The Rise of ‘Theme Based Super Apps’ in North America
Plus 6 core principles when building a super app
In North America — we will NOT have a Super App like WeChat. We will never have an app that is so all encompassing and broad — allowing you to chat with your friends, pay your taxes, consume news, play games, and do virtually everything you could do with a phone. WeChat was built in a different time, place, and under a very specific set of conditions that allowed for it to become an operating system for the Chinese internet and central to the everyday lives of the Chinese population.
What is rising fast in North America are ‘Theme Based Super Apps’. We are seeing this with Uber building a Super App around mobility (“Go Anywhere, Get Anything”), Google Maps where location is the core theme, Paypal that is building around financial tools, Robinhood around investing, Coinbase around crypto, and of course with what we are building at Super.com with savings being the core theme.
What is a ‘Theme based super app’?
A super app in general is an app that offers multiple services within one app. They could all logically be separate apps but they have been brought together into one app.
A ‘Theme based super app’ coined here in this blog post, is a type of super app that has a unifying theme. This is important because it creates a mental model for consumers to understand why they are opening the app and what connects a bunch of potentially disparate services or features together. A unifying theme also creates an opportunity for each service to leverage each other in an integrated way such that they are creating more value together than they would otherwise on their own.
Switching apps is extremely easy. With a simple swipe you can switch apps. There needs to be a real benefit to the business and more importantly to the consumer for bringing multiple services together into one theme based super app.
6 core principles when building a super app
Below are 6 core principles that a super app should follow in order to succeed. Most of these can be applied to Super Apps in general but they are even more relevant in the context of building a super app in North America where user behavior is different and requires a concerted effort to have customers understand the theme of the super app and that one app can be used for multiple services around that theme.
1 — Bridge Between Services
Super Apps must build a ‘bridge’ for the customer to get from one service to another
A customer will typically download an app for a very specific purpose or intent. They are usually operating with blinders on and only thinking about getting that job done. It is quite difficult to get them to think about anything else and as a business trying to maximize conversion — you don’t want to get in their way. Let the customer go in and complete the task they have come in to do.
However — at some point in the journey, a super app must create a ‘bridge’ for the customer to get from one service to the next in order to be effective. Some examples of bridges below:
- Uber prompts you to order groceries from the same driver who is bringing you your restaurant food order. Without that ‘bridge’ you would probably never think of Uber as a place for you to order groceries but prompting directly in the interface at the right time may get you to not only order groceries then, but also to use Uber to order groceries in the future. They are creating a bridge from bringing you restaurant food to bringing you groceries and may also prompt for the local convenience store, the pharmacy, or even flowers. Slowly — they are training the consumer to think of Uber as a ‘Go Anywhere. Get Anything’ service and not just an app for rides and restaurant food delivery.
- Super.com prompts you to save more money on your trip right after you just saved on your hotel booking. We make thousands of hotel bookings every day and are known for saving money on hotels. Now, how can we bridge the customer to try another product? Well, you just saved on your hotel booking. Continue saving in New York with an additional 5% cashback on your first 5 transactions. The bridge we are building for our customer is from saving on the hotel booking to saving across their entire trip. We could also offer 18 cents a gallon on gas for customers who booked a hotel near their billing address. Each moment of realized savings helps us take the user step by step across that bridge from a travel savings company to a broader savings company.
- Google leverages location as its unifying theme. Searching around the map and looking at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This is the perfect time to prompt the customer to buy tickets directly within the app. You will see google leverage placements in the app for a variety of services.
2 — Friction Free Activations
Super Apps must work towards friction free activations of the new service
In addition to building that initial bridge — it is important that the services are deeply integrated and benefit from each other. In the example of offering gas savings to a customer who just booked their hotel — it is great that we can offer additional savings but it is a significantly different experience if we can offer and activate these additional savings with a single click while remembering the customers identity, payment method, and preferences.
While super apps often have a services tab where you can see a carousel or grid of all the offerings, expect discovery and activation of new services to be very low unless you build a bridge for discovery and have a friction free integration for activation. The reality is that some activations will not just be ‘1-click’ or ‘1-tap’ if you are working with a 3rd party company to provide that service (co-branded, white-labeled, partnership) but be aware that each piece of friction you remove will increase the activation rate significantly and will be a step forward in your customer using multiple services.
Here is another example of working towards minimizing friction at Super.com. As a customer who just completed a hotel booking or an ecommerce purchase with us — we can identify that the customer paid with a debit card. While there are many reasons why this could be the case, it is typically because they do not have access to a credit card. This means they did not earn rewards and did not work to build their credit score. Now that the purchase is completed — it is the perfect time to offer them an upgrade to the Super Pay card — telling them inline the benefits of doing so. They have already filled in a lot of their personal information (to complete their purchase) and are just a few taps away from passing KYC and getting their hands on the Super Pay card. Better yet — we can offer an immediate discount (cash back) on the purchase they just made for completing the sign up flow. Removing friction like this is required in order to break out of the normal sub 1% conversion rate you would have on such complex cross-sells. Leveraging identity, payment information, data, rewards, personalization are all key components in creating a deeply integrated set of services and can help to remove friction on the customer journey.
3 — High Frequency Use Cases
Super Apps must work towards a high frequency use case
In order for customers to view you as a super app — they must be coming to you for multiple use cases. One (or ideally more than one) needs to be a high frequency use case. Being one of the handful of apps that the customer interacts with nearly every day is essential to stay top of mind for the consumer and to have a constant opportunity to take them along the journey and introduce them to new services.
Starting with a regular use case (like chat, social, or payments) is a great place to be. It becomes harder as you move further down the use case frequency spectrum (weekly or monthly) so those apps who have weekly or monthly usage need to consider ways to add services or build gamification or engagement that can get the customer to come back daily. The goal is to get customers from the forgettable zone to the habit zone.
4 — The Brand Promise
Different services must live up to the brand promise and have a consistent experience
Living up to the brand promise and offering a consistent brand experience is key to building a theme based Super App. Each product must remind the customer of the core brand promise to the customer and most importantly deliver on that promise. Delivering on the promise is key. If your core theme is around location — you must work to have every location mapped in as much detail as possible (inside and outside). If your core promise is savings, you must work every day to deliver on those savings.
When I speak with customers who have used 3 or more of our products or services, they always reference the trust they have from using one product that got them to try the next one. They feel that each product delivers the same user experience and brand promise. What they are generally referring to is the theme of savings but also the intangible feeling they get from each product they use due to the consistent brand experience. When they see that pink lightning bolt — they know what to expect. They are about to save some money!
When you use Uber — you will see that consistent experience. Whether you are taking a ride in an UberX or a black car, Ordering food, groceries or flowers — the experience is relatively consistent. The look and feel, theme, and consistency with being able to visualize the transportation device on the map are always there.
5 — Expectations on Usage
Do not expect every customer to use every service
A Super App cannot expect every customer to use every service it offers. In fact, many customers will only use the App for one single purpose (maybe two). I.e It would be hard to find many customers who have used Uber for rides, eats, to order groceries and flowers, as well as to deliver a package. That is OK.
At Super.com we have customers who have booked hotels with us 50+ times who have never tried another service. We have other customers who have been avid users of the Super Pay card earning cash back and building their credit. They have booked hotels with competitors and never thought to use us to book hotels.
The reality is that some customers will come for one thing and always come for one thing. They will keep their blinders on and bulldoze through any prompts, bridges, pop-ups, notifications that are related to anything other than the task they are there for.
Over time as we build bridges, have deeper integrations, and grow the brand — we will bring a higher % of customers along the journey but we can never expect 100% of customers to use 100% of the services we offer.
Finally — Two or more services must stand on their own with its own growth loops, their own user acquisition and retention capability, and their own strong unit economics.
There can be other ‘bolt on / cross sell’ services which is a great additional benefit — but core services need to stand on their own. Uber and Uber Eats both stand on their own with package delivery and flowers being bolt on. Super Travel and Super Pay both stand on their own with other services being bolt on.
6 — Artificial Intelligence
AI must be leveraged as an accelerator for Super Apps
Artificial Intelligence has the ability to revolutionize and accelerate the super app model. One of the challenges with super apps is their complexity. With a multitude of services on offer, users might find it overwhelming to navigate through the app. This is where AI can make a significant difference.
AI can analyze large volumes of data and understand patterns. It can then personalize the user experience within a super app. It can identify a user’s preferences based on their past behavior and present them with relevant services at the right time.
The right app notification, the right layout of the home screen, timely discounts, and deciding which service to put in front of the customer next will result in significant improvements in uptake of additional services. AI will create a more personalized and relevant experience to keep the customer engaged on the journey. In fact — we will soon be in a world where no two customer journeys and no two layouts or flows will be the same. Every customer has their unique set of goals and preferences and you can expect the UI to adapt to their needs. In essence, AI enables super apps to present the right offer with the right message to the right customer at the right time.
Theme Based Super Apps are already here and growing
There is a lot of chatter around whether North America will ever have a super app like WeChat. The reality is that Super Apps are already here. However they look quite different. They are super apps centered around certain core themes. These themes can be small, or they can be large but certainly we are seeing a growing set of apps adopt this model.
These companies are expanding services beyond their core offering but still staying true to the core theme they are built around. We only expect this trend to grow from here as apps follow the core principles above and consumer behavior begins to shift.
