Are You Afraid of the Deep Link?

11 January 2016 / Global

The easiest way to get started with integrating your app with Uber is often a contextually relevant deep-link into the Uber app. However sending users away from your app can often feel like a bad idea. You’ve heard of FOMO, but we’re talking about FOLO: Fear Of Linking Out. A developer can reasonably ask, ‘If I don’t want my users to leave, why would I suggest places for them to go?’ That’s why we’re so excited to share the stunning research from Button, an Uber API developer and the leading contextual commerce marketplace for mobile affiliation.

Button offers what they call ‘contextual commerce technology’ that predicts what consumers want and surfaces relevant buttons that drive real world actions. They first integrated with Uber in late 2014 and since then have supported many of their customers in adding deep-links into the Uber app. For example, supporting Foursquare in integrating the ability to both Ride with Uber and Reserve with Opentable, through one implementation via the Button Dashboard.

Button found that adding an Uber button dramatically increased the frequency and level of engagement within their customer’s apps. After analyzing user behavior across their portfolio of partners, Button reports that apps hosting an Uber button saw an 11% increase in time spent in their app after a user deep linked into Uber. Button also discovered that the average number of visits to the page with the Uber button on it increased up to 26% after a user engaged with the Uber button. Furthermore, 21% of those users came back within 48 hours and used the the feature to navigate to Uber again.

The startling impact suggests that adding a deep link into Uber is one of the easiest and least engineering intensive way of adding a 10% time spent boost to your mobile experience. Unlike new speculative features developers may consider, this is a sure thing which leaves us wondering, what are you waiting for?’

Transportation’s relevance to so many aspects of our daily lives has meant that Button has found partners across a variety of segments are seeing immense value in offering a ride with Uber at a contextually relevant time. From the Washington Redskins offering fans near D.C. a hassle free way to get to & from the stadium, to Quidco making it even easier for users in the UK to snag a hot deal, to Goldstar getting people to their favorite events with the tap of a button, to Foursquare enabling users to hop in an Uber to their favorite restaurants all over the world — the Button integration with the Uber API has enhanced that probability that users will come back again and again.

It’s easier than ever to get this boost in user engagement through adding an Uber Button. Just last month, we announced the Ride Request Button making integrating a deep linking into Uber even easier than direct Deep Linking.

But the connected app experiences you may wish to create may not begin or end with Uber buttons alone, that’s why our friends at Button who have created a marketplace of connected commerce actions and related buttons, could be the right path for your experience. Find out more at usebutton.com.