I never realize how much time I spend on my mobile phone in a day, until I get the daily average screen time report from my iPhone, and every week I get a little nervous to see how much time I really spend on my phone. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of my daily activities have been moved to a virtual environment, making my mobile device an essential part of my everyday life. On average, I spend about 6 hours on my phone each day, which surprised me at first, but made sense once I put things into perspective.
Source: CPO Magazine
An Overview of a Day with My Mobile Device
I start my day by reaching for my phone to snooze my alarm clock…about 2 or 3 times before finally turning it off
Checking my email, text messages, and social media platforms are usually what comes next. I typically watch TikTok for about 20 minutes before I decide it's really time to get up.
When I’m getting ready for the day, I’ll often watch a YouTube video or listen to music on Apple Music to help wake me up.
Thanks to COVID I am continuing schooling online, which definitely contributes to my high average screen time. Throughout the day I am constantly checking my Blackboard and Teams applications to stay up to date with course content and communicate with my group members.
Some days I spend a lot of time on Instagram and TikTok, engaging with and creating content for a small business I work for.
During the day I am also in constant communication with my friends, usually through a variety of applications, such as Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, iMessage, or WhatsApp.
Finally, when the day is ending and I’m getting ready for bed, I usually watch a show on Netflix (or any other video streaming platform…Netflix took away too many great shows).
On my mobile device, I have about 110 apps, many of which I do not use very often. Many of these apps are only used every once in a while, and some I haven’t even opened since downloading them. However, there are 5 apps in particular that I use every day and have integrated into my daily routine.
Apple Music
Source: 9To5Mac
I tried to use Spotify for a while, but I must say… I am definitely an Apple Music girl. Even if I'm physically using my phone, I typically have my Apple Music app running in the background at any point of the day. I love listening to music when I’m driving, working, doing homework, and pretty much any other available time I get. This is my favourite app for music because it has all of my favourite artists and albums available to download for only 5.99 a month (thank you student discount!). The micro-moment that often prompts me to use this app is I-Want-To-Listen. When I’m in the mood to dance or am reminded of a certain song I like, I turn to my phone to use my Apple Music app.
Google Chrome
Source: BigTunaOnline/Shutterstock.com
This is an app I use pretty much every single day. I haven’t gone a day in a very long time without having to google something. Sometimes I use Google on the Safari app that comes with my iPhone, but the Google Chrome app allows me to sync my Google account across all my applications and devices so I can access it any time. The micro-moment that prompts me to use Google Chrome is I-Want-To-Know. Whether I’m searching for the hours of my favourite restaurant or looking for an answer to a question I have, I use Google every single time.
Netflix
Source: Dribble
Netflix has some of my favourite shows and unfortunately has taken so many of them off. However, I still find myself watching a show on Netflix every day. The micro-moment that prompts me to use this app is I-Want-To-Watch. Whether I need some background noise, something to watch with friends or before bed, Netflix is my go-to.
Snapchat
Source: Vocal Media
When I want to send a picture to a friend, Snapchat is my favourite app to do so. My best friend and I have sent a picture over Snapchat to each other, every single day for over 5 years! (As of the day I’m writing this blog post, our Snapchat streak is 1,828 days long!!!!!). The micro-moment that prompts me to use this app is I-Want-To-Talk. Sometimes I prefer Snapchat with my friends to have a conversation rather than text messaging because I get to see their faces and their emotions.
Sephora
Source: Marie France Asia
I’d love to say I use this app every once in a while, however, I find myself browsing through the Sephora app pretty much every day. I check the beauty offers and selection of free samples offered that day, to decide if there's something I need from Sephora (I never need, but always want). If there’s a good enough offer, I’ll continue browsing to find something to purchase or check my loves list to see if there's anything I’ve been wanting for a while. The micro-moment that prompts me to use this app is I-Want-To-Buy. I am easily influenced into purchasing products from Sephora from the many influencers I see on my social media…they’re very good at their jobs when it comes to selling me on a product.
Mobile Friction
I haven’t had many experiences with ‘mobile friction’ with most of these apps, however, I have had an experience with the Sephora app that created a pain point in my customer journey. When using the Sephora app I have had many experiences where the product pictures would not load and/or I would not be able to swipe through to see the different photos for the product listing. Since I wasn’t able to scroll through the photos and see what the product looked like on different skin tones, I decided to not purchase the product because I didn’t want to waste my time and money. Other customers may have a similar experience to mine and also decide not to purchase a product from the mobile app.
The Marketer's Perspective
Now I am realizing how important my mobile device is in my day-to-day life and how this can be used towards a marketers advantage. I’d like to think that other people my age have similar habits with their phones and use them as much as me. These types of habits can help marketers reach the right audience. For example, many people my age use Snapchat every day to keep their Snapchat streaks - marketers know that younger people use that app every day and it is a good medium to advertise to a younger audience.
Through my own user behaviour, I believe that having a good user experience on a mobile app is very important and should be considered when improving the customer journey. A customer may have a poor user experience on a mobile application and decide not to go through with a sale for that reason. Of course, focusing on the product is important, but it’s important not to lose sight of the customer experience from the initial search to them receiving the product. A few questions to ask yourself when considering the customer journey include, “How can we make it easier for customers to understand and evaluate our offerings?” and “How can we optimize leverage POS technologies to create a frictionless purchasing experience?” (Gruner, 2021). More than half the people around the world use their mobile devices rather than desktops, so it is important to optimize the user experience to be easy to understand on a mobile device (Petrov, 2022). Sephora does a good job of creating an interactive mobile app, however, it needs some working on so that customers have a flawless experience and are more likely to purchase products because of how easy and efficient it is.
References
Gruner, R. L. (2022, January 21). 4 strategies to simplify the customer journey. Harvard Business
Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2021/05/4-strategies-to-simplify-the-
customer-journey
Petrov, C. (2022, January 4). 51 mobile vs desktop usage stats you should know in 2022. TechJury.
Retrieved from https://techjury.net/blog/mobile-vs-desktop-usage/#gref
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