SEEK Jobs app for iPhone - SEEK Ltd.
Best Mobile Expanded Service or Application
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Project Website |
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Project Contact
SEEK Ltd.
Emma Stabey
Project Team
Joint project between SEEK Ltd. and Outware Mobile SEEK team - Mark Henery, Emma Stabey, Jason McGlade, Kurniawan Kurniawan, Glenn Wilson, Craig Hill, Michelle Tan, Paul Wing, Ryan Seddon, Stewart Rae, Andrew Cantos, Ben Green, Mark Welker Outware team - Danny Gorog, Gideon Kowadlo, Doug Togno, Bjorn Juwen Ho, Alexander Gvozdik, Peter Talbot, Eytan Lenko, Mica Huynh
Project Overview
As Australia’s #1 jobs site, we’ve spent many years understanding jobseekers and the process of looking for new jobs. It’s a personal journey which can often be longer and harder than anticipated.
We’ve seen significant increases in jobseekers using their mobiles to access SEEK so we sought to make the jobseeking journey easier and more accessible, by producing an iPhone app which would connect people to the newest jobs and allow them to apply on the go.
With over 500,000 downloads since launch (3 months), we have made the jobseeking experience of many Australians that little bit easier.
Project Brief
With over 16% of visits to SEEK coming from the mobile site in December 2011, it was evident that jobseekers were looking for smarter ways to find a new job that fitted in with their lifestyle, giving them the flexibility to search anytime, anywhere. We also knew that jobseekers would expect the core search & apply experience from desktop, tailored specifically to use on the go, whilst taking advantage of the native iOS platform.
We therefore set out to build an iPhone app that would:
• Serve core jobseeker needs with excellence
• Have immediate and timely responses
• Be effortless & delightful to use; and
• Provide a seamless experience across devices.
Above all, we wanted to develop an app that would genuinely make the job seeking journey easier and more enjoyable via a beautifully designed and easy to use interface. It was essential that the app included the necessary features to search and apply for jobs on the go and to bring jobseekers closer to securing their ideal role. At the end of the jobseeking journey, that ideal role is not just a new job, it’s a step towards their career goal, time saved commuting, a new house in closer reach, or just a much needed change of scenery.
In the 3 months since launch, we have consistently been #1/#2 in the free lifestyle category, and in the top 25 for free apps overall in the Apple App Store.
Project Innovation / Need
When it’s time to start looking for a new job, being able to search and apply easily for your next role, wherever you are, is very importanct. To create an app that achieved this, we identified the key jobseeker fundamentals for searching quickly and on the go:
•Not having to re-enter search criteria for frequently performed searches
•Being able to see an overview of your SEEK activity
•Knowing how many new jobs match your criteria since you last searched
•Being able to view jobs ads in succession without having to return to the search results
•Being able to call employers directly
The SEEK Jobs App is the first SEEK product to deliver these fundamentals via the following features:
•A personalised homepage (upon Sign in) giving an overview of recent activity (including favourite and last run searches)
•Swipe between job ads
•The number of new jobs that match your searches since the last time you searched
•Ability to call employers directly from the job ad (if a phone number has been included)
With the introduction of these features we have seen encouraging results:
•>100% increase in the number of Signed In users
•15% increase in the number of job ads being viewed
•10x uplift in the number of visits using a favourite search
The app also provides better access to SEEK for jobseekers who are not sitting in front of a computer all day such as those in trades & services, hospitality and retail.
User Experience
We invested a lot of time & energy into the design of our app to make sure it was intuitive and that it provides jobseekers with a more personalised experience to guide them on their journey. This involved internal workshops across departments as well as user testing. Providing the core SEEK features to the highest quality was the main focus, whilst also catering specifically to the iOS platform from a design and navigation perspective.
The engagement of jobseekers thus far is providing confirmation that the app is achieving on its experience objectives (measured against desktop usage):
•2x more visits per month
•Users are just as likely to apply for a job on the app as on desktop (contrary to initial thoughts)
•7x more likely to shortlist jobs to refer to later
We are also receiving amazing feedback from users showing that we are providing people with more hope and genuinely improving their chances of finding a new job:
•“The easiest way to find jobs on the planet”
•“This app brings me closer to my hope”
•“Great app. Easy to use. I have saved regular searches under ‘favourites’ and no longer have to trawl through the same jobs each time. I also get notified when a job fitting the favourites description is uploaded. Easy!”
•“Finally a job app that’s worth downloading”
The introduction of the app has increased visits to SEEK via the mobile channel have by 30%.
Project Marketing
In marketing the app, we wanted to raise awareness of current SEEK users that there is now another way they can access SEEK and find a new job, whilst also providing comfort that:
•The app provides the same jobs as available on the desktop/mobile site
•The app is an integrated experience with the desktop – Sign In and preferences and activity will be remembered
The communications strategy for the app was phased, starting with promotion through social channels (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) to realise the spontaneous organic uptake of existing SEEK users. The app was also promoted by Apple for the 2 weeks post launch in “New & Noteworthy” and “What’s Hot”. Promotion solely through social media resulted in an average of 7,000 downloads per day for 2 months post launch. In turn, the SEEK app rose to the #1/#2 position in the free lifestyle category, where it has remained, and the top 25 of free apps overall.
The second phase of the communications strategy was to provide mass market support through paid channels including TV, Out of Home, Radio and Search marketing. Structuring the strategy this way provided benefits of building positive associations with the SEEK brand market-wide, as well as spiking awareness, visits & downloads of the app, post the initial organic uptake. Promotion of the app through paid channels saw downloads increase by 40% on average per day, again returning the app to the top 25 of free apps overall in the App Store.
