THE 13 THINGS METRO’S APPS TAUGHT ME ABOUT DIGITAL PUBLISHING

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METRO IN NUMBERS

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GENERALELECTION

2015

Conservative 316 Labour 239 Lib Dem 10 Green 2Ukip 2Seats prediction SNP 58

n Cameron ‘no need for a coalition’n SNP triumphs threaten the Union

5amED

ITIO

N

CAM’STHE MAN

n Tories are heading to a possible majority

n SNP rout Labour and Lib Dems in Scotland

n Vince Cable and Simon Hughes lose their seats

by JOEL TAYLOR

His Ed’s on the blockMiliband facing axe: Page 7 »

Victor:David

Cameron early this morning

GETTY

DAVID CAMERON is on course for a return to No.10 – and could even win a sensational majority.

Conservative hopes of outright victory were raised as results today showed seat after seat swinging away from Labour.

An exit poll suggested the Tories would win 316 seats – ten short of a

majority – while Labour would take 239, their lowest since 1987.

Ed Miliband’s future as leader looked in doubt as his party faced a wipe-out in Scotland, where the SNP was poised to win in all but one of the 59 constituencies. As the

pattern emerged, former Labour minister David Blunkett said: ‘The opinion polls were wrong, the exit poll is right, and this is a very, very bad night for us.’

The SNP’s Mhairi Black, 20, be-came the youngest MP since 1667 as the Scottish nationalists swept the board north of the border. The

surge by Nicola Sturgeon’s party was also bad news for the Lib Dems – who looked set to be reduced to a rump of ten MPs nationwide.

At least 121 of their candidates lost their deposits and senior MPs Simon Hughes and Vince Cable were defeated. Former party presi-dent Tim Farron said: ‘This is going

to be a tough set of results. I think fear may have won the day.’

A Tory majority looked likely as they held Nuneaton with a three per cent swing. Pollster John Curtice said: ‘We expected a one-point swing to Labour in Nuneaton. The

Continued on Page 5 »

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➫ Free newspaper launched in London in 1999Now the UK’s 3rd largest daily newspaper with 1.3m circulation, distributed in cities across the country Part of the dmg media group (Daily Mail and MailOnline) not connected to Metro International

METRO IN NUMBERS

➫ Launched first digital edition in 2011 on iPad. Now on iPad, iPhone and Android phones and tablets and Kindle Fire devices

INTRODUCTION

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➫➫ My background

My experiences of moving from print to digitalWhere next for digital publishing?

Search for ‘Metro Tablet Edition’

1. NEVER MISS A DOWNLOAD OPPORTUNITY

2. JUST WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT TO DO?

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➫➫ Decide what your app is for

Who are you targeting?What need are you serving?Metro’s strategy was to be a mobile-first brand, to reach same target urbanite audience through different means

3. FINDING A SUPPLIER OR SUPPLIERS

➫➫➫ External suppliers are probably the best option

Compare your product roadmaps – are they in sync?Can their product fit in easily with your existing workflows?

4. THE IMPORTANCE OF TESTING BEFORE YOU LAUNCH

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➫ A chance to see how readers use the app, what they like, what they don’t like and any UX problems they encounter Build on ‘buzz’ parts of your productEducate colleagues about your app

5. THE IMPORTANCE OF APPLE

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Having a good relationship with Apple is very useful – the more visible you are in the store, the more downloads you’ll get Get your app store optimisation strategy right – what works for Apple won’t work for Google Play necessarily

6. THINK YOU’RE IN CONTROL? YOU’RE NOT

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➫ You are just one cog in a much wider machine but have to keep up with the changes happening around youYou have your product roadmap, Apple and Google have their roadmaps, your app supplier has theirs, your push provider has theirs

7. THINK DIFFERENT

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➫ Play to the device’s strengths. Paper content is our starting point but we adopted ‘best of Metro’ content approachIntroduced an evening edition as tablet usage peaks in the eveningWe have live feeds in the editionWe have experimented with special editions including partnership with Expedia

8. APPS ARE EXPENSIVE – BUT KEEP YOURS FRESH

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➫ Developing apps is expensiveMaking customisations to off-the-shelf apps is expensiveMaintaining apps is expensiveMaking sure your content works on as many platforms as possible is expensive

9. KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS HAPPY

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➫ Give them a channel away from the App Store to communicate with youAnswer every email – treat your customers with respect

10. UNEXPECTED BENEFITS

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Could there be new business opportunities beyond your existing model?We have been able to build up our customer database massively via the apps, which has created new sales and CRM opportunities

11. USE CASE STUDIES TO YOUR BENEFIT

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Industry-wide research helps with the app’s sales story

Stats from within your app can also bolster your case

12. THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN

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It’s no longer an Apple universeThe days of designing for a single screen size are over – move to design once, publish everywhereIncreased personalisationNew opportunities around beacons and geo-targeting

13. NO ONE HAS ALL THE ANSWERS

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➫ No digital edition is head and shoulders above the restCome to conferences, talk to the people behind apps you admireGo out and find out more about the digital landscape

james.cadman@metro.co.uk @jamescadman07