Four years after The Logic launched a flagship suite of digital products — a Web site, subscription service, and daily newsletter — we asked ourselves: When is the right time to launch a mobile app?

Founded in June 2018, The Logic is a Canadian subscription-based media outlet focused on the organisations, policies, and people driving transformational change. To maintain our reputation as Canada’s business and tech newsroom, we constantly reevaluate the value we bring to our growing subscriber base to stand out in an increasingly competitive landscape.

The Logic launched an MVP mobile app in February 2023 after extensive customer feedback analysis and competitive research.

We identified a clear demand from our subscribers for an elevated mobile experience while addressing specific use-case issues on desktop, providing a seamless alternative to our Web site and maintaining the features subscribers have built a habit around.

We recognised a gap in the market for a mobile app tailored to the unique needs of our audience. Ultimately, this app needed to serve our audience through the next phase of our growth.

Addressing clearly defined audience needs

We first sought to define the audience needs to prioritise in the development process. This included building a mobile app that integrated seamlessly with the existing customer experience, for which we worked closely with our development partners Pugpig and Flywheel Strategic.

We implemented a redirection service and deep linking that takes users from wherever they discover a link to The Logic straight into the app if they have it and, if they don’t, suggests that they download it. We also provided a seamless login experience that keeps users logged in for a longer period of time.

Most critically, we included the same gift article functionality of the Web in the app and ensured the experiences were fully integrated with each other.

Another audience need we identified was an in-app experience that enhanced the presentation of The Logic’s original journalism and increased engagement.

We achieved this by developing a home page that summarises the news our readers need to know daily, including a customised carousel to elevate quick news hits from our daily newsletter.

We also utilised additional timelines to elevate individual editorial brands. Lastly, we wanted to provide our subscribers with an alternative method to keep up with newly published articles on the go, which we achieved through push notifications.

Defining success

We were able to evaluate the success of the mobile app based on our original objectives and what we accomplished. With the new mobile app, we were able to: 

• Enhance engagement within our existing subscriber base. Our priority objective was to enhance or increase engagement within our existing subscriber base to bolster our overall retention efforts. This objective clearly focused on developing an app designed to cater to the specific needs of the existing subscriber base, measuring success based on subscriber adoption and engagement rather than download metrics alone.
• Convert existing subscribers from mobile Web site to mobile app. A pre-app subscriber survey indicated as many as 15% of our subscribers regularly accessed The Logic’s Web site via mobile. In the first year post-launch, an estimated 40% of our active subscriber base used the app. A survey sent to subscribers only three months after the app’s launch showed that almost 20% of respondents relied on the app to notify them of newly published material.
• Increase user engagement. After just one year, the average engagement time per session in the mobile app is eight and a half minutes longer than on the web.

Overall, the results suggest The Logic’s mobile app significantly boosted subscriber engagement and satisfaction in its first year. Subscribers are not only downloading the app but also actively engaging with it for longer periods. Its role as a preferred reading platform, coupled with the reliance on notifications, underscores its pivotal contribution to enhancing user experience and achieving our strategic goals.

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