The document discusses best practices for mobile app development based on an interview with SC Moatti. Some key points discussed include making apps look good, be meaningful and personalized for users, and change with how people use them over time. Developers are encouraged to reduce steps in their app funnels through shortcuts, broaden the top of the funnel with hooks to attract users, demonstrate value immediately, minimize unpredictability, and ask for permissions at optimal times. It emphasizes the importance of focusing on users' goals and presenting a polished, intuitive experience.

1. The New
‘Must Haves'
for Mobile Apps
to Succeed
Today
A Repurpose Article from First Round Review.
http://firstround.com/review/the-new-must-haves-for-mobile-apps-to-succeed-today/
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2. SC Moatti
“
Managing partner at Mighty Capital,
former Facebook executive
Mobile has an entirely different
resonance and cadence for users,
which makes the development of
mobile apps fundamentally
different too.

3. People treat their
phones as an
extension of
themselves and
their capabilities.
Mobile is
deeply
personal.

4. mobile products
have to look good
Mobile’s Holy Trinity
meaningful and
personalized for users
change and grow with the
people who use them

5. People bring their devices with
them everywhere, and no matter
where we are or who we are, we
expect them to work flawlessly.
In short, we expect magic
from mobile.

6. When a mobile
application
oversteps or
breaks or isn’t
intuitive, the cost
is very high.
“From a tech perspective, a lot of problems take a
long time and more people to fix," she says. "Native
apps are not nearly as flexible and fixable as web sites.
From a user perspective, because people are more
emotional about their phones, you can break trust,
you can turn people off, and they don’t come back as
easily — or ever.

7. Rethink Your Funnel
“There are two tools you definitely should use to
take back control and better navigate the discovery
process: shortcuts and hooks,” says Moatti.
“Shortcuts reduce the time and effort it takes for
users to get to your goal.
Hooks get as many people into your funnel as
possible.”

8. Shortcuts
Effectively, shortcuts make your funnel less deep,
by cutting out some steps.
Take Amazon for instance. When you buy a book,
it immediately shows you other books people who
bought that book purchased. You don’t need to go
back and search for other books by the same
author, or other books on the same topic. The list is
right there in front of you. That’s an example of a
shortcut.

9. Hook
Hooks broaden the top of your funnel.
Zillow is the perfect case study here. On average,
people buy or sell a home every five years.
Zillow redefined its addressable market with its
“Zestimates,” an estimated value of a home, which
is a general curiosity for most people. It was the
hook that got millions to engage with Zillow
repeatedly.

10. Demonstrate
Your Value,
Immediately
Your onboarding process should be defined by one theme:
Showing users exactly how valuable your product will be for them.
What’s important for them to know to recognize this value?
Put it front and center.

11. Don’t Show Too
Much, Don’t Ask
Too Much.
“When I used to run the rental
division for Trulia, we made sure the
app showed rental listings
immediately — as soon as someone
opened the app. They were
immediately reassured that they’d
find what they were looking for and
that we wouldn’t waste their time.”

12. People don’t want to hear about
your service, they want to see
why it’s useful for them.

13. Know When To Ask Permission
“The beauty of WhatsApp is that you can
message with your friends instantly. So it’s
critical for it to send push notifications
whenever someone messages you.
That’s why it asks for push permission as early
as possible, even before signup.
Strive to ask permission either as early
or as late as possible.

14. Build It Beautiful
Design plays a major role in whether a
mobile strategy succeeds or not. People have
much higher expectations for the look and
feel of mobile products than they do for their
web-based counterparts.
The bar has been raised, and mobile
products that look dated, unpolished,
or clunky are at a drastic disadvantage.

15. Minimize
Unpredictability
Too many companies try to offer too
many features, she says. As a result, they
end up with multiple navigation
elements. They might have the few
choices in the bar at the bottom, but also
a hamburger menu in the top corner
brimming with even more choices.
Invest the time to think
about what people
expect from the actions
you want them to take
in your product. As often
as possible, you want
them to get exactly what
they expect.

16. It Comes Down To Culture
Each of the lessons above boils down to
being mindful about users’ goals, how human
attention naturally travels through an
experience, how to present clear and logical
choices, and how to make a service feel
incredibly personal without overstepping.

17. When you’re designing a product
to extend a person’s identity and
capabilities in the world the way
that mobile does, it’s better to
move slow and deliver delight.

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