With the iPhone, iPod touch and now the iPad, many people have focused on apps that engage the user online. There are very few applications that enhance physical interaction. Yowza!! is one of those few.
In simple terms, Yowza!! is a location-aware application that delivers coupons to your iPhone or iPod touch.
I had the great pleasure of speaking with August Trometer and Greg Grunberg regarding their application as well as their opinions of the mobile and retail space.
For those who aren’t aware, Greg Grunberg is one of the leading characters on Heroes and a well-known celebrity. August Trometer is the “guy in the background” and a self-taught developer by trade. He created one of the first podcasting applications and has created quite a few apps on the iPhone platform.
How did Yowza!! come together?
Greg Grunberg: August and I met on Twitter through a mutual friend, Rick Yaeger, who was at the very beginning of Yowza!! as well. I have a charity band, Band from TV, and August and Rick reached out to see if they could help out in any way. I explained my frustration regarding mobile coupons and how no one had come up with a usable solution. After we got together, it has been an incredible partnership since then.
What sorts of clients do you have and how do they find you?
Greg Grunberg: We said that in order to do this right, we’re going to take advantage of my presence and other engagements for promotional purposes. Even if you can create an app, marketing it is essential. We started focusing on the big stores first and then reached out to smaller stores. The goal continues to be to reach critical mass and we’re moving forward. Both August and I had small businesses years ago. And, advertising was extremely challenging and very expensive. With this experience, we really wanted to make a good product that made the advertising and promotional process easy by offering all our clients — large and small — the exact same features.
At first, we reached out to the contacts that we had and started building a client base. Today, we have a staff of people that reach out to potential clients and many clients call us directly as well.
Would you say you’ve reached critical mass?
Greg Grunberg: Not even close. It’s a chicken and egg situation. When you don’t have companies, people don’t use your app. However, as we started building relationships with national chains, it made it a useful app.
August Trometer: We also recently introduced the ability for advertisers to sign-up on their own so that they can create their own offers without a hassle. It takes 10 minutes to launch a coupon that can reach thousands of people cost effectively. And, all companies have access to the same system, regardless of their size. They pay a small monthly fee and they’re free to make modifications.
How are consumers and retailers adapting the app?
August Trometer: We’re seeing between 1,000 – 2,000 downloads a day. When we do a big event, such as Greg’s appearance on the Today Show, we see close to 10,000 downloads. So, it really depends on the day and we’ve had over a million downloads so far.
Greg Grunberg: It’s kind of my objective to see Yowza!! as one of the 4 permanent items in the dock. Many times, people have even recommended Yowza!! to me and that is a great thing. For the holidays, Martha Stewart mentioned Yowza!! on her show without even realizing that it was ours. And that’s a great compliment, because the app stands on its own. For consumers, we decided early on that the app has to be simple. If your Mom can’t use it, it’s not worthwhile.
What’s next for the app?
August Trometer: We want the app to represent ‘saving money while shopping.’ And, mobile coupons are just the beginning. There’s a reason our app is called ‘Yowza!!’ and not ‘Mobile Coupons.’ We’re also looking at loyalty programs to simplify and unify the experience.
Greg Grunberg: In the immediate future, we have deals coming up that are exclusive to Yowza!!, which will hopefully drive more people to the app. We’re focusing on quality deals over the quantity of deals.
What do you see next in the retail space with mobile?
Greg Grunberg: When we started developing this app, retailers did not have budget allocated for this space. They had to find it from somewhere else. Many of them are scared of this space. They’re scared that if 1/2 a million people come in and use the coupon, they’re thinking that they will lose money. But, they don’t realize that they sold products to 1/2 a million people.
August Trometer: Greg and I have a small business mentality. We see the reward of the coupon. Many retailers look at the risk first and then look at the reward.
Greg Grunberg: The other thing that we’re realizing is that people are cautiously approaching this space, not wanting to define the brand as a discounter. And, that’s another reason the brand is called Yowza!!. Currently, many retail stores are turning into galleries. People look at the product in-store and purchase it on the web. Yowza!! is specifically designed to bring more foot-traffic into the store. A lot of retailers are saying that they can create their own app. However, people don’t want 100 apps on their phone.
August Trometer: Believe or not, a lot of credit goes to Apple. Before the iPhone came out, the mobile device market was very fragmented. Even today, phone manufacturers release dozens of devices with varying operating systems. Supporting all those platforms is not easy or cheap. And, these phone manufacturers expect us to create apps for their platform.
Greg Grunberg: And the same thing from a retail perspective — you cannot create dozens of applications for all the different systems. Our app currently just runs on the iPhone and the iPod touch. However, we’ve partnered up with WHERE which delivers our coupons to BlackBerry, Android or Palm Pre devices.
What are you most excited about in this space?
Greg Grunberg: Personally, I’m most excited about my favorite retailers to come on board. We know what some of our clients are coming up with and it’s incredible.
