And people tell their friends when they have a bad experience.
38% of mobile app users are unsatisfied with most of the apps that they use, according to a new survey by Harris Interactive, commissioned by EffectiveUI.
The research takes aim at poor-quality branded apps, with 32% of respondents saying they had told others about their bad app experiences.
The importance of word-of-mouth in the apps world is already well understood, but it cuts both ways: buzz around a great app can make it a hit, but negative chatter can rightly stymie its performance.
69% of respondents said that a negative app experience has a knock-on effect on how they view the brand behind it, while 13% say they have avoided branded apps after having a bad experience once.
There was some self-interest in the survey for EffectiveUI, which says the results show brands should "invest more in the user experience of their mobile apps, rather than rely solely on the brand".
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As its name implies, EffectiveUI offers just such a service. However, we are puzzled at some of the stats coming out of the survey's user experience questions.
Only 57% of respondents think apps should be well designed, and 74% think they should be easy to use. It seems there may be a market for badly designed difficult-to-use apps after all...
