow scavenger hunt concept. Instead
of collecting ribbons at different event
venues, your attendee would check in
with their smartphone at the same venues.

And instead of an after-hunt prize raffle,
your app could tally the check-ins on an
in-app leaderboard.
Want to raise the hipness level of your
app? Allow attendees to auction or gift
their prize winnings to colleagues or
clients.

Market it. Just because you build
it does not mean your members
will use it. As with any event, member
benefit, or other association differentiator, consistent marketing will be a key
factor in member app adoption. Here
are five simple steps to app marketing:
n■ Set goals: How will you measure
success? Set goals for the first 30
days, six months, and 12 months after
the launch of your app.
n■ Print it: If you have a printed publication, make certain the next few
issues have plenty of coverage about
your new app.
n■ Promote the extras: Inform your
audience that extra content and advertiser deals are available in the app.
Use in-app push notifications when
available.
n■ Get social: Nail down your social
media strategy, including the wording
and timing for your tweets and posts.
n■ Click it: Set up Adwords and Facebook ads that drive interested traffic
to your app landing page.
Taking the necessary time to understand your market and define your app
functionality will prepare you to create
a very powerful app. Developing and
marketing a downloadable app that is
simplified, personalized, and gamified
will help you increase membership engagement with your app. Adobe's Lewnes
summarizes, "Once you've gotten people
to download an app that they're satisfied
with and using regularly, you've won." n
Andrew Shackelford (Andrew.Shackelford@
walsworth.com) joined Walsworth in 2013 as a
sales representative. A member of Association
Media & Publishing's Content Creation
Committee, he has worked with associations for
over 27 years, in everything from editorial to sales
to management.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 16

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signature January/February 2015