Wikimedia Apps/Finland Banner Test 2015

About
In order to create great experiences for readers of Wikimedia projects, the Reading team is investigating reader behavior and preferences. During the 2015 strategy consultation, a common theme was a request for native mobile apps, which already exist for Android and iOS. We wanted to explore if readers would want to download and use the app if they knew about it.

From August 27 - September 3, 2015 we ran banners encouraging readers to download the Android app in Finland in order to see if this increased awareness and usage of the app. We chose to test in Finland because it would not interfere with other fundraising and community banner campaigns.

Rationale
Using CentralNotice, we showed readers on the mobile web on android devices 1 impression of 1 of 2 banners that directed them to the Google Play store to download the app. From there, we were looking for an increase in installs, opens, and app views to see if readers would prefer the app experience over our mobile web, assuming they knew about the app.

You can see mockups of the banners (in English) on slide 3 of the embedded results deck.

Results
While we saw a big increase in installs and opens, we found that the campaign did not significantly increase pageviews, leading us to conclude that readers are interested in using an app, but given the current experience would rather use the mobile web than the native app.