The “Perfect Application"

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The purpose of this paper was to determine the specific requirements of consumers for the studied mobile applications, to identify their preferences, which allow applications to become successful in their market segment.

So, having dealt with the peculiarities of mobile applications for language learning, having analyzed the information already available and collecting my own during the research, I am ready to present my own picture of what the “ideal application” should look like.

Having decided to create an ideal application, you first need to decide on its business model. Following successful cases, we should prefer the freemium monetization model with elements of other models (combination): make most of the basic functions free and provide a subscription with access to premium content and no ads, in-app purchases, and more others. It makes sense to follow Duolingo's example and make all or most of the content free, which should increase popularity, but such an application can become unprofitable at first.

It is worth paying special attention to the largest group of users - students and schoolchildren. For well-known reasons, they are not solvent enough, but the task of the application is to get as large a "piece" of this segment as possible, because they will be able to watch a large number of ads, and in the future - remain loyal to the application. Perhaps the right strategy would be to provide free access to special training content or something else.

Since this paper is written about the marketing component of the application, and not about the language and educational, I will not describe the structure of such an application and its capabilities here. I will dwell only on some of its points, which must be taken into account.

1) Of course, there must be elements of gamification - this is explained in the presented sources and confirmed in the empirical part. Such elements can be experience points, lives that are taken away for mistakes, and in-game currency.

2) Lesson duration should be flexible. The user is far from always ready to devote the specially allotted time to learning the language. That is, there must be a free number of tasks in the lesson, which the user can choose.

3) Although English is the most popular language for learning, it is also worth adding other languages ​​to the application. Some users may complete the entire course of one language and start learning another, as I did. In addition, since the application should immediately enter the international market, it is necessary to create training courses for speakers of several languages.

4) Many people note that the essential advantage of such applications is the possibility of an easy start in learning the language. Assignments should start at the elementary level with gradual complication. However, the assignments should be appropriate for the user's language proficiency level, unless they are a beginner.

5) There are several types of tasks in the Duolingo app and many others, including vocabulary, sentence construction (grammar), listening; Some courses offer a pronunciation test. And yet, these are not all aspects of the language that can be developed using the application. For example, in our “ideal application”, in addition to the above, you can also add working with small texts, reading, explaining grammar rules using the example of mistakes made, etc.

6) Content should be focused both on the interests of the user and on his age. In order not to unnecessarily complicate the application, it is possible to define your target audience and create tasks based on it. This is where the "persons" method described above can help. In addition, a variety of topics should be covered in order to develop the student's vocabulary as much as possible.

7) It is worth providing some monitoring activities so that users can feel their progress in learning the language, which will motivate them to study further and continue to improve their skills.

8) It is necessary to build a competent culture of notifications, because they somehow violate the personal boundaries of a person. Let me remind you that the most popular negative point identified during the survey is a large number of notifications. However, they must occur at some interval to keep the user active.

9) The freemium model assumes that users get access to the basic (or all) content of the service for free, but they will still view ads. A large amount of advertising annoys the consumer, so it is worth including a limited number of them at the time allotted for that, for example, after completing the lesson and before receiving points for this lesson.

10) As with anything, it's important to keep track of your reputation: it drives new users through word of mouth if it's positive (an important audience acquisition factor for Duolingo), and scares away potential users if it's negative. In addition to “ideality”, the application should also take care of public relations: maintain accounts in social networks (fan community, developer blog), give users the opportunity to share their successes there, be visible in the information field due to some promotions, events, “memes about a green owl”, drawings of travel abroad for those who have completed the course of the language of a given country, etc.

11) Do not forget about the advertising campaign of your application. Duolingo, due to its already existing popularity, can spend targeted and relatively small budgets on further promotion, while a new player in the market needs a massive advertising offensive on all fronts in order to thunder everywhere: from kitchen conversations to app stores.

12) In the process of continuous product improvement, it is worth, like Duolingo, to conduct A/B tests of innovations, that is, when introducing another innovation, it is necessary to compare the response of a group of consumers to it, with the second group, for which everything remains the same. Only with positive results it is worth giving the green light to this update.

13) Design and “other little things”, although less important, but also should not be deprived of attention. Many users noted the design as a positive feature of the application. This is especially true for those who are just starting to use the application or even is going to open it for the first time.

14) Don't leave users to their fate in learning the language, even if you provide them with the capabilities of your wonderful application. There should be feedback so that users can report a problem, as well as point out errors and shortcomings in the completed assignments (the same sentence, for example, can be translated in different ways - all options should be accepted, otherwise it will annoy students, which was confirmed by one of the answers in the survey and my experience). It is also worth adding the ability for users to communicate with each other within the framework of a specific task - some comments. Sometimes such mutual explanations are clearer and more accessible than a dry theory. Also, the student will be able to speak there regarding the application itself, which also helps to identify flaws.

15) Finally, in addition to gamification, it is worth adding a competitive element to the application to further motivate users to increase their activity and complete more lessons.

It is common for every person to be lazy to one degree or another, but you cannot throw off all responsibility for this on the user himself. If he is too lazy to go through the next lesson, this partly means that the application did not motivate him enough to do it. The laziness of users cannot be an excuse for low user activity and the lack of popularity of the application.

Once again I will clarify that this is the appearance of the “ideal application”. Obviously, to combine all these points in one application is a very difficult and time-consuming task. Nevertheless, my goal was just to find such an ideal, which I presented above.

6. Conclusion

In the course of my research, I tried to create a model of a successful, and one might even say “ideal” mobile application for learning a foreign language. I think I succeeded quite well. It is these applications that have the properties I have listed that will be able to withstand competition and exist in the market. Duolingo and Rosetta Stone can serve as an example of this: similar in meaning, but different in approach, they show diametrically opposite results over time. This can be judged based on the aforementioned app rating.

I believe that Anna Karenina's principle also applies to applications, according to which "all well-adapted systems are alike, all unadapted systems fail to adapt in their own way" [Gorban, Smirnova and Tyukina2010]. I described just such a “well-adapted system”: this “ideal application” model includes all the best that is in applications of this kind. If you do not follow any of its principles, then in some perspective you can fail.

This model is not a panacea. It is likely that something has been overlooked, but without these principles, it will be difficult for a language learning mobile app to compete in the market. In addition, my research revealed some issues that require further elaboration and clarification.

At the beginning of the paper, I put forward several hypotheses, but none of them in itself is the cause of success or failure. Only through a competent integrated approach can results be achieved. Losing sight of at least one factor, developers risk losing part of their audience, and with it, potential revenue.

Thus, having completed all the tasks regarding theory and practice that I set for myself, I determined the specific consumer requirements for such a product as a mobile application for learning a foreign language, while creating a conditional model of an “ideal application”, that is, I achieved the goal of this paper.

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Appendix 1

The text of my survey:

1) Do you use (or have you used before) mobile applications for learning a foreign language? (Yes/No)

2) If yes, what is this application? (open question)

3) What language do you learn (or have studied before) with it? (if there are several languages, list the main ones) (open question)

4) How did you find out about this application? (advertising/ from friends/ occasionally /other)

5) What do you like about this app? (language learning method / application design / development of several skills (vocabulary, listening, pronunciation...) / subscription conditions (free) / learning process (interesting, exciting...) / motivation system / easy start in learning the language / achieved result / other)

6) What do you NOT like about this app? (not fun, not motivating / tasks do not match the level of language proficiency / expensive subscription / a lot of ads / flaws in the application / application design / no progress in learning the language / frequent notifications / other)

7) Which of the following language apps have you heard of? (Lingualeo, Rosetta Stone, Duolingo, Memrise, Busuu, Quizlet, Mondly, Hello Talk, LingoDeer, Babbel/ others/ none of the above)

8) Age (up to 18 /18-24 /25-40 /over 40)

9) Sex (M/F)

10) Main employment (study/ work/ other)

*if “No” in question No.1, then go to question No.7

Appendix 2

Diagram 1. Answers to question No. 1

Diagram 2. Answers to question No. 8

Diagram 3. Answers to question No. 9

Diagram 4. Answers to question No. 10

Appendix 3

Total: 82 users

App

Age

Sex

Main employment

Advantages:

до 18

18-24

25-40

40+

М

F

study

work

language learning method

50,9%

50,0%

25,0%

41,8%

77,8%

40,0%

29,2%

56,9%

41,3%

51,9%

application design

58,2%

83,3%

50,0%

67,3%

44,4%

0,0%

66,7%

53,4%

63,0%

48,1%

multilateral development

67,3%

100,0%

75,0%

60,0%

72,2%

80,0%

54,2%

69,0%

58,7%

77,8%

subscription terms

76,4%

50,0%

50,0%

63,6%

72,2%

100,0%

58,3%

70,7%

63,0%

66,7%

learning process

32,7%

50,0%

50,0%

27,3%

44,4%

20,0%

37,5%

29,3%

28,3%

40,7%

motivation system

23,6%

0,0%

0,0%

20,0%

22,2%

0,0%

25,0%

15,5%

19,6%

14,8%

easy start

78,2%

16,7%

50,0%

70,9%

77,8%

20,0%

70,8%

67,2%

65,2%

70,4%

achieved result

10,9%

16,7%

50,0%

12,7%

27,8%

0,0%

20,8%

15,5%

17,4%

14,8%

Disadvantages:

not exciting

16,4%

16,7%

0,0%

20,0%

16,7%

60,0%

25,0%

19,0%

17,4%

25,9%

level discrepancy

23,6%

16,7%

25,0%

18,2%

16,7%

0,0%

16,7%

17,2%

21,7%

11,1%

expensive subscription

5,5%

0,0%

0,0%

12,7%

5,6%

0,0%

16,7%

6,9%

10,9%

3,7%

a lot of advertising

21,8%

0,0%

0,0%

18,2%

33,3%

20,0%

33,3%

15,5%

19,6%

25,9%

application flaws

10,9%

0,0%

0,0%

12,7%

16,7%

0,0%

20,8%

8,6%

10,9%

11,1%

application design

3,6%

0,0%

0,0%

5,5%

0,0%

0,0%

4,2%

3,4%

2,2%

7,4%

no progress

25,5%

33,3%

0,0%

23,6%

16,7%

20,0%

16,7%

22,4%

17,4%

25,9%

frequent notifications

40,0%

33,3%

100,0%

40,0%

11,1%

20,0%

33,3%

36,2%

37,0%

33,3%

Appendix 4

Diagram 5. Answers to question No. 2

Diagram 6. Answers to question No. 3

Diagram 7. Answers to question No. 4

Diagram 8. Answers to question No. 5

Diagram 9. Answers to question No. 6

Diagram 10. Answers to question No. 7

Познавательные статьи:



Психологические особенности спортивного соревнования

Приготовление дезинфицирующих растворов различной концентрации

Занятость населения и рынок труда

Социальный статус семьи и её типология