Learn From Thy Users

A talk about how to use Analytics, AB Testing, and Pre-release builds to gather data from your apps users in order to make apps that people love to use. This was presented at A Swift Start at the Flatiron School.

Transcript

1. SO YOU WANT TO WRITE
   AWESOME IOS APPS?
   DASMER SINGH
   

   View Slide

2. BUT WHAT
   MAKES AN APP
   AWESOME?
   

   View Slide

3. IS IT...
   

   View Slide

4. SOMETHING REALLY OUT OF
   THE BOX
   

   View Slide

5. OR LIFE SAVING
   

   View Slide

6. COOL ANIMATIONS?
   

   View Slide

7. THESE ARE ALL IMPORTANT
   MANY GREAT APPS HAVE THESE
   

   View Slide

8. BUT WHAT TAKES AN APP TO
   THE next level
   

   View Slide

9. IS ITS
   USER-BASE
   

   View Slide

10. LEARN FROM THY
    USERS
    

    View Slide

11. BUT HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT USERS WANT?
    1. Analytics
    2. AB Testing
    3. Asking
    

    View Slide

12. 1. ANALYTICS
    TRACK ALL THE THINGS
    

    View Slide

13. THERE ARE MANY GREAT TRACKING TOOLS FOR IOS
    SOME EXAMPLES:
    1. Mixpanel
    2. Flurry
    3. Google Analytics
    4. Parse
    

    View Slide

14. WHAT CAN WE TRACK?
    1. Events
    2. Properties
    

    View Slide

15. EVENTS USUALLY SIGNIFY AN ACTION TOOK PLACE
    EXAMPLES AT VENMO:
    1. Recipient Selected
    2. Invite Sent
    3. Story Tapped
    4. Address Book Authorized
    

    View Slide

16. PROPERTIES ARE PASSED WITH EVENTS TO GIVE CONTEXT
    TO THE ACTION BEING LOGGED
    EXAMPLES AT VENMO:
    1. Recipient Selected - isNearby
    2. Invite Sent - inviteType (SMS/Payment/Email)
    3. Story Cell Tapped - rowIndex
    4. Address Book Authorized - sourceViewController
    

    View Slide

17. EXAMPLE:
    Mixpanel *mixpanel = [Mixpanel sharedInstanceWithToken:MIXPANEL_TOKEN];
    [mixpanel track:@"Compose - Recipient Selected" properties:@{
    @"isNearby": @"YES",
    @"isFriend": @"NO"
    }];
    

    View Slide

18. ZERO TAP
    SEARCH AT
    VENMO:
    BECAUSE ANALYTICS,
    MOST PAYMENTS REQUIRE NO SEARCH
    TEXT INPUT AT ALL.
    

    View Slide

19. 2. AB TESTING
    

    View Slide

20. A SIMPLE WAY TO TEST CHANGES TO YOUR
    UI/UX AGAINST THE CURRENT DESIGN
    

    View Slide

21. SKYLAB
    AN OPEN SOURCE AB TESTING FRAMEWORK
    FOR MULTI-VARIATE AND ABTESTING
    WRITTEN BY MATTT
    

    View Slide

22. SIMPLE EXAMPLE:
    [SkyLab abTestWithName:@"Title" A:^{
    self.titleLabel.text = NSLocalizedString(@"Hello, World!", nil);
    } B:^{
    self.titleLabel.text = NSLocalizedString(@"Greetings, Planet!", nil);
    }];
    

    View Slide

23. SLIGHTLY MORE COMPLICATED EXAMPLE:
    [SkyLab splitTestWithName:@"Subtitle" conditions:@{
    @"Red" : @(0.15),
    @"Green" : @(0.10),
    @"Blue" : @(0.50),
    @"Purple" : @(0.25)
    } block:^(id choice) {
    self.subtitleLabel.text = NSLocalizedString(@"Please Enjoy This Colorful Message", nil);
    if ([choice isEqualToString:@"Red"]) {
    self.subtitleLabel.textColor = [UIColor redColor];
    } else if ([choice isEqualToString:@"Green"]) {
    self.subtitleLabel.textColor = [UIColor greenColor];
    } else if ([choice isEqualToString:@"Blue"]) {
    self.subtitleLabel.textColor = [UIColor blueColor];
    } else if ([choice isEqualToString:@"Purple"]) {
    self.subtitleLabel.textColor = [UIColor purpleColor];
    }
    }];
    

    View Slide

24. OPTIMIZELY AND MIXPANEL
    MORE SOPHISTICATED AB TESTING FRAMEWORKS
    (AND POTENTIALLY COSTLY)
    1. Edit any nib on the fly
    2. Iterate quicker
    3. No code necessary
    

    View Slide

25. EXAMPLE:
    

    View Slide

26. ANALYZE AND OPTIMIZE
    TRACK YOUR AB TEST RESULTS WITH ANALYTICS
    

    View Slide

27. 3. ASK
    

    View Slide

28. WHO? EVERYONE & ANYONE
    HOW? BETA BUILDS WITH TESTFLIGHT
    1. Upcoming Xcode 6 + iTunes Connect Integration
    2. Up to 1000 Testers
    3. Easy to use
    

    View Slide

29. OK I SENT THEM A BETA, NOW WHAT?
    1. Read crash logs
    2. Talk to them for feedback.
    3. Send another build with every change you deem significant or want
    to validate
    

    View Slide

30. THE APPLE APP STORE IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S
    MOST POWERFUL MARKETPLACES
    1. Over 50 Billion iOS apps have been downloaded
    2. Over 500 million iPhones have been sold
    3. As developers we can have a large reach and can learn from
    a lot of people
    

    View Slide

31. TAKE WHAT YOU LEARN AND ITERATE.
    THE MORE USERS LIKE YOUR APP, THE MORE:
    1. they'll use it
    2. the user-base will grow
    3. awesome your app becomes.
    

    View Slide

32. Make something beautiful
    

    View Slide