How quickly do readers adopt the latest version of an ePaper app?

By Kristoffer Andreasen | Feb 09 2016 | Insights

Older versions of software and backwards compatibility will always play an important role in software development. No matter how much you push users to upgrade their applications, some readers will be late to adopt the new version. The same is true for Visiolink applications.

 

There are a number of possible explanations for this behavior; however, for now we will focus on when readers adopt the app versions. We will try to provide an overview of the different versions and their user base. 

The behavior will of course vary from reader base to reader base. That being said, it is possible to provide a general overview of the behavior towards an update of an application. 

How many users update within a month of a new app release? 

We have taken a sample from three larger newspapers in Europe. These all show a remarkably similar pattern. After one month, only around 10% of the users are still using earlier versions. In this sample, they respectively had 9.38%, 9.77% and 11.07% of the users still using previous versions. Just to clarify, the users on earlier versions are not all from the same previous version. The majority is by far on the version right before the new one came out. The versions before this only account for approximately 0.5% - 1% of the users and are scattered across multiple earlier versions.  

How does it look after 6 months? 

Six months after an update, the adoption of the newest version looks somewhat different. At this point, even more users have made the transition to the newest version of the ePaper app. Where the previous versions accounted for approximately 10%, they now only account for around 1% - 2% of the users. The users on versions before the latest version are close to zero and therefore more or less negligible. The illustration below shows the exact number of users that have adopted the latest version of the ePaper app in three different reader bases one month after the release of a new app version. 

 How_quickly_do_readers_adopt_the_latest_version_of_the_ePaper_app.jpg

Even though the transition of users to newer versions is hard to translate into actionable business recommendations, it serves as a great way to understand your users better. The data also shows a trend toward ePaper readers being quick to adopt new app versions. 

With this industry data, you can always benchmark your own performance against the industry benchmark to see if your users are particular fast or slow in terms of updating their applications. 

The benefits of an application update 

Visiolink is constantly keeping up with the latest changes in technology. With a new application, you will always be up to date with the latest changes in technology and secure compatibility for all usersThis will secure both backward and forward compatibilityAdditionally, an update will utilize the latest technological advances for an optimal user experienceOur newest update to the Android platform featured a complete redesign with the inclusion of Material Design, which was used to create a user-friendly and modern application. Apart from the main functionalities, the ePaper tracking also continues to be developed to incorporate additional consistent metrics to gain actionable insights from your users. 


Kristoffer Andreasen

Author

Kristoffer Andreasen

Data Analyst