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NICOLE NAURATH: Did you know that 30% of apps
get uninstalled in the first 30 days?
And this number jumps close to 60%
when looking at markets like Indonesia, India, Brazil,
Vietnam, and Mexico.
Imagine if you lost more than half the users you acquired.
I'm Nicole and I'm a senior UX researcher on the Next Billion
Users team.
NEHA MALHOTRA: And I'm Neha, a product strategist
on the Next Billion Users team.
As a part of Google's Next Billion User initiative,
Nicole and I work with teams across Google
focused on making technology helpful, relevant,
and inclusive for people new to the internet.
To learn more about Google's NBU initiative, please
visit nextbillionusers.google.
Would you be surprised to know nearly 3 billion people got
online for the first time between 2015 and 2022?
Not only do they experience the web differently
from those who came online before--
that is, on a mobile phone versus on a desktop--
but some of them also face different constraints
than what tech creators are used to,
such as patchy connectivity, limited digital experience,
low literacy, and low digital confidence.
NICOLE NAURATH: They may be the ones
who aren't using your app after the first install.
It's not because the app isn't life-changing
or it isn't worth their time.
It's because they need support learning how to use it.
There are a lot of things you can
do to change the app experience for them
and increase engagement along the way.
But, first, you need to know who they are
and what stands in their way.
NEHA MALHOTRA: To illustrate that idea,
let's imagine two of our neighbors, Maria and Joana.
NICOLE NAURATH: They are the exact same age,
have the same interests, income, gender, education,
and family structure, and they're neighbors.
Neither of them have owned a smartphone before
and they're both anxious about breaking their new devices.
NEHA MALHOTRA: Now wouldn't you assume
they would use a smartphone the exact same way?
NICOLE NAURATH: Well, that just wasn't the case.
Within a year, Maria overcame her early hesitations.
She explored her phone.
She opened an online bank account
and found a new job at a warehouse through social media.
Joana, on the other hand, she's still
anxious about accidentally freezing or locking up
her phone.
She only uses the internet in limited ways.
And she relies on her daughter to teach her the basics.
NEHA MALHOTRA: Despite their identical demographics,
these two women differ completely
in their relationship to the internet and the way
they would experience your app.
That's why we need to build for their behaviors and need.
And there's an unexpected path to building a better experience
for both of them.
Build it for Joana and it's a win-win-win for everyone.
NICOLE NAURATH: Yep, you heard that right.
Believe it or not, when you design for users like Joana,
you build a better experience for everyone,
including for Maria and your power users.
And that's what improves open and retention
rates around the world.
Before we explain how to do that,
let's uncover the behaviors and needs
of users like Joana and Maria.
Their differences reflect the differences
between two groups of people that we
study around the globe, novice internet users
and experienced internet users.
Novice Internet Users, or NIUs, have low digital confidence,
low digital proficiency, and can assume the web brings
low value to their life.
They often don't see the internet as useful
or have the skills to realize its potential.
Experienced Internet Users, or EIUs,
are more confident using the web.
They may have multiple devices, stable Wi-Fi, and could rely
on their internet for work.
Many of them, probably everyone watching this session,
can't imagine their life without it.
Our research identified two lists
of attributes that can help you differentiate
between NIUs and EIUs.
Here are the most important ones.
Can you guess which group Joana fits into?
And Maria?
What do you think, Neha?
NEHA MALHOTRA: I'd see that Joana
is an NIU and Maria is an EIU.
NICOLE NAURATH: Ding, ding, ding.
You're correct.
And although all internet users fall on a spectrum,
the vast majority fall into one of these two groups.
We found that people's behaviors and needs are
similar within each category, regardless
of their other demographics and where they live.
With your help and the right support,
people have the potential to move up the spectrum
and become more confident using the web.
The questions we ask users to help
decide which groups someone falls into
and how to build for them fall into four general topics.
Is Joana aware of your app's use cases?
How much do your app's use cases overlap with Maria's own needs
and aspirations?
Does Joana have access to devices, data, and Wi-Fi
that are necessary to unlock the value of your app?
And how frequently does she use the app
and rely on it day to day?
What's exciting is novice internet users
like Joana are anything but static,
no matter how long they've been novice internet users.
They could have just opened their first smartphone,
like Joana, or they could use the internet
regularly but in a really narrow way, like just
to message a friend online or just to get directions
when in the car.
NEHA MALHOTRA: We at Google have been
studying users like Joana and Maria
around the world since 2015.
We have learned what drives users to the web,
for example, by buying a smartphone
and what drives them away from using the web,
like uninstalling an app.
We have simplified our learnings into an easy NBU usability
checklist.
In this checklist, you will see why people stop using apps
and discover product design principles
that can help you change their experience for the better.
Today, we'll share three of these learnings
and how to take action on them.
NICOLE NAURATH: Number one, low digital proficiency.
We know that people with low digital proficiency experience
apps differently than the people who built them.
Technology can seem both hard to grasp
and as if it were not built for them.
Someone could look at the same screen you're looking at
and see something completely different than what
you intended.
And it can be confusing.
Let's say you look at the Wi-Fi icon for the first time.
If you haven't seen the icon before,
it could look like a radar symbol or even a fan.
NEHA MALHOTRA: What the heck is that symbol?
NICOLE NAURATH: I know, right?
What the heck is that?
The good news is, the same way that visual signals
and concepts can make it really hard for novice internet users
to get value from the internet, they can also
make it much easier, too.
NEHA MALHOTRA: I couldn't agree more.
Let us use the NBU usability checklist
to understand this better.
The first interface a user sees takes only a few seconds
for them to absorb.
And the design elements, such as images, icons, and colors,
play a key role here.
If images are not relatable, icons are meaningless,
and the colors are not grounded in cultural context,
the experience can confuse anyone, especially
a novice internet user.
As developers, we often assume that everyone
experiences the internet and apps
on our phones the same way.
That's not always the case.
For example, design elements like motion and navigation
or tapping, swiping left versus right,
pulling a window down, et cetera, that are second nature
to a lot of us are not hardcoded into everyone's system.
We recommend reviewing all your design elements
and asking yourself, is there global recognition
of these design elements for people around the world?
And is there universal recognition
of these design elements across all levels
of digital proficiency?
Ensuring both gives NIUs a better experience of your app
and increases engagement rates.
For example, Google Lens enables people
to use visuals to search and understand
the world around them.
When the user opens the app, they
see a white button to capture the picture
they want to search.
The user might not understand this is an interactive element
or even that this is a camera shutter.
But by adding a pulsing motion to the button,
the Google Lens team was able to guide users that they
need to tap this button.
Now once the user captures an image,
Google Lens takes some time to understand and analyze it.
During this period, a user can feel confused or even anxious
that they might have done something wrong
or that nothing is happening.
Google Lens team added a gleaming motion
which helps the user understand that Google Lens is
in a searching and loading state.
Visuals play an important role in nudging
users towards desired actions.
Use them wisely to encourage users
to interact with the most important elements
in your product.
NICOLE NAURATH: Number two, low value perception.
Developers can build a life-changing app,
but that doesn't mean a novice internet
user can see its value.
When novice internet users attribute
what we call low value perception to an app,
they don't see its tangible working benefits in real time.
They lose motivation to learn how to use it.
If you're not seeing immediate results
and you're not reminded of the long-term benefits of the app
regularly, the value you attribute to it drops.
And if the app is complicated and hard to use,
it's even harder to imagine using it regularly.
With an app, the same thing can happen
when there's low value perception, plus usability
or design challenges that make it hard for people to learn.
Neha's going to chime in with how to fix that problem.
NEHA MALHOTRA: A user's first few interactions
with your product are crucial.
That's when they're likely to get stuck.
But if they can understand the practical value and the impact
of your product upfront, they're much more
likely to keep using it.
Building value begins even before a user
opens your product.
That is, with your marketing and marketing message.
For example, Google wanted to show people in India
that Google Assistant can answer questions
through voice interactions.
In the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH],, which roughly translates to, do
anything with your voice, marketers showed people that
they can use the mic button and their voice to ask just about
anything.
How do I open a bank account?
How do I get a job?
Or even, how do I get to the moon?
Once users open the app, they were
reinforced with similar messages during the upboarding process.
That messaging also included visuals
that showed them what do you do to get
the response they wanted.
But don't stop there.
To ensure that your product is used to its full potential,
drop in calls to action that lead users
to tutorials and help center.
The best feature discovery is ongoing and great apps
weave it into every experience, ensuring that people keep
opening and using your app.
NICOLE NAURATH: Number three, low digital confidence.
For billions of people, buying a device to access the web
is an expensive investment that they save
for over a long period of time.
The last thing that they want to do is break the device.
If you're a novice internet user,
you don't necessarily know what will make an app work
and what could make it stop working.
We call this trait low digital confidence.
Low digital confidence means that people are far less
likely to explore new capabilities
or experiences in an app.
A novice internet user may even know the app is important
and that it can help them, but their fear
about doing the wrong thing can outweigh their motivation
to use it.
NEHA MALHOTRA: When was the last time you started something new?
Maybe you tried a new workout, met new people,
or began a new job.
While that's exciting in many ways,
new situations can also bring anxiety
and lower your confidence, especially
if you're not familiar with the environment
or what you do in it.
Imagine you walk into a room full of people you don't know.
They're speaking a language you don't understand.
And you have no clue about where to sit or stand.
If someone called you by your name,
spoke to you in your native language, and gave you a map
on where to go next, you'd feel much more confident.
I know I'd be lot less likely to run out of that room.
It's the same thing with new experience in an app.
You can show novice internet users around and help
them gain more confidence.
Personalize the app using privacy-conscious signals
the user has given you permission to use,
like location, time of the day, and device type.
Give the user some basic options to personalize their experience
even more.
Ask their name, what language they'd like to use,
and any preferences for non-text mode of communication.
Offer guidance on where to tap and how
to engage with the app [INAUDIBLE]..
For example, Google Chrome gives its users
the option to experience the UI in a language of their choice.
Being able to navigate Google Chrome in a vernacular language
and terminology has helped users feel more comfortable with it.
Because of this, users have been able to explore
some of the more advanced features, such as Settings.
Next, our research shows multilingual users
prefer different languages in different contexts.
To support this behavior, Google Chrome
gives its users the option to select
a separate language for the UI and multiple languages
for the content.
This allows multilingual users, like me,
to consume world news in English and browse local news
or recipes in our [INAUDIBLE] language.
And, finally, to encourage users to explore the app,
Google Chrome also provides starting points in zero state,
including trending topics, icons of the most popular websites,
and a discover feed with news and articles.
A positive and personalized introduction to your app
goes a long way towards giving people
the confidence they need to make it a comfortable habit.
NICOLE NAURATH: We've already mentioned
one of the findings of our research.
By building for novice internet users,
you actually help these users transition
to become experienced internet users.
You get people comfortable with using your app
and they get more comfortable with the internet as a whole.
That's what Google Lens, Google Assistant, and Google Chrome
have done by putting these ideas that Neha
described into action.
That helps everyone, and especially people like Joana,
around the world.
The more that Joana increases her digital proficiency,
boosts value perception, and strengthens
her digital confidence, the more value
she gets from the internet.
And the more value she gets from the internet, the more she'll
use it and the more advanced she'll become as a user.
If you can unlock that positive spiral,
Joana would probably answer those
four questions differently.
Of course, there are benefits for your app, too.
Doing this can help you get higher, more consistent
engagement; lower uninstall rates;
and new power users who are loyal to your product
and spread the word across billions
of people who are NIUs and billions
more who are just coming online for the first time.
And there are benefits for Joana, too.
The more people like Joana can use the internet
to enhance their daily lives, the better their lives are.
And isn't that the point?
NEHA MALHOTRA: Being online is an overwhelming experience
for everyone, but especially hard
if you're still figuring it out, like novice internet users.
The first few interactions with your product
can make all the difference in keeping and re-engaging
all your users, including Joana and Maria.
With the NBU usability checklist,
we believe you can transform a high uninstall rate
among an emerging group of users coming online.
And you can even guide them to become your power users
and grow your community around the world.
Visit nextbillionusers.google to discover more insights
about novice internet users.
There, you can download the full NBU Usability
Checklist to make your product work better
for everyone, everywhere.
Our Next Billion Users initiative
aims to create a more inclusive internet.
We invite you to watch our other NBU
sessions, "Build for Everyone," "The Importance
of Representative Data," and "Africa's Booming Developer
Ecosystem," on-demand at the I/O website under the NBU tag.
Thanks for listening.
NICOLE NAURATH: Thanks.
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