A couple of weeks ago, we presented you the story behind Prisma, the best app of 2016. For this year, in May, during I/O 2017 Conference, Google announced the winners of Google Play Awards. The best app of 2017 is Memrise, language learning app. Let’s take a closer look to all the insights that made the difference between this creation and the other nominees for this title. What where the determining factors for achieving this level of performance? Who knows, maybe you will observe a pattern and your app will be selected for the best app in 2018.
Image Source: https://blog.google/products/google-play/winners-2017-google-play-awards-are/
Brilliant Idea
Image Source: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/ed-cooke#/entity
Ed Cooke is the Grandmaster of memory and he won a lot of prizes at many memory championships. Because he wanted to teach other people the best methods for learning things fast, he created Memrise website and Memrise app where he applies innovative techniques to make learning languages “full of joy and life”. The app is very useful for everybody who wants to communicate in French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, German, Portuguese, Russian, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Norwegian, Turkish or Arabic. The best aspect is that Memrise is a startup where language experts and developers formed a real team for creating an outstanding product.
Image Source: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.memrise.android.memrisecompanion
How Memrise Did It
Let’s discover why Memrise is better than any other apps that promise the same results and how it helps users to improve their knowledgebase.
Chatbots
Memrise’s owners thought that if technology got so far why not to use it? Artificial intelligence and innovative methods used by Memrise convinced users to select this app from thousands of others available in its category. Learning shouldn’t be a tedious process, so with smart procedures you can add new skills to your curriculum vitae in case you want a better job or you will be able to make new friends from all over the world. Furthermore, the company always searches for new talents that can contribute to improve the app.
Image Source: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.memrise.android.memrisecompanion
Freemium
There isn’t a secret anymore that freemium works. The app is free for installation and because it behaves like an addictive game it is easy to convince customers to pay if they want more. Nevertheless, the basic version is also very useful. So, it offers great advantages for the persons who are not ready to spend their budget on premium features. Otherwise it would make an awful impression and Memrise wouldn’t be the app of the year. If you also choose this pricing model for your app be careful to attract users with valuable content before asking them to show their money.
Image Source: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.memrise.android.memrisecompanion&hl=en
YouTubers
When you go to YouTube there isn’t a single language expert that doesn’t speak about Memrise. They share their thoughts about the app and how they used it to improve their vocabulary. When you try to achieve something and you see an app recommended by others it is impossible not to try it just to see how it goes. This is also the case with Memrise which promises to make the entire process “joyful”.
Community Around The App
The entire planet uses Memrise. Its nature makes it travel from user to user and to become internationally famous. But Membus, a team which uses a bus for collecting videos with natives speaking their own language is by far the growth engine of this app. We all know that computers can’t be as accurate as humans when it comes to pronunciation so the purpose of this adventure is to show to their users the way locals speak in day – to – day life.
Image Source: http://membus.memrise.com/
Preview Video
Even if the video uploaded on app store isn’t the determining factor for the app’s success it is used for introducing viewers in the atmosphere created by the app and to allow them to discover the facilities received if they download it. Of course, the fact that it starts with the award just received is a bonus but the rest of the video is also very interesting and manages to convince potential users to install Memrise.
Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LIjfngnegs
Social Media
It is not enough to build an app when nobody knows about it. This is the reason why social media is a very useful tool to spread the word about your creation. Memrise team is very active on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram encouraging users to share their experience while learning a new language. If you access those pages you won’t stop laughing when you read the jokes posted for changing the way people think about memorizing something new.
Major Updates
The reason why Memrise was one of the apps nominees by Google for the best app is that it had a major update this past year. One of the main improvements was the creation of a new game called “Meet the Natives” inside the app where the development team integrated the 20,000 videos recorded during the Membus Tour. Now, the app has more than 100 courses from which users can benefit of rich content. The takeaway from here is to constantly enhance your app for offering more advantages to your customers. Your effort will be rewarded because they will become loyal users.
Image Source: http://feedback.memrise.com/knowledgebase/articles/768753-what-is-meet-the-natives-video-mode
Bonus Tip: Win your competitors’ users.
Can you imagine that members of communities created by other language learning apps speak about and appreciate the services provided by Memrise? Yes, this is possible. The image bellow shows the interest of people when they discover the advantages offered by Membus for the whole process of creating a video dictionary and the entire discussion happens on Duolingo website. It is great to impress your users with new features but to attract other apps’ adepts is amazing.
Image Source: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/12054368/Memrise-Membus-Kickstarter
FINAL THOUGHTS
We took advantage of this article to highlight the fact that offering your users a great product brings you a lot of satisfactions. It is not just the platform or the app created by Memrise Inc. for improving customers’ lives but it is also the phenomenon generated like a domino effect where people help other people to reach their goals. Congratulations on these achievements!