Can LinkedIn’s New Mobile App Increase User Engagement?

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A report by eMarketer stated that only 6% of the users in Canada visited LinkedIn (NASDAQ:LNKD) more than once in a day in January 2015 compared to 47% visiting Facebook more than once in a day. [1]. LinkedIn’s acquisition of Lynda.com earlier in 2015 was touted to be aimed at increasing user engagement.  In December, LinkedIn finally launched its completely revamped mobile app called “Voyager”, an upgrade to its mobile app after four years. [2]. The company is calling its new app as the “dashboard of your professional life” and is aimed at educating the user in everything he is interested in while providing insights about connections. While LinkedIn was lagging in its mobile strategy with most of its apps not gaining enough traction, the company believes that Voyager’s faster search abilities, simpler navigation and streamlined core features should provide users with a whole new mobile experience and eventually improve user engagement.

See our complete analysis for LinkedIn

More Than Half Of LinkedIn’s Users Access It Via Mobile

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As of April 2015, 50% of unique LinkedIn visitors accessed it via mobile devices and (as of October 2015) 40% used the mobile app to look for a new job. [3]. As of 2015, global mobile internet penetration stood at 52.7% and this figure is expected to increase to 63.4% by 2017. [4].Given that more than half of its users access LinkedIn via mobile devices, and this number is expected to increase in future, a revamp was necessary to ensure that existing users remain loyal to the network and new users get attracted to it. While the new app has some additional features and is connected to other LinkedIn apps such as Job Search, Pulse, Slide Share and Lookup, the company claims that its search capabilities are 300 times faster than before.

We estimate LinkedIn’s average monthly unique visitors will increase from 100 million in 2015 to nearly 180 million by the end of our forecast period. If there is a 10% increase in this number and it reaches approximately 200 million by the end of our forecast period, there could be a more than 2% upside in our price estimate.

New Mobile App Has Features Aimed At Increasing Visits And Time Spent By Users

A 2014 survey revealed that only 13% of Internet users accessed LinkedIn daily, compared to 70% for Facebook.

 LinkedIn

LinkedIn has added some features in its new mobile app which appear to be aimed at resolving this issue and increasing the time spent by users on its network. The “Inbox” has been replaced with the “Messaging” tab which will work more like a chat app and have stickers and emojis to add the human touch and increase the response speed. The “My Network” section is intended to provide the user a daily briefing about their network and trending LinkedIn content. It is also integrated with the user’s calendar to generated reminders about important events and has intelligent features such as providing a relevant LinkedIn profile before an interview. The company is also personalizing the newsfeed on the app to make it more relevant to the users, thus increasing engagement.

With the long overdue overhaul to its mobile app, we believe LinkedIn is actively working towards increasing user engagement and the results should be visible in the coming quarters.

 

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Notes:
  1. Lynda.com acquisition will help LinkedIn increase user engagement, Marketrealist.com, April 2015 []
  2. LinkedIn revamps mobile app: A bold step forward for a stagnant service, Venturebeat.com, December 1, 2015 []
  3. By The Numbers: 7 Interesting LinkedIn Mobile Statistics, Expandedramblings.com, November 2015 []
  4. Statistics and facts on mobile internet usage, statista.com []