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I don't want to download your app

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Re: I don't want to download your app

#21

Post by cryptoz »

mzarate06 wrote: post #18
cryptoz wrote: post #10

I avoid this problem by instantly boycotting any site that does this. They clearly have absolutely no interest in serving me content or helping me do what I want to do, and there is always an alternative.

I understand the frustration w/the manner in which some mobile apps are advertised, but wrt this statement in particular ... They clearly have absolutely no interest in serving me content or helping me do what I want to do ... coming from the site owner side of things, I'll offer a friendly counter argument (which has been rephrased in light of down votes): site owners are interested in serving you content, or helpin…

Oh definitely. The mobile app is almost always a better experience than using the site. But that's not the point. The point is that I'm on my phone with limited time on a slow internet connection, I have requested content from a site and that site has chosen to not show me the content that was expected, but instead display an advertisement. This is unacceptable to me, and rather than deal with it I usually just leave and never come back.

A link at the top would suffice. Or the bottom. Or anywhere, really, that doesn't prevent me from viewing the content I was trying to view.

Edit: In case it's not clear, I think the article is written about full screen overlays that I'm describing. If not, I'm all wrong here and my posts probably don't make sense. I'm totally cool with a site mentioning that they have an app and that I should get it. What I'm not okay with is when you are prevented from accessing the site until you agree or disagree to get their app.

Re: I don't want to download your app

#22

Post by photorized »

krickle wrote: post #19
photorized wrote: post #16

Worst part is, most of these apps are essentially browsers. There is no additional content or interesting extra functionality being offered... just same old content, only formatted differently. So, this concept of installing a new browser every time I visit an unfamiliar site, really is ridiculous. This is almost as bad as "here's a mobile version of our site, opened automatically for your convenience". If your site…

They want to have push/local notifications. It's like getting ahold of an email, but moreso. I've turned off Javascript to avoid them asking, now I constantly get "turn on your javascript" black overlays from Wordpress sites. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Oh, their motives are clear... It's the fact that they are doing absolutely nothing to entice the user to go through the inconvenience.

This won't last.

Re: I don't want to download your app

#23

Post by learn »

photorized wrote: post #16

Worst part is, most of these apps are essentially browsers. There is no additional content or interesting extra functionality being offered... just same old content, only formatted differently. So, this concept of installing a new browser every time I visit an unfamiliar site, really is ridiculous. This is almost as bad as "here's a mobile version of our site, opened automatically for your convenience". If your site…

It makes me cringe every time I see another useless app. Having windows 8 on a desktop makes me feel the same. Most of their apps are no better than just going to my browser. Though, as another user said, it is about the push notifications.

Re: I don't want to download your app

#24

Post by learn »

artursapek wrote: post #9
jiggy2011 wrote: post #5

Sadly this is probably a business decision and not a user experience decision. If I know I'm going to have my website there every time you tap to your homescreen or do a search on your phone I know that I'm probably more likely to convert you.

Users aren't going to convert because they want to do you a favor. These "download our app" prompts feel like a beg for a favor.

It feels like a man in a suit with a handful of money asking me to do a favor for him, but he keeps his handful of money.

Re: I don't want to download your app

#26

Post by arn »

I don't think the easy answer is "all such things suck". You spend the time and money developing an app, and you want your visitors to know about the app. The prime candidates are those who visit your site on that device. So, the targeting is right, but the execution is what typically sucks.

From my own personal experience, if I'm visiting a specific article on the site, my immediate interest is getting the information from the article. Downloading an app is not going to take priority, even if I do ultimately want the app.

We had mocked up a "email me a link to this app" link for our site, in order to give the reader an option to email themselves an iTunes link for later, without taking them outside of the scope of reading the specific article they are looking at. In the end, we switched over to Apple's HTML banner thingy, which gives the opporutnity for people who have already installed the app the ability to open the specific article in the app itself.

Re: I don't want to download your app

#27

Post by forgetcolor »

I feel the same way about sites with special iPad interfaces. Every time I visit one I start to see/read the content as it loads and then the site goes blank while some heavy and slow annoying swipe theme finally comes up. when this happens I just leave.

Re: I don't want to download your app

#28

Post by bloaf »

I think there is a fascinating split personality to the internet these days. On the one hand, there is a big drive to move traditional desktop application functionality into the web browser (e.g. google and microsoft's office web apps, photo editing, and even some computation in the case of Wolfram Alpha.) On the other hand, there is a big drive to push traditional internet content into standalone apps, as this author outlines. Currently it seems that the vast majority of the apps in the Windows 8 store fall into this category.

Re: I don't want to download your app

#29

Post by dendory »

I blogged about that a while back. It's particularly bad on iOS since it seems more sites have iPhone apps. And many of them don't even just put a small link. Many, like Techcrunch, put a full page modal ad. Then there's sites who don't even ask you and redirect to an AppStore link. Stupid.
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