Writing for Mobile Users, Pricing Strategies

Tips for Writing for Mobile Users

This article on writing for mobile users is a bit old (2011), but offers some timeless insights:

We’ve recently run many user studies, watching people read information on mobile devices. Our research included mobile websites, apps, and email newsletters. Across all formats, there’s one indispensable element: focus.

Content comprehension suffers when you’re looking through a peephole, because there’s little visible context. The less you can see, the more you have to remember, and human short-term memory is notoriously weak.

Our own studies of mobile usability have found that users are typically rushed when using their mobile devices. A contrasting mobile use case is people who simply want to kill time while waiting for something. However, most tasks are at least somewhat goal-directed, and people using a mobile device often have minimal time to accomplish them.

More take-aways include:

  • Be concise when writing for mobile
  • Defer secondary information to secondary screens
  • Focus the reader’s attention on the essential content
  • Ultra short rules the day
  • Use visible hypertext linking to direct users to secondary content
  • Use outlines to convey the message and secondary content headers

Mobile database users

Applying this to database presentation for mobile users, I see the most effective use is to lay out the relevant options with easy to click  buttons that pull up either the directly desired information on the second screen, or a secondary list of information.

The Apple Human Interface Guidelines offer detailed information on size of buttons, use of space, visual presentation, data entry, and a whole lot more.  It’s a bit long, but worth it when you need to design your database for best effect.

Source: Defer Secondary Content When Writing for Mobile Users


The Most Important Thing About Pricing

Kirk Bowman of Mighty Data switched from hourly based quoting model to a value based quoting model back in 2009, and hasn’t looked back since.  His Art of Value website is packed with podcasts explaining why you should make this switch and what it does for you.

30 Podcast Highlights

The linked podcast is snippets from 30 guests he interviewed during 2016, and you will find these snippets eye opening.

I have changed my pricing model over the past year, but am fascinated by the content in this podcast.  Each snippet makes me want to listen to the original podcast for all the details.   I suspect my final pricing strategy (if there is such a thing) will pull ideas from several of the podcasts.

It seems I have a lot of podcast listening to do this year.

The Most Important Thing About Pricing Vol. 3 – Art Of Value


A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Herm Albright
(1876 – 1944)

 

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