Unravelling the Indian Messaging Apps Usage Behaviour

Afew years back, there was a race to join social networking sites from Orkut to Facebookand Twitter. This was all about building a network of friends, creatingpersonal profiles, and sharing photos, videos, music and status updates. Today,people ask whether you are on WhatsApp, WeChat, Kik etc., and even now all ofhis is about networking and sharing. Times are changing with tech-savvy youngpeople turning to a wave of smartphone-based messaging apps which are nowsweeping across the world. All of these are predominantly driven by mobile.Mobile messaging apps, or social messaging apps as they are called, are thebiggest threat to the existing social networks. The apps provide a quick andeasy way for smartphone users to combine elements of text and social networkingand bypassing both the SMS plans offered by telecom carriers and also theestablished social networking websites. This growing trend of messaging appsare not only replacing traditional SMS and voice calling, but they continue togrow and may even replace social networking sites as well.

Whatstarted off as a habit of SMS messaging on a mobile phone has evolved into anengaging conversation using instant messaging initially on PCs and then onsmartphones. A rapid growth of mobile data subscriptions and the proliferationof reasonably priced smartphones have been the major contributing factors forhis growth. The other reason is quick response time and the ability to havelonger conversations virtually with anyone in the world without any extra cost.

Mobile Messaging Landscape in India

Mobilemessaging apps have triggered a revolution globally, and India, being one ofhe fastest growing countries in terms of smartphone adoption, has also caughtup in this messaging revolution with the launch of many mobile messagingapplications. The mobile market in the country is beginning to open up both inerms of devices and related technologies. This user shift in India towardshigher screen size products is amplified by declining prices and theavailability of feature rich localized product offerings. The cost effectivenature of these social messaging apps has accelerated the adoption of theseservices amongst Indian consumers

Messagingapps are going all out to attract users in India as this is one of the largestmarkets. The widespread popularity of these apps has triggered a battle to gainmarket share. Many of them have been actively marketing on television and haveroped in celebrities for their campaigns. The messaging market is gettingextremely crowded and each player is trying to differentiate themselves.

Tobetter understand the growing popularity of mobile apps—and help all players inhe mobile ecosystem figure out how to profit from their growth—we at InMobiconducted a research project to understand the consumer behavior.

InMobi conducted this study to uncover trendsand provide an improved understanding of consumer behavioral insights incontext of mobile messaging apps to craft meaningful user acquisition andmonetization strategies for app developers.

The key research findingsare summarized as below:

App Usage

• Messaging is very big among Indian users. It’s engrained in their habits ever since the inception of SMS. Research shows that of all forms of communication channels available on mobile device, 44% of Indian mobile users prefer messaging apps as the most preferred way to communicate, bypassing even social networks (19%).
• 95% of mobile users in India access messaging apps multiple times per day.
• Younger mobile users under aged 35 are leading the charge toward chat apps. They are drawn to chat apps because of the cost-savings benefits they offer (vs. SMS/MMS) and for the immediate, private and fun nature of the messaging environment.

App Discovery

• Browsing the app store, recommendations from friends and family, and mobile websites are the top three ways users discover apps. Mobile advertising has also emerged as an important discovery channel, with 14 percent of respondents reporting they discover new apps via mobile ads

App Preference

The fragmentation of social media is very much driven by thediverse needs of consumers. Our research shows that not all apps have the sameappeal. By talking to different consumers and engaging people in a co-creationprocess, marketers can help drive innovation and uncover opportunities whereheir brand can meaningfully add value.

Propensity to Download:

56% of mobile users in India are more likelyo download the messenger/chat app in the next 30 days.

The top 3 factors that influence Indian userso download these apps are:

• Ability to communicate with friends - 44%
• Ability to share photos & videos – 39%
• Ability to communicate with family – 30%

What is interesting to note is that attributes such as the ability to play games and availability of emoticons are seen as much less important. Users value the functionality and reliability of such apps, rather than the add-on fancy features.

In-App Purchases

• Research found that a fair share of mobile users do shell out for in-app purchases in a messaging apps—21% of respondents said they’d made an in-app purchase in a mobile messaging apps, and 18% of users have never made an in-app purchase but would consider making.
• The optimal price point for in-app purchases in messaging apps for Indian users is between INR 71 and INR 129
• Digital goods purchases (38%); Upgrading apps with additional features (35%)are the most popular types of in-app purchases done by Indian mobile messaging app users

What it takes to Win the Chat Race

Here are a few tips for marketers and publishersas an outcome of the survey.

Leverage mobile: Leverage all the available features inmobile devices like camera, location detection, sensors, which were notpossible in Web to create new business opportunities. Make sure your appleverages all these features to ensure a richer user experience!

Leverage mobile messaging - 78% of respondents send or receive multiplemobile messages per day. Leverage the mobile messaging/ chat app opportunity to fill this needo communicate with consumers via mobile messages.

Focus on the right audience - 95% of respondents already use mobilemessaging/ chat apps, and nearly two-thirds of them are planning to download amessaging/ chat app in the next 30 days. Understand who your target consumers are andwhat factors consumers find most important to messaging/ chat applications.

Design dynamic and engaging mobileexperience - Mobile consumers discovermessaging/ chat apps through multiple channels. Design dynamic and engaging mobile experiencesthat introduce consumers to messaging/ chat applications,showcase app features, and enable them to seamlessly download the app.

Generate brand awareness - Indian mobile consumer’s most frequentsocial networking and messaging and news/ weather mobile sites or applications.Generatebrand awareness by targeting ads to these mobile properties and othersites they frequent.

Monetize - Once your app has reached the critical massof users, focus your effort towards monetizing the app. Earn additional revenueby hosting ads in your app. Consider utilizing native ads that seamlessly blendinto your app content. Understand what types of in-app purchases users are making and offerhose that make the most sense for your app.

Conclusion

Time spent on messaging apps is exploding inmarkets, and many of the populous countries in the world have fallen prey forhem. It is important for marketers and publishers involved in mobile media tostand that messaging is theaudience platform of the future.

To learn moreabout the above study, download the India Mobile Messaging Apps Research Reportand Infographics

Interested instanding more about this research? Reach out to our insights team at insights@inmobi.com