Michael Myers

What to do when your app’s target market is off-target

In #iPhone
07/05/2011
2 Min read
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I have student in my Information Technology Strategy class that has what we all like to call, a “good problem”. They’ve released an app called Who’s Like Me (not site yet) and has had some success with the number of downloads. The issue is, these downloads are happening nowhere near the US target market. In short, the app makes use of your zip code to help you find people like you but the current users are in the Middle East and Asia. Their data is not international.

In my opinion there is a small window of opportunity where they could reach out to their current users, to see what kind of information is relevant to them in their culture. (The questionnaire is fairly western in focus.) Everything from; Are zip codes the best way to help you find people like you or are neighborhoods more useful? to What kind of information should we be asking?

Who’s Like Me, have the rare opportunity to collaborate with their users to determine how best to serve them. I believe the easiest way to start the conversation is to send out a push alert asking them help build improve the product. I would do this of course AFTER I determined which method of communication would work best: survey, phone call, etc. I would also work to find the best translator(s) – preferably someone who grew up in the culture and understands technology – to help reduce miscommunications.

I’ve seen several businesses in my time fight trends in order to capture what they considered a more attractive market. I’ve also seen all of those businesses fail. We’ll see if Who’s Like Me can take advantage of their emerging market.

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By Michael Myers 07/05/2011
265 comments
Michael Myers