Check out the following (click the images to go directly into the evaluation).

Remember, create your free Analytical Path account to get awarded your points for each evaluation you perform and then redeem points for gift cards on our store.

Here is the app naming evaluation (click image to go to the evaluation):

Thank you!

The Analytical Path Team

Evaluators can go here now and start the process: https://analyticalpath.com/evaluator_signup/

Developers can sign up and start their own evaluations: https://analyticalpath.com/developer_signup/

The Analytical Path Team

Of course, not all apps are created equal.  Some are fantastically well-designed and offer great features and utility to users, and the rest are either mediocre at best or junk at worst.  So sometimes you don’t get what you paid for.  Most apps are ‘free’ and the one that do charge cost around $2.99 to $4.99 for the tablet version and a bit less for smartphone ones.  And in case you were wondering, if you bought every app on the Apple App store, for example, it would set you back $1.15 million (or $121,000 if you just like the games).  But the real action is within the app, what are referred to as ‘freemium’ apps.  These apps are free to download and install but offer various virtual items ranging in price from $0.99 to $99.99.  This business model has created some super successful apps (especially games) and at the same time has proven to be the bane of many parents – how many of your kids bought those Smurf Berries and chalked up double-digit or triple-digit credit card bills?

Let’s delve a little deeper into the ecosystem of apps for a bit.  As you wade through iTunes and search your favorite categories you are bombarded by a slew of app icons. The best of the litter make their way to the “Top Seller”, “Top Grossing”, “Top Free”, “Editor’s Picks”, and “What We’re Playing” groupings, at which point the app is golden and the team that made it can finally pay for their 6-12 months of hard work and earn a nice tidy profit.  The rest languish on in app store obscurity.  And each day the numbers grow with 800 new apps being added to the overall mix (more so on Google Play), each hoping to catch your attention and get you to tap on it.  For most apps, however, the extent of their engagement with the prospective consumer is just a fleeting glimpse of their icon and that’s all.  The analogy is like going through supermarket aisle by aisle as you are hit with a flood of products as you walk by giving the upper and lower shelve products nary a glance.

Taking the analogy a step further, let’s look at the game category, which is a hotbed of activity, yet is somewhat reminiscent of the cereal aisle at your local supermarket. At the supermarket you’ll see lots of bright reds, oranges and yellows with all manner of characters beckoning you (or your kids) to buy.

Transpose back to the app store – in this case the Top Grossing iPad game apps as seen below – and you’re hit with lots of bright colors and characters that, just like their cereal box counterparts, have their eyes trained on you to catch your attention get you to tap on it – “Look at me! Look at me!  Install me now!”  So in other words, much has to happen with that little image called the icon in a very brief instant to get you to engage with it.  It has to convey quality, reliability and entertainment all in one go.

But look elsewhere on the store, for example the Social Networking category, and you’ll find a very different array of icons and imagery.  There you see simpler yet more expressive icons with softer colors.  It is certainly a very different juxtaposition from the games category with its loudness.  In this case these social networking apps are strong brand extensions of the services and networks to which the apps serve as gateways.  The point being that there are many different approaches to how the apps are marketed.

Therefore, regardless of the type of app, the icon is a critical piece of the marketing puzzle in creating that first engagement with the prospective user.  After that, the app name, price point(s), screenshots, descriptions and ratings are important factors in leading the buyer to the install or purchase.

Our Web-based platform enables the creators of apps to test market their app’s icons, screenshots, app names and other creative assets, before they go live with their apps on the store, in front of an audience of evaluators.  These evaluators can be anyone who has an interest in expressing his or her opinions about what they like and dislike, and what they find appealing or not about these app materials.  For app creators they gain valuable information that will help them better tailor and refine their app’s marketing once they are ready for release.  For the evaluator, they become part of the creative process by sharing their opinions and, importantly, earn points (through the Analytical Path site) that they can accrue and redeem for awards, such as gift cards.  What is more, evaluators who are fans of certain apps can then follow the progress of the app’s development and subsequent release on the app store.

At present we are actively seeking evaluators to sign up. Signing up is entirely free and you can do so here.  There is nothing to download and all the evaluations are done through the Web browser.  When you log into the site you will see a number of app evaluations currently open for you to check out.  The typical evaluation takes about 5 to 7 minutes and combines rating scale questions as well as open-ended comment sections.  For each evaluation of an app the evaluator will earn 1 point.  Additionally, if you refer a family member or friend to the Analytical Path evaluator program, you will earn 1 point for each one who signs up.  You can then redeem your accrued points on the Points Store page for gift cards, which at present are iTunes Gift Cards but other types will soon be available.

Please take a moment to check out the site and sign up to be an Evaluator today.  Then start the various evaluations that are available.  Also, please help us spread the word too as we hope to get as many evaluators as possible so that we can in turn bring in more apps for evaluation.  Email us at inquiries@analyticalpath.com should you have any questions.  Thank you!

The Analytical Path Team

We have several evaluations currently open and live waiting for you to check out. Be sure to register (for free) when you do the evaluation so you can get credit for your evaluations and earn your points: http://analyticalpath.com/public_evaluations

The Analytical Path Team

First, you start by creating a free account.  Once you’ve logged in, go to the MyAccount tab and then select the Developer Dashboard link from the navigation menu on the left.  You will see the NEW APP EVALUATION SET-UP and from there you can click the +ADD APP link.

The next screen you see is the template into which you drop in all of your assets.  For instance, click on the gray icon area and you will be prompted to add your icon.  Click on the screenshot areas (of which there are 5) and you will then be prompted to upload them.  You are also encouraged to add in your app’s name, description and, in the case of any new What’s New material, that too.  As you add all these assets and materials your progress (circled in red) will increment.  You do not need to add all the assets listed in the upper navigation to initiate your evaluation, but the more you test the more data you can glean.

In addition to the full app evaluation, as described above, we now also offer app developers the opportunity to test out arrays of icons, screenshots or app names as well.  This is good for the developers that are still working on narrowing down the right look and feel for the icon, or the most impactful screenshots or app names.

From the Developer Dashboard on the MyAccount tab, you click the +CREATE EVALUATION link under the NEW MULTI-ASSET APP EVALUATION SET-UP.

You can then select from three options: Test Icons, Test Screenshots or Test Titles.

If, for instance you choose the Test Icon option, you will then be able to upload up to 6 icons that you wish to test.

Alternatively, if you chose to test screenshots, you would be presented with the following or, for titles the image that follows thereafter:

Once you have chosen the multi-asset app evaluation you wish to run (icons, screenshots or titles), you select the number of evaluators you want to have view your materials.  All this is free to do.

And that’s where we take over.  We have several hundred evaluators – and regularly growing in number – who are then messaged to partake of the evaluation and provide their quantitative and qualitative feedback.

As the app developer, you can then view your app’s evaluation progress in the MyAccount tab and, once the targeted number of evaluators has been achieved, you can view a free summary of the report.  The full report with all details of the evaluation then becomes available for purchase for a modest sum.

And that is how the new offerings work.  We are continuously striving to add features and testing metrics to further enable app developers to hone in and refine the key marketing collateral that is their app’s presence on the app store.

Feel free to contact us should you wish to learn more about the services or if you have any questions.  We are looking forward to hearing from you and starting your evaluations today!

The Analytical Path Team

What does that mean?  Unlike before when Evaluators of apps would be entered into sweepstakes to win prizes, we want to rewards all of our valued Evaluators with points that, when accrued, can be redeemed for items such as gift cards.

Like before, Evaluators will have the opportunity to check out new app content – icons, screenshots, names, and other important marketing assets.  But now Evaluators will be awarded one point for each evaluation they perform.  Evaluators can also earn one point for each colleague, friend or family member that they introduce that signs up with Analytical Path to become an Evaluator.  As those points accrue they can be redeemed for gift cards.  Currently, the Evaluator Point System is only open to people in the United States and its territories, but we are planning to expand it out further to other regions.

Here is a snapshot of the Points page on the site that described the system.  You can find the Points page here.

Here is a snapshot of 8 current app evaluations that are available to check out.  The actual Apps page is here, but remember to sign up and register so you get credit for your evaluations!

Just remember, the evaluator program is free for Evaluators to sign up.

For app developers, registration on the Analytical Path site is free and so is the initiation of the evaluation.  More about the app developer side of things in our next blog post.

Contact us to learn more.

The Analytical Path Team

• Sherwood Story: http://analyticalpath.com/evaluation/108
• Robin Hood Story: http://analyticalpath.com/evaluation/109

The Analytical Path Team

One of the first companies to test out the service is Out of D Box Solutions, developer of the recently released “Snoring Terminator” app.  We sat down with Vladimir Starov, founder of the company (and site) to discuss with him a bit about the origin of his app and how he found the Evaluation Process.

AP:  Briefly describe your app and its origin.
VS:  The idea for disrupting snoring patterns by emitting certain sounds is quite old. Many years ago, I was in a military summer camp where 10 men were sharing a large tent. A couple of people would fall asleep almost immediately and start snoring within minutes, keeping the rest of us awake. One guy showed us a trick: he would start making certain chirping sounds and the snoring would stop. After a while, the snoring resumed, but the special sounds would stop it again – long enough for the rest of us to fall asleep. Since then, I’ve tried the trick many times on my own – and it always worked. So, long ago I thought of building a device that would detect snoring and respond with special sounds to suppress it, but never got around to pursuing the idea – until last January. I suddenly realized that all the hardware needed to detect snoring and respond with a certain sound was already available – the smartphone! – and all I needed to do was to design the UI and write the appropriate software code.

AP:  How are you finding the competitive landscape on the app store for your app?
VS:  When I looked at what was already available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play market, I found several apps that tried to disrupt snoring by either vibrating the phone that the snorer places near his bed or by telling the snorer to stop with a pre-recorded message or even by playing certain tunes or emitting sounds. I tried the most promising of those apps and found out they didn’t work: they failed to detect snoring even when I imitated snoring directly in front of the phone! If you can’t detect snoring, you cannot suppress it. So I decided to come up with something that works. And it turned out to be quite tricky – to differentiate between snoring and other random sounds.

AP:  What marketing research steps did you take before launching your app?
VS:  I looked at the total available market, which turns out to be over 45 million problem snorers just in the US alone. I couldn’t find any data on how many of them would be smartphone users, that is, the total addressable market. The decision to invest in iOS vs. Android development first was not easy. There are more Android phones than iPhones sold every day but, as we know, iPhone sales started much earlier and so the install base of iPhones was larger. And most developers I read about suggested pursuing an iPhone-based product first followed by an Android version would be the way to go.

AP:  Speaking to the Analytical Path Evaluator program, how did you find the usability and set-up to prepare your app for evaluation?
VS:  The Evaluator Program is really easy to use – simple and intuitive. Though at first I had to navigate my way around the site – when I first logged in, I couldn’t find the screen to submit my app – I went back and re-played the instructive video that you created and tried again.  I then re-logged in with my developer credentials and I was in business within seconds. It was a breeze afterwards.

AP:  What did you glean from the final Evaluator report on Snoring Terminator?
VS:  As I glanced through the report, I immediately saw many valuable comments and evaluation metrics.  I printed all the screens so that I could review them offline and keep them in my app docs binder to implement various suggestions. While some comments were fairly benign others had some ideas for improvement. The latter were much more valuable to me, although flattery is very pleasing after you spend several months of your life dedicated to publishing an app that is useful and will help people dealing with a snoring problem, it is the constructive criticism and suggestions that help you improve your app’s appeal on the App Store.

AP:  Do you anticipate making changes to your app’s marketing in light of the results?
VS:  I’ve already implemented a couple of changes that were relatively quick and easy and didn’t require a long re-coding/re-approval by Apple. I am planning to implement some other suggestions in the next revision (v. 1.24). We’ve been making changes based on the early feedback at a brisk pace: the Beta version was 1.09 and the first commercial version was 1.23 – in all, 14 iterations.  And we’ll continue by grouping together enough substantive changes to announce a new version.

AP:  What new features would you like to see on the Evaluator program?
VS:  Overall, I think the Evaluator program is in very good shape – but everything can be improved. My suggestions are based on my experience with the UI as a developer and on the feedback I received from evaluators:
1.    Provide some space for developers to list supporting/related websites and encourage evaluators to use them for reference.
2.    Explicitly mention that evaluators are looking at pre-selected 5 screens – just like the iTunes store – but more screens are available within the app. Some evaluators didn’t realize that it wasn’t the entire set of screens and couldn’t figure out how to relate to this subset.
3.    Highlight the “…more” feature after the condensed description shown initially in the iTunes store. It is subtle and some evaluators inexperienced in iTunes store judged the app description by the introductory paragraph. Only much later, when they saw other expanded parts, they stated “I feel a lot better about this app after reading the full description”.
4.    It would be great to be able to print individual parts of the report without using a browser. For example, if I want to print only “App Name Rating” or “Price Rating” data and comments, I could just click on a Print button for that section of the report. With browsers you can print all pages but printing a given portion is difficult because of the way they paginate the output.

Thank you, Vladimir, for your time and candid assessment as well as your suggestions for improvement.  Indeed, we have already implemented a few of your earlier suggestions and are working on improvements to the process.

Further, and more importantly, we are very glad that it served a beneficial purpose to you in refining the app marketing assets and collateral that goes with your app.  What is more, we are also glad that you took advantage of the initial exposure you received for your app to provide download codes that Analytical Path offered as prize giveaways to a few lucky Evaluators.

The evaluator program is free for Evaluators to sign up.

For app developers, registration on the Analytical Path site is free as is the initiation of the evaluation.  Access to the full report detailing all of the evaluation results will incur a modest fee, which we are waiving for the time being.

Contact us to learn more.

The Analytical Path Team

In the meantime, if you are curious, please do sign up to become an Evaluator: http://analyticalpath.com/evaluator_signup

In the meantime, check out these cool new illustrations and posters!

Remember, accounts for developers and Evaluators are free, free, free!

The Analytical Path Team