CHRIS CARTLAND: Welcome to the Google+ Partner Showcase.
My name is Chris Cartland, and I'm a developer programs
engineer working on the Google+ Platform.
Today, we're very lucky to have with us a special guest.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Hi.
I'm Lefteris Haritou.
I'm working at Snapette Incorporated.
And I'm the lead Android and iOS engineer there.
CHRIS CARTLAND: Yeah, this is really exciting.
So since we launched Google+ Sign-In, we've had a lot of
different companies and developers
integrate with Google+.
But one thing we keep getting asked is how's it working.
And whose implementing this?
And tell me more about what this is
like in the real world.
So today, we have Lefteris here with us from Snapette to
help talk about what it's like in the real world.
What it's been like integrating with the product.
How that has helped the application.
And so we're really excited to get that real feedback from
someone like Lefteris.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Yeah, we had great success with the Google+
addition to our application.
We've seen great numbers.
We've seen an increase on total users that are signing
up to our app.
It was a very easy integration.
The documentation is very clear.
And it has been a success story, basically.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's awesome.
So can you explain a little bit about your app, so we can
see why a user would want to sign-in.
Or why do you want the user to sign-in to your app?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Yeah, our app is a mobile fashion
application.
So it socially scores to our application.
So we want our users to engage.
So one way is through user sign-up.
And Google+ has significantly helped here because it's a
driver for new sign-ups.
The more users that's signing up with Google+ and sharing
with interactive posts, the more users we are getting on
our platform.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's awesome.
So before you had Google+ Sign-In, have you noticed the
change between that time and now after you
have integrated it?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Yeah.
Actually, since we integrated Google+, we've seen a bump of
about 7 or 8% on total sign-ups.
So with Google+ more users have been willing to sign up
to our application and increase our
registered users database.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's great.
So in order to get that much benefit, how much effort did
it take, like, in your integration?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Yeah, the integration was very easy.
We went through the documentation,
which is very clear.
We benefited from the sample code that is
available on the website.
So it was very easy implementation, quick
implementation, and effortless.
Everything went smoothly.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's great.
Did you learn anything, while integrating, that surprised
you either from the developer's perspective or
[INAUDIBLE]?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: From the developer's perspective,
nothing surprised us.
I mean, the documentation was there to provide to every
question and every answer to our questions.
And like I said, the sample code was a great start-up
because you can actually download the sample code.
And, pretty much, use a lot of the
sample code that's available.
And just copy-paste it inside your app, and
get you quickly started.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's great.
Yeah, so you've added Google+ sign-in but you had other ways
for a user to sign-in before.
And I was wondering if you have noticed how that has
compared to the previous ways that a user could sign-in.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Yeah.
Our app is social.
So we get to [INAUDIBLE]
of signing up to our app.
So in the Android Platform, we've seen, naturally, that
since Google+ is available, about 40 or 45% of our users
are using Google+ to sign-up to the platform.
On iOS the numbers are a bit lower.
But still they are about the same with our
rather social providers.
So it's actually doing very well on that part, as well.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's very good.
And between all of these providers and the ones you've
added, do you have any numbers about what the increase has
been from before and after?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Yeah.
In total sign-ups, we went from 43% of total user's
signing up on the app to 50%.
And these numbers are, like I said, 45% on Android, 40 or
45% are using Google+.
And on the iOS platform, 29% are using Google+.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's great.
So you, actually, went from less than half of your
visitors in your app had signed in to now you have more
than half that have signed in.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Exactly.
CHRIS CARTLAND: This is a great way of converting
visitors within your app to actual users.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Exactly, and that's what we
are trying to do.
So we are trying to engage the users to sign-up and get them
back to the app.
This is one way.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's very good.
Cool.
So we've talked a lot about sign-in.
And that's getting a user to become a full
user in your app.
And then, once they're there, you mentioned a little bit
about interactive posts and sharing.
So I was wondering if you could talk a little more about
that integration.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Yeah, we use both interactive post and
normal sharing in our app.
So every social activity that will take place in our app is
going to be shared on your moments.
And there is also the interactive
posts, which is great.
We are benefiting from the interactive post capability,
so we are actually using the deep linking capabilities.
So this is also a driver of users to our app because
interactive post and [INAUDIBLE] help getting users
to your app.
CHRIS CARTLAND: Can you tell me a little bit about what's
special about interactive posts?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: The interactive post was very
easy, first of all, implementing it.
It's a quick implementation, very easy to implement, and
the users have total control over it.
So it has been great for us.
And it's also helping our application getting more users
by the depleting capabilities in our app.
CHRIS CARTLAND: And there's a call to action button in a
interactive post, which is how interactive posts are special
from regular posts.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Exactly, yeah.
CHRIS CARTLAND: Could you tell us what action you chose to
put on that?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Yeah, the action depends on what you are
going to see.
So if an item is available for e-commerce purchase through
our external links it will show the buy label.
But if it's something that's not available for buying
immediately, it will say want.
CHRIS CARTLAND: Want, OK. so I want this item, and you can
click that button if you want it.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Exactly.
CHRIS CARTLAND: And that takes you, of course, deep into the
app, helps you download it, if you don't have it already, and
then you have it.
Very good.
How did you go about the decision of
choosing that label?
I know I've talked with a lot of developers who want to
implement interactive posts, and it takes them some time to
figure out which label to pick because
there's a bunch of them.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: For us, it was very straightforward
because we always hit the like button, which indicates that
like is something that you would want.
So there was also no discussion of whether we'd
call it like or want.
So it was a very easy decision for us making
the label as a want.
And for buy, of course, it's very straightforward.
I mean, this item is available for purchase, so you might
want to buy it.
CHRIS CARTLAND: Great.
And for the web component you talked about the mobile apps.
How important is mobile to your application?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: We are a mobile application, basically.
So this is our main part.
We can go to the website, but the main focus, right now, is
on the mobile applications.
CHRIS CARTLAND: And have you been able to take advantage of
or use over the air installs in order to help [INAUDIBLE]?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: This is something that also helped us.
We have also added the ability for a user to sign-up on a
website with Google+.
So we are also benefiting from over the installation and
[INAUDIBLE] login.
CHRIS CARTLAND: And I know that you
mostly worked on mobile.
How hard was it for the web team to [INAUDIBLE]?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: The web team didn't hit any problems.
There was also sample code which they used samples
available documentation.
So it was very easy to implement, as well.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's great.
Is there anything that you've learned through integrating
either for Android developers or for companies that want to
use Google+ in their application?
Do you have any advice for those kind of people?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: My advice is, first of all, go to the
documentation website.
With the documentation it's very clear.
It's very easy to read.
Download the sample code.
Use that sample code in your application.
Take advantage of all the features that
are available there.
So use interactive posts.
Use [INAUDIBLE].
[INAUDIBLE] is very powerful.
It will drive people to download your app.
So this is certainly something you wouldn't want to miss.
And benefit from whatever you can from the technology.
[? Seize it, ?]
implement, and it pays back.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's great.
And for all the links, we'll post all the links with this
video so that you can go find the documentation for yourself
at developers.google.com/+.
Is there anything else you'd like to share about your
experience with Google?
So not just with the integration but with using the
different features.
How has this made your product better?
LEFTERIS HARITOU: The product is, first of all, made better
because it's easier for a user to sign-up.
We provide another option.
Google+ is very popular.
Everyone has a Google account, so it helps users signing up.
So this is definitely something you
don't want to miss.
And the implementation is very easy.
So it shouldn't take more action for a experienced
developer more than half a day of implementing the Google+
implementation sign-up on his application.
Something no one wants to miss, I believe.
CHRIS CARTLAND: That's great.
Great.
Well, thank you, so much, for joining us.
It was great to talk to you about your integration.
And we hope that the success that you seen, so far,
continues to make your app grow and turn more of the
people who see your app into dedicated users.
LEFTERIS HARITOU: Thank you for having me.
CHRIS CARTLAND: Yeah, thank you.
So we'll be back again, every week, with Google+.
Check out the documentation at developers.google.com/+.
If you have any questions about how to integrate, you
can join us in our developer community on Google+.
Or you can ask questions on "Stack Overflow"
with the tag Google+.
So please check out our samples, and thank you so much
for watching.