The Triggerfish and Your Mobile App
In a world of a million apps, the trigger is the key
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A million apps in the app store.
41 apps on the average smartphone.
8 apps launched on a daily basis.
Success is no longer achieved with a download. A download is just a milestone on a long path to success in a mobile world.
Getting to the group of 41 from a million is one matter. Focus on utility by solving a real problem, do most of these things, and you’ll be on your way.
What’s not written about often is getting to the group of 8 from 41 — the apps launched on a daily basis.
The secret to being in this elusive group? Having a Trigger.
Plain and simple, if your product or brand doesn’t have a trigger, you’re in trouble.
The Trigger
You may have forgotten that Wednesday is trash day, but if you see your neighbor’s bins lined up on Tuesday night as you walk home, you’ll suddenly remember. You’ve seen a trigger (other people’s trash bins) and you’ll take an action (putting out the trash).
Charles Duhigg’s fantastic book, The Power Of Habit, examines triggers, and how they are the first step in the behavior loop in which habits form.
Duhigg shares that triggers almost always fit into one of these five categories:
1.) Location
2.) Time
3.) Emotional State
4.) Other People
5.) Immediately Preceding Action
A trigger is a cue.
This cue leads to some sort of action.
Triggers in a Mobile World
We can see how each of the five trigger categories map to real actions we’d take with apps.
1.) Location — “I’m in a new part of town, so I’ll fire up foursquare to find the best coffeeshop in the area.”
2.) Time — “I’m running late, so I’ll grab a Lyft or Uber instead of taking public transit.”
3.) Emotional State — “I’m feeling nostalgic, so I’ll explore Timehop.”
4.) Other People — “No one else is around, so I better Snapchat this to them.”
5.) Immediately preceding action — “I just felt a weird pain, so I’ll launch ZocDoc and get in touch with my doctor.”
You can’t have a trigger without a clear message
After answering the crucial question of “What problem is your service solving?” you’ll need to quickly be able to followup with a clear answer to “How will people know when to use your product?”
Some companies understand the need for a clear answer to this question and position their taglines as a direct way to answer it.
Seesaw is “for when you need opinions.” (other people trigger) Pocket is for “when you find something you want to view later,” (immediately preceding action trigger) and Nifti should be used “when you see something you like on a site.” (emotional state trigger)
The Trigger can be… triggered.
The ideal scenario is that the trigger will take care of itself.
This usually doesn’t happen, especially when you are seeking to change behavior, as so many new startups are.
So, what can you do?
You trigger the trigger.
The most common way to do this is with push notifications.
They are light enough (~200 characters) to act as a cue, yet they carry enough weight (pushed right to the pockets of thousands or millions) that they are significant.
foursquare’s next release will be built around the location trigger, pushing to your phone when relevant people or venues are around you. Their radar release last year gave a glimpse into this.
WillCall uses an “other people” trigger to let you know if your friends are headed to a concert in your area.
Fab’s vision was never to be a daily deals site, but it started that way to introduce a time trigger — a daily email signaling a sale — as it built out a longer term plan towards owning “good design” online.
If This Then That (IFTTT) lets you build and automate your own mobile triggers — mostly of the “immediately preceding action” type. Thousands of user generated triggers, or recipes as they call them, are available to use.
With great power comes great responsibility, of course. Push notifications need to be focused and relevant. Users are on high alert and many services are increasingly crossing to the wrong side of the signal v. noise chasm.
Triggers form Habits
The best part about having a product that has a clearly defined trigger associated with it?
Triggers are the first step in forming habits.
Habits are where high-value, lifetime customers are born.
Duhigg explains the habit loop in great detail in his book — it’s worth a read.
Below, I’ve illustrated a few examples of habit loops that are currently forming for millions of human beings using Uber and ZocDoc.
I’ve swapped Duhigg’s word for trigger, “cue”, out here, to be consistent.
Monetizing the Trigger
As more people discover the power of the trigger, the tools that enable this crucial step of the habit loop will become more important.
Companies like Urban Airship that power push notifications stand to profit from enabling companies to nudge the trigger.
Just this past week, Facebook began to move beyond App Install Ads and shift towards meaningful app engagement with “Ads for Engagement and Conversion.”
Estimote Beacons hold insane potential when it comes to Duhigg’s 1st trigger type: location. When you can push information based on location— down to a specific room or display — to physical visitor’s phone, the message can be incredibly relevant.
Success in a Trigger-Happy, Mobile World
The Triggerfish, a brightly colored fish found in the Indo-Pacific, has two dorsal spines to protect against predators.
For the second spine to be unlocked, the other spine must be depressed. This depression acts as a trigger.
One can’t work without the other.
Sure, you need a download to begin with, but the real power comes with the trigger.
The trigger is the way to protect against predators — be it in the ocean, or in the App Store.
Sink or swim, it’s up to you.
I'm building Bamboo, a user acquisition agency focused on helping mobile commerce products grow.Get in touch: sauterdj@gmail.comFollow me on Twitter: @DannySauter
