Mobile App Success Story: Forest By Seekrtech

Hands up who can’t stay more than 5 minutes without checking a social media account! Seriously? Just a few people recognize that because it is hard for everybody to acknowledge this type of problem. It is known that denial is the first sign of an addiction disorder. In this case, we are talking about Nomophobia (No Mobile Phone Phobia), the fear of being without a mobile phone. In fact, more and more persons are affected by this anxiety. And before transforming this article into a psychology lesson we should share with you one of the solutions available today. Forest is a mobile app specially designed to help users focus on what is important for them in real life. Let’s expand this idea further.

 

Brilliant Idea

Seekrtech, a development team formed by Amy Jeng and Shaokan Pi is behind this productivity app. Their creations are focused on building healthy behaviors. Forest helps users to stay away from mobile distractions and SleepTown was built for customers to maintain their sleeping schedule. Forest is considered the right tool for all users who have concentration problems generated by the cell phone usage. The app was launched in May, 2014 and since then users keep growing trees without paying attention to their social media accounts. The app acts like the Pomodoro technique where you set a timer and you plant a tree. During this period you focus on your work or on your friends. Now, let’s see what convinces users to stick with their plans.

 

How Forest By Seekrtech Did It

Forest was featured by Apple as Amazing Apps and Best New Apps. If you want to understand why just follow our story.

Mobile Addiction

Forest’s success comes from the subtle concept to shift users’ attention from other mobile temptations to the main elements of the app. This mechanism allows users to reduce procrastination while the retention rate grows exponentially. If you think about the psychology behind the phrase “The tree will be killed if you leave this app” you will see that the effects are amazing. Any user who opens the app and reads this will make every possible effort to avoid the death of the tree. It is impressive how a few words can convince people to remain loyal.

 

Android Vs iOS

We just need to mention that Forest is one of those apps that treat users differently according to their devices’ operating systems. iOS customers will need to pay $1.99 if they want to download the app which comes with premium features, while Android users can install it for free but they will receive the basic version. For more advanced options they will have to make in – app purchases. Again, we want to say that this business model works for certain apps and developers must know their audience very well in order to make the best decision.

 

Competition

Additionally to all the above, gamification elements represent the most important trigger for users’ loyalty. When you see that your forest becomes bigger and bigger and you are on the right track, you find unimaginable resources to reach your goal. Moreover, think about the satisfaction you get at the end of the day when you calculate your achievements or when you meet your friends and you open the app to brag about your results. Forest owners built a win-win system with their creation. Users are happy with their performances while the app becomes viral.

 

Rewards

Nothing is more rewarding than knowing that you did something good for the humanity. Due to a partnership between Seekrtech and Trees for the Future, a tree planting organization more than 212,000 real trees were planted at the moment of writing this article. If users resist mobile temptation, they win virtual coins which can be spent for fighting against deforestation. This idea makes customers feel good about themselves and it offers them an extra reason for using the app.

 

Bonus Tip: Grab Users’ Attention When They Don’t Use Your App

Seekrtech uses Facebook and Instagram for announcing novelties or to gather feedback from their users. And that makes sense because the team recently introduced a new feature which allows users to set the timer for small breaks. Between planting sessions, people want to disconnect and to catch up with their virtual friends. So, they go back to their social accounts. It is a smart decision to connect with them even if they aren’t using your app, or to follow customers on their favorite social platforms to convince them about the benefits of your app. When we shared with you our ideas on how to promote productivity apps we advised you to stay away from social media channels.

Well, we maintain this recommendation but we wanted to present you a different approach. You need to be careful, though, during the process because it is a really fine line between guiding users back to your app and losing them forever. If you are brave and you are absolutely sure that your creation is the go-to app for your users, then go ahead and adopt this strategy. Otherwise, it is better to keep your customers away from this type of temptations.

 

Final Thoughts

Since the winter holiday is almost here you probably want to spend some quality time with your friends and family without the stress of mobile devices. Forest is a good solution for celebrating and enjoying all those great moments with your loved ones. In the same time, the app developed by Seekrtech represents a great inspiration for those app owners who want to attract users with their creation in a unique and smart way. Even though it seems impossible to convince users to go back to your app over and over again, somehow that was the easiest point in the strategy built by the team behind Forest app. Without the doubt, this app is a great example meant to encourage app developers to continue with their work and to design amazing products.