ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Marketing Dive acquired Mobile Marketer in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out the new Marketing Dive site for the latest marketing news.

Apple Watch developers fail at finding unique use case for wrist

While marketers and developers have quickly embraced the Apple Watch, early user testing points to several challenges, something Apple is expected to address with the release of new tools at its Worldwide Developers Conference today.

User testing for the Apple Watch conducted by mobile agency Somo reveals several challenges facing developers, including creating meaningful experiences, addressing user frustration with unique features and a lack of urgency regarding the need for such a device.

?In Somo's Apple Watch UX workshop, it was evident that the first iteration of the watch doesn?t necessarily meet expectations in terms of ease of use,? said Noreen McCaffrey, head of marketing at Somo, London. ?Marketers need to make sure they?re thinking very carefully about the user experience for the device, decide what the killer feature is going to be and not just port everything from a mobile app over to the watch.

?The watch is an extension to the iPhone, not an enhancement,? she said. ?There?s a whole world of different experiences and touch points to carefully consider.

?One of the most surprising outcomes was that at the beginning of the session, half of the participants were convinced they needed one, with the remainder still undecided. They also unanimously claimed they were the type of customer who waited for general opinion before making a purchase decision. By the end of the testing, only one tester was still convinced they still needed the device.? 

Third-party apps
At the WWDC event, the Apple Watch is expected to get native software developer tools, offering the ability to create apps that run on the Apple Watch without having to sync with the iPhone. Developers are also expected to get access to sensors, enabling the creation of apps that track a run without the need of a nearby phone.

Native apps could help the Apple Watch address some of the early issues with the device.

Somo ran user tests with eight people who identified themselves as brand loyal to Apple but who had not previously used the watch.


Users were able to pair the Apple Watch with their iPhone relatively easily. In fact, this ended up being a ?moment of delight? for users, who were impressed by how simple and interactive the process was.

Somo?s Apple Watch testers had a great experience with their third-party apps once they realized that some needed to by synced using the iPhone app.

While a number of marketers have already released their first apps for the Apple Watch, very few have captured a unique use case for the wrist, per Somo. Marketers should be asking themselves how they can add value with a watch app. Creating an app for the Apple Watch should be about more than just shrinking down an iPhone app to fit a watch screen.

Siri
A couple of opportunities also became apparent as users interacted with the smart watch. 

A key opportunity on the Apple Watch just may be Siri, with users exhibiting a significant increase in willingness to use voice controls on the smartwatch compared to testing on mobile devices. Users quickly resorted to Siri when they had an issue, wanted to find an answer to something or needed help, possible because there is no other input method on the Apple Watch.

Additionally, users were quick to grasp how to engage with notifications. The most intuitive and useful features of the Apple Watch out of the gate are messaging, calls and notifications, per Somo. Users found it simple to create, send and respond to messages and calls.


Navigational challenges
Other challenges that Somo?s testers encountered include that they quickly became frustrated once they started interacting with the device as they struggled to figure out how to use a number of new interactions and controls, making it challenging to navigate around the watch.

In its marketing for the Apple Watch, the company has focused heavily on new native features such as Digital Touch, which offers a number of shortcuts for interacting with friends. However, users had difficulty finding the new features.

Somo concludes that Digital Touch might be a feature that struggles to gain traction due to the complexity of the setup.

Force Touch
Another new feature, Force Touch, enables users to change settings by pressing firmly on the screen. When asked to customize the watch face, users failed to use Force Touch to complete an action or access content. They also pressed the Friends button or reverted to the Apple Watch iPhone app to try and complete the task.

Somo encourages third-party app developers to keep the challenges with Force Touch in order to ensure users do not end up with a negative first impression.

?How users engaged with Force Touch was also a little surprising as it became very apparent that it was a gesture people were simply not used to,? Ms. McCaffrey said. ?On multiple occasions, participants failed to use Force Touch to complete an action or access content available to them, often defaulting to Siri for help.?

Digital Crown
The most common point of confusion for users was how to use physical buttons, with testers consistently defaulting to pressing the Friend button and overlooking the push and twist gestures provided by the Digital Crown.

Users of the Apple Watch are meant to turn the Digital Crown to zoom in and out of photos, scroll through lists, input data and return to the home screen. Somo expects that once users become familiar with the different types of navigation, these interactions will become second nature.

Once a customer becomes an Apple Watch owner, and has paired the device, the iPhone app suddenly unlocks a lot of Apple Watch management features. However, Somo found that most of its testers forgot about their phone and what it could add to their Apple Watch.

Marketers should also keep in mind that it is still not clear just how big the Apple Watch initial user base will be. Half of Somo?s testers started out convinced they wanted one, but by the end of the test, only one was still convinced of the need for one. This suggests it may take a couple of iterations before the Apple Watch truly grabs the imagination of the general public.

?The big question that brands and developers need to ask is ?how does this watch app add value??? Ms. McCaffrey said. ?A number of market leaders have already released their first attempts, but very few have lived up to expectations and have missed the unique use-case for the wrist.


?Producing a watch app is about more than just shrinking your iPhone app down,? she said. ?Companies and developers need to start thinking differently about what kind of experiences would delight users on their wrists.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York