SurveyMonkey shutting down its mobile app insight service on January 31

If you’ve been a fan of SurveyMonkey Intelligence, then you’ll be disappointed to know that the company is shuttering its mobile app insight service on January 31, 2017. No specific reason for the closure was immediately given, but the company later said it’s pivoting its intelligence service into something more than mobile. SurveyMonkey will provide insights and data until the end of this year before finally closing it down in January.

The App Annie-like product launched in April with the intention of giving developers, product managers, and investors access to data around any app they want, including their competitors’. A product of SurveyMonkey’s 2015 acquisition of data analytics startup Renzu, SurveyMonkey Intelligence sought not only to help customers identify and track their competitors, but also to benchmark app metrics, identify mobile trends, and conduct better diligence on apps, partners, and even advertising campaigns.

The closure only affects the product, not SurveyMonkey itself. Your ability to create, send, and analyze surveys won’t be affected by this announcement. Additionally, the company has disabled auto-renew for those who paid for SurveyMonkey Intelligence. Those with prepaid balances will find it’s being refunded and December’s data will be free of charge.

“Mobile will be the leading platform in which businesses connect with customers. With our acquisition of Renzu and the launch of SurveyMonkey Intelligence, we’re removing the barriers of time, difficulty, and cost in getting mobile app data — just as the company did 17 years ago when it established the online survey space and democratized the feedback process,” Zander Lurie, SurveyMonkey’s chief executive, told VentureBeat 7 months ago.

SurveyMonkey had desired to be the “Nielsen of app intelligence,” but that was easier said than done. It entered a market long dominated by App Annie, Flurry, and a bevy of newcomers all thinking that their service is the next big thing.

A company spokesperson provided this statement: “SurveyMonkey is pivoting its SurveyMonkey Intelligence business from an app analytics service to comprehensive market intelligence for our core customers. Few of our 35 million customers were interested in mobile app intelligence. In 2017, we will leverage key learnings from this past year to deliver qualitative and quantitative data that provides additional value and insights for our customers.”

Here’s the email that was sent to customers:

Dear SurveyMonkey Intelligence Customer,

Today we’re announcing that after a year of helping people to uncover mobile app insights, we’ll be shutting down the SurveyMonkey Intelligence product.

We’ll continue to provide new data until December 31, 2016. You’ll be able to view this data until January 31, 2017. At this point the product will be shut down.

We’re proud of the product we built and the community of mobile app entrepreneurs, developers, and investors who inspired it.

Thank you for your support. We hope we can continue to serve you in the future.

The SurveyMonkey Team

Updated as of 3:35 p.m. Pacific: Included statement from SurveyMonkey.