Mobile App Success Story: Hamilton App

Happy Monday everyone! Because spring is already here, it is a good time for a musical. So, let’s talk about Hamilton. Additionally to the amazing awards received by this work of art, there is another reason why we selected Hamilton. The official mobile app of the musical is a great example for all marketers who want to impress the audience.

Brilliant Idea

Hamilton is a Broadway musical, created by Lin – Manuel Miranda, which describes a page of American history, namely the life of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The app was developed specially for Hamilton’s fans and it was launched in August, last year. Let’s say that the app offers them everything they need. Lin talks about the general purpose of the app and engages customers by saying: “And we’ve got so much more up our sleeves! I love you.” The app is available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store. We will discuss further the key elements that attract users.

How Hamilton Did It

Hamilton is actually all – in – one entertainment app. We will take these features one – by – one and we will try to understand their effects on the overall result.

Lottery

Broadway tickets are very expensive! But you probably know that by now. One of the most appreciated features is the Lottery which offers users a chance to buy 2 tickets with only £20. The psychology behind this technique is that rewards and offers attract customers more than anything else. Fans enter daily for making sure that their name will be on the winners’ list for the #HAM4HAM Lottery. Think about that when you want to increase the retention rate for your app.

Trivia

What is an app without a little game which entertains users and maximizes their engagement with the app? If you pay attention to the following image and you read between the lines, you realize that the message for users is to open the app every day for winning something (again the reward!) and to demonstrate their knowledge. And that makes sense. Game elements attract customers and maintain their interest in the app. Why not providing users the chance to spend more time inside the app connected to the content offered? In this case, Hamilton gives fans the chance to remove boredom without leaving the app.

Stickers

Stickers represent another tool for making sure that an app goes viral. When people share with their friends certain images related to your product you can be sure that your app grows organically because this behavior has a significant impact on the number of downloads. Going further, you can observe that Hamilton fans are encouraged to send their art which will be included in the fan art stickers packs or shared on Hamilton Instagram. Just remember the advantages offered by user-generated content!

#HamCam

When we said that Hamilton app offers everything we really meant it. An attractive feature allows users to choose fun filters whenever they want to impress their friends. Nowadays, augmented reality is a must – have when it comes to reaching users’ expectations. Various overlays related to the musical offer customers the opportunity to be creative. Actually, the team that built the app celebrates every important day with a new exclusive filter. Twitter is the best place where you can discover amusing photos shared by Hamilton users.

News

Whenever you build a marketing campaign you need to make sure that the content displayed inside the app is similar to the articles that appear on the official site. In the same time, News section is a great way to maintain the app fresh and to keep the audience focused on everything related to Hamilton. For example, Hamilton creator introduced Hamildrops, which means that interesting novelties will be published every month. Just like Jeffrey Seller, the lead producer of Hamilton said: “We are constantly exploring ways to allow more people to experience Hamilton in its many forms”.

Merch

The business model chosen for “HamApp” is free with in-app purchases. Because its owners wanted to democratize the brand users can enjoy all the features discussed above for free. The only elements that cost money are the tickets bought by the lucky winners and certain branded items. It is known the fact that fans are eager to obtain products which demonstrate their love for the show. And what way is better for providing what they want than a special place in your app which can be accessed with just one tap?

Bonus Tip: Try The Most Innovative Solutions For Building Your App!

Hamilton app was created in only three months. While for the development part, the team used Firebase, the app’s interface was designed in Flutter, the new mobile UI framework released (in beta) by Google during MWC 2018. Cloud Functions for Firebase allowed developers to create the Lottery section, to build profiles and it was also useful for handling #HamCam.  Firebase Real-time Database was a great solution for displaying the news published via a custom Content Management System. With Flutter, the team obtained custom widgets and created the UI/ UX for both Android and iOS versions at the same time. The best part is that Flutter is open source. In the end, connected the projects obtained from the two platforms. This way, the result is a complex app suitable for all groups of users. If you want to discover more about the development process, we invite you to read the article published on Google Developers Blog.

Final Thoughts

Hamilton proves that a mobile app is the best solution for attracting customers, whether we talk about a business, a special product or even a musical. This doesn’t mean that fans will accept anything you offer them without taking into account their demands. Do what Hamilton creators did! Connect with your customers and make sure that your app meets their expectations!

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Mobile App Success Story: Hamilton App