App Developers Wrestle With Ratings – Kano May be the Answer

Kano Model Illustrated

Attending Mobile Camp in Boston this past Saturday I listened to a presentation by a developer that indicated that some mobile apps may be victimized by customer issues more than then apps actual functionality. It turns out that often customers rate apps negatively for reasons that have very little to do with the app. It struck me that if developers took more time to learn what elements of their apps will drive excitement and satisfaction then they may be able to elicit more positive reviews (the 5 star nirvana necessary to vault to the top of the ratings chart and garner more downloads).

With applications, just like software, some features are a given, such as ease of installation, compatibility with my OS (or OS flavor in the case of the Android), and of course how streamlined. In the past a “front-end” to a company’s mobile-enabled website might have been acceptable, now that is viewed as archaic and outdated. Customers seek speed, easy interaction and security (features defined as Execution). The Kano Model proposes there are several attributes that entice customers and will allow you to keep them:
Performance features are a function of Threshold or Required features
Required or Threshold features: This is what is expected. If you have a banking app you would expect to be able to access your accounts and at the very least verify balances and transactions and transfer funds between accounts at the same bank.
Excitement features could be the ability to transfer funds between two different banks, wire funds to a cousin via Western Union, etc. These are the unexpected features that a customer will rave over when reviewing an app.

You may have guessed – Excitement features will become with time required features. So give more thought as to how you can keep customers downloading your apps via going the extra leg without giving it all away (stay in the upper write quadrant).

Loving Pandora

I have a Zune, yet the Pandora has made that wonderful device obsolete or at least less desirable.

Why? I grew up with a transistor listening to baseball games and later on to soccer games when my family moved all of us to Colombia. The mobility back then allowed me to go anywhere the AM transmitter would allow me to go an not miss my favorite team’s game. TV’s did not have that power, they meant being shackled to the living room floor for the length of a game… yet my Zune should allow me mobility? True, it even has an FM radio if I get bored with my tunes. But the point is that with Pandora I am my own disc jockey. I provide my likes, the names of artists and customize the stations to my liking. Then, I download the applet for my Blackberry and yes, I go jogging, biking and even drive with Pandora streaming my stations and allowing me to discover new artists I would not have had I stuck to buying downloads for my Zune. It is an amazing experience and I also just let it stream at the office while I work…

I should also state that I am an former Sirius Radio subscriber. It was wonderful to drive through the country with your music streaming in regardless of where you are. The drawback? You had many stations to choose from, yet here again I was at the mercy of the Sirius programmer. Also, if you like Latin music, you had ONE channel… and they seemed to think that all latinos needed to listen to Bachata or Merengue all the time… it was excruciating and indicative of how limited their worldview was. I cancelled my subscription and for $14 bought an auxiliary audio cable at Best Buy, hooked it up to my Blackberry and piped in Pandora through the application. Now, I have MY station, my music and its free. I am streaming Pandora as we speak – with Sirius I would have needed a docking station, really convenient considering I am in my hotel room.

As 4G technology spreads throughout the country and 3G becomes a standard in less populated areas, this increased capacity for data transport will make radio stations obsolete unless you are a talk radio addict. I love Pandora.