IC TRAVEL AGENT June 2014 | Page 29

APProval is the Game Got time? Got money? Got Apps? Ya do… well good on ya! Here’s where you might be able to join the rich and famous if your app takes off and wins you thousands of people who join, play, subscribe and pay to use your app. Why would they do that? What’s in it for them? Well there’s something happening out there in the app world and it’s huge. People are downloading free apps and then paying for the upgrade or in terms of a game, paying to go to the next level – overall to win the prize. Let’s explore the app strategy with travel in mind and gaining those permission based sign-ups. First things first click to this post. Read it and decipher the content in terms of your own business as I review one or two of its comments. http://www.colloquy.com/article_view.asp?xd=11294 I like this one, as the amount is staggering and it is based on purchases made once someone has downloaded an app and then made additional purchases via that app…. … revenues from in-app purchases predicted to top $18 billion worldwide this year… Another staggering number is this one: …102 billion apps downloaded in 2013… This is a worthy note to remember: A Localytics study of nearly 30 million appusers found that of all users who made an inapp purchase, 44% didn’t do so until they had used an app at least 10 times. Okay, read the report, state the obligatory WOW and then start pondering how you could create an app, a travel related app that could do one or more things: generate sales of the app and generate sales of travel. You might want to be thinking a travel game. Gamification works. Games as you well know are big business and not restricted to the younger generations. If, however you are chasing those GEN Y clients, then you have a perfect match. Your challenge now is to create an app, a travel app, a world adventure app, a travel game that delivers points and badges and trips of a lifetime to the winner. Get your head onto this idea and work with your suppliers to determine who can best fit into your app plans. Nothing is free any more. You don’t have to give it all away to collect an email address or sell something. We’ve moved from Free to Fee and that means you keep that momentum going as you ponder creating a profitable app through which you can attract more clients and sell more travel. Your app will be marketed, downloaded, shared amongst like-minded people and the base will grow. You will not be spamming anyone or challenging the CASL and CAN-SPAM laws. Look for an app creation program like the one shown below and see what you can come up with as your App image. 