Getting people to download, use, and engage with your mobile app is no easy feat.
It takes a good idea that adds value to the consumer, a superb experience that the consumer wants to use, and an exceptional strategy to keep them coming back for more.
Fortunately, you don’t have to do this on your own. Here’s our top tips for making sure your foray into the app world is a success.
1. Use the data you’ve got
Making informed business decisions based on actual data has been standard in web design for years – why would mobile app development be any different?
While cookies can’t be used (bummer), mobile IDs can provide superb insights into your customers. Particular metrics to watch include:
Paired with other omni-channel tech like locator beacons in stores, companies can provide a level of targeting that was previously unheard of.
For example, if a clothing shop has created an app for its store, they might try to drive sales of key value items by tracking locations with in-store WiFi and send out time sensitive deals via push notifications.
The benefits are that it’s an extremely targeted and ‘exclusive’ offer for the customer, that would drive sales but also build engagement with the app.
2. Single function is the name of the game
You want your app to be like Steamwhistle: do one thing really, really well.
Single function apps, with their vastly improved user experience (it’s a lot easier to be great when you only have to worry about a few interactions) are going to drive the app market.
Why?
- People’s standards for UX have continued to go up and show no sign of slowing. Being average simply isn’t an option anymore.
- Screen space is at a premium, especially on devices like the WATCH. So IA needs to be simple and streamlined to have any hope of being usable.
- Customers are driving the market towards having multiple, single function apps instead of one super app that does it all. Hence the development of Facebook Messenger.
A single function app should be part of any app marketing strategy.
Again, look at Facebook. According to Mark Zuckerberg, splitting Messenger was just the first in a series of moves to take the Facebook experience and divide it into lots of apps that are just awesome at what they do.
3. Engagement starts at the download
More than 23% of apps are only used once. That’s an awful lot of apps that are downloaded and discarded.
That’s why post-download strategy is so important.
The goal is the answer the question:What added value will my app continue to give the person who downloaded it?
Getting the initial download takes a lot of time and a lot of money. Not only is there the cost of development, but also there’s the cost of early promotion and getting that crucial first little piece of traction.
Your mobile strategy needs to have a plan to continue to engage your customers. That might include:
- Digital marketing outreach, including eDMs
- Push notifications offering special app-only deals
- A refreshing newsfeed, so there’s always new content on top
The goal is for your app to become so useful and integral to your users’ lives that it will keep up engagement almost by itself, because your customers want to use it anyways. Just don’t rely on them to realise that its useful for you.
A great example of post-marketing effort comes in the form of mobile games. Lots of games, for example the addictive Plants vs. Zombies 2, have in-app content that you can buy with real money. Not only does this provide a nice revenue stream, it also invests the player in the game, deepening engagement and getting them coming back for more.
It’s easy to see this becoming a positive feedback loop.
While this sort of game-based strategy won’t work for everyone, you still need to have some form of plan in place for how to engage with your users post-download.
Conclusion
Mobile apps are poised to be not just a new trend, but a tremendous shift in how customers choose to engage on mobile devices.
Businesses today have the opportunity to capitalize on this movement, if they work quickly.
If they make business decisions informed by data and research, if they create amazing experiences with single-function apps, and if they develop detailed post-download strategies to keep their users coming back, they can gain an enormous advantage with apps.
Apps are the forefront of the omnichannel, seamless UX wave. Now it’s up to companies to rise to the challenge.
