MBLT15: Inspired by innovations — international mobile conference (http://mblt.ru) Organized by e-Legion & RAEC

1. THE 13 THINGS METRO’S APPS TAUGHT ME
ABOUT DIGITALPUBLISHING
#MBLT15 conference, Moscow
May 2015

2. METRO IN NUMBERS
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Friday, May 8, 2015
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THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR FREE NEWSPAPER
GENERAL
ELECTION
2015
Conservative 316 Labour 239 Lib Dem 10 Green 2Ukip 2Seats prediction SNP 58
n Cameron ‘no need for a coalition’
n SNP triumphs threaten the Union
5amED
ITIO
N
CAM’S
THE
MAN
n Tories are
heading to
a possible
majority
n SNP rout
Labour and
Lib Dems
in Scotland
n Vince Cable
and Simon
Hughes lose
their seats
by JOEL TAYLOR
His Ed’s
on the
blockMiliband facing axe: Page 7 »
Victor:
David
Cameron
early this
morning
GETTY
DAVID CAMERON is on course
for a return to No.10 – and could
even win a sensational majority.
Conservative hopes of outright
victory were raised as results today
showed seat after seat swinging
away from Labour.
An exit poll suggested the Tories
would win 316 seats – ten short of a
majority – while Labour would take
239, their lowest since 1987.
Ed Miliband’s future as leader
looked in doubt as his party faced a
wipe-out in Scotland, where the
SNP was poised to win in all but
one of the 59 constituencies. As the
pattern emerged, former Labour
minister David Blunkett said: ‘The
opinion polls were wrong, the exit
poll is right, and this is a very, very
bad night for us.’
The SNP’s Mhairi Black, 20, be-
came the youngest MP since 1667
as the Scottish nationalists swept
the board north of the border. The
surge by Nicola Sturgeon’s party
was also bad news for the Lib Dems
– who looked set to be reduced to a
rump of ten MPs nationwide.
At least 121 of their candidates
lost their deposits and senior MPs
Simon Hughes and Vince Cable
were defeated. Former party presi-
dent Tim Farron said: ‘This is going
to be a tough set of results. I think
fear may have won the day.’
A Tory majority looked likely as
they held Nuneaton with a three per
cent swing. Pollster John Curtice
said: ‘We expected a one-point
swing to Labour in Nuneaton. The
Continued on Page 5 »
3
➫
➫
➫ Free newspaper launched
in London in 1999
Now the UK’s 3rd largest
daily newspaper with 1.3m
circulation, distributed in
cities across the country
Part of the dmg media
group (Daily Mail and
MailOnline) not connected
to Metro International

3. METRO IN NUMBERS
➫ Launched first digital
edition in 2011 on iPad.
Now on iPad, iPhone and
Android phones and tablets
and Kindle Fire devices

4. INTRODUCTION
➫
➫
➫ My background
My experiences of
moving from print
to digital
Where next for
digital publishing?

5. Search for
‘Metro Tablet Edition’
1. NEVERMISSADOWNLOAD OPPORTUNITY

6. 2. JUST WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT TO DO?
➫
➫
➫
➫ Decide what your app is for
Who are you targeting?
What need are you serving?
Metro’s strategy was to be a
mobile-first brand, to reach
same target urbanite audience
through different means

7. 3. FINDING ASUPPLIER OR SUPPLIERS
➫
➫
➫ External suppliers are probably the best option
Compare your product roadmaps – are they in sync?
Can their product fit in easily with your existing workflows?

8. 4. THE IMPORTANCE OF TESTING BEFORE YOU LAUNCH
➫
➫
➫ A chance to see how
readers use the app,
what they like, what
they don’t like and
any UX problems
they encounter
Build on ‘buzz’ parts
of your product
Educate colleagues
about your app

9. 5. THE IMPORTANCE OF APPLE
➫
➫
Having a good
relationship with
Apple is very useful –
the more visible
you are in the store,
the more downloads
you’ll get
Get your app store
optimisation strategy
right – what works
for Apple won’t
work for Google Play
necessarily

10. 6. THINK YOU’RE IN CONTROL? YOU’RE NOT
➫
➫ You are just one cog
in a much wider
machine but have
to keep up with the
changes happening
around you
You have your
product roadmap,
Apple and Google
have their roadmaps,
your app supplier
has theirs, your push
provider has theirs

11. 7. THINK DIFFERENT
➫
➫
➫
➫ Play to the device’s
strengths. Paper
content is our starting
point but we adopted
‘best of Metro’
content approach
Introduced an evening
edition as tablet usage
peaks in the evening
We have live feeds in
the edition
We have experimented
with special editions
including partnership
with Expedia

12. 8. APPSAREEXPENSIVE– BUTKEEPYOURSFRESH
➫
➫
➫
➫ Developing apps
is expensive
Making
customisations to
off-the-shelf apps
is expensive
Maintaining apps
is expensive
Making sure your
content works on as
many platforms as
possible is expensive

13. 9. KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS HAPPY
➫
➫ Give them a
channel away from
the App Store to
communicate
with you
Answer every email –
treat your customers
with respect

14. 10. UNEXPECTED BENEFITS
➫
➫
Could there be
new business
opportunities
beyond your
existing model?
We have been
able to build up
our customer
database
massively via
the apps, which
has created new
sales and CRM
opportunities

15. 11. USE CASE STUDIES TO YOUR BENEFIT
➫
➫
Industry-wide
research helps
with the app’s
sales story
Stats from
within your
app can also
bolster your
case

16. 12. THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN
➫
➫
➫
➫
It’s no longer an
Apple universe
The days of designing
for a single screen
size are over – move
to design once,
publish everywhere
Increased
personalisation
New opportunities
around beacons and
geo-targeting

17. 13. NO ONE HAS ALLTHE ANSWERS
➫
➫
➫ No digital edition is
head and shoulders
above the rest
Come to conferences,
talk to the people
behind apps you
admire
Go out and find
out more about the
digital landscape

18. james.cadman@metro.co.uk
@jamescadman07