This document discusses best practices for developing successful mobile products. It notes that AutoTrader has many mobile offerings including apps, websites, and tools. Usage patterns vary between weekdays and weekends, and different platforms see different uses depending on time of day and location. The document emphasizes building for speed and usability on mobile, testing across devices, and using agile and data-driven approaches to continuously improve products over time. It also stresses the importance of hiring the right people to work in cross-functional squads to deliver high-quality mobile experiences.

1. How to develop
successful mobile
products

2. AutoTrader’s tech estate….
• Consumer mobile website
• iOS and Android mobile and tablet apps
• Apps for dealers
• Mobile sites for dealers
• Mobile vehicle locators for
manufacturers
• Mobile web sites for dealers

3. 520m
visits across all platforms
(YoY +23%)
95.1m
cross-platform visitors
to our web-sites
(YoY +8%)
5,720
websites hosted by us
(+5% YOY)
1,228
estimated mobile-only
websites hosted by us
(+29% YoY)
…makes us a good barometer

4. visits on mobile devices
28m in January
(YoY +36%)

5. What does mobile change?
• What consumers do
• How they do it
• When they do it
Life – has got complicated!

7. Expect visits from buyers who want it now!
45%
visit dealers
directly
Sources:
* AT.co.uk Survey July 2012 (with mobile users filtered)
**AT mobile response survey May 2012 (.mobi users)

8. Usage patterns fluctuate comparing Sunday…
Shortlist and Discovery
Ignition (Tablet and Mobile) Editorial / Video Reviews
Auto Trader.co.uk (PC and tablet browser) Editorial / Video Reviews
SUNDAYS
3%
3.5% 4%
5.3%5.5%
4.5%
6.6%
6.2% 6%
7.8%
7.2%
9.5%
Desktop

9. …to a week day
Shortlist and Discovery
Ignition (Tablet and Mobile) Editorial / Video Reviews
Auto Trader.co.uk (PC and tablet browser) Editorial / Video Reviews
3.5% 4%
2.5%
5.8%
5%
3%
5.8%
6%
5.5%
8.2%
9%
13%
Desktop

10. We can’t predict how this is going to end
1992 2013 (iPhone 4s) % Change
Price £1,500 £289 -80%
Standby time 8 hours 200 hours +2400%
Talk time 20 minutes 8 hours +2300%

11. Sustainable software
• Deciding what to build
• How to build it (who, UX and
architecture)
• Give teams autonomy
• Let data guide the product
• Find good people

12. Are all experiences the
same?

13. Different platforms – different uses
• Time of day
• Location
• Task
…lots of user journeys

14. What do consumers see as good?
1. Quality and speed of car locators
2. Accurate information
3. Quality images

15. What do consumers see as good?
On mobile…
1. Speed of content
2. Easy to read
3. Straight forward to
navigate

16. Responsive or optimised?

17. Site user experience (Google rating)
90%
99%
91%
96%
99%
78%
88%
99%
83%
100%
94%
99%
93%

18. Site response speed (Google rating)
84%
69%
77%
84%
58%
51%
33%
58%
60%
67%
46%
62%
60%

19. Device management
- Same URL
- Smaller foot print
- Optimised for mobile
Constantly
evaluate new
devices
Swap traffic
between
experiences

20. We’re in the software
business now

21. Built to last – who will build it?
• In house
• Long term partner
• Onsite third party
• Multiple third parties
• Number of open tickets
• Mean time to close
More desirable
Less desirable

22. Good architecture
Choose the right architecture

23. Simple
Scalable
Measurable

24. Go agile

25. Card wall – multiple streams
Status
New build requests
Changes

26. Continuous delivery
• Automated testing at commit time
• Automated integration and smoke tests
• Deployment
• Live monitoring
1,815
software releases
(YoY +31%)
94%
release success

27. Build the right product

28. Product discovery – an emergent field
• Minimum Viable Products
• Understand what gets traction
• Find sticking points
• Move fast to grow quicker and remove
problems

29. Dual track agile
DEALERS
DIGITAL
MARKETING
CUSTOMERS
Product
discovery Data Experiments
Product
delivery Agile
Continuous
delivery

30. How do we measure ‘right’?
Acquire
Activate
Retain
Refer
Revenue
Assign a value
to each stage of
the funnel

31. Scaling up

33. Squads
• Mini start up
• All the skills needed
in the squad
• Balance of product,
tech and delivery

34. Squads delivering mobile…
Home page Selling Native apps

35. Find the right people
“The war for talent is over.
Talent has won.”
Deloitte Consulting – Dec 2013

36. Deep skills
Broad skills
T-shaped people

37. Deep skills
Java, MVC
Broad skills
HTML, JavaScript, SQL, estimation, automated
testing, business analysis
T-shaped people

38. “Lastly, start ups are a big part of a new movement back to the city. Young people increasingly
turn away from suburbia and move to hip urban districts, which become breeding grounds for
new firms.”
The Economist – January 2013

39. More important Less important
Measurability OVER Hunches
Built-in flexibility OVER Resistance to
change
Continuous
delivery
OVER Big projects
Good people OVER Fill the role

40. Thank you
@adrian_m0ss