If your business has a mobile app, you have additional opportunities to both engage with your customers and increase overall sales.
Mobile apps are powerful tools. About 49 percent of consumers open an app more than 11 times each day, and about 70 percent of all U.S. digital media time comes from mobile apps.
Having a mobile app enables you to promote your brand faster, understand your customers better and help with marketing research. But even more so, a mobile app can help you increase your sales. By the way, with tools like a website to app converter, you can easily convert your website into a mobile app, providing a more convenient and engaging experience for your customers.
The following are five strategies to increase sales with your mobile app.
Optimize your mobile app for usage
Of course, just because an app is downloaded doesn’t mean that it will be used. In fact, about 62 percent of all installed apps aren’t used at all.
So, keep in mind that if you want to achieve your business goals with your mobile app, you also must make sure that your customers have a reason to use it (and are regularly reminded of that).
A well-designed app will make consumers want to use it. You want to consider overall functionality, usability and layout to support the user experience. It’s about ensuring that your mobile app has the right features that meet your customers’ needs, including:
- Design simplicity that prioritizes easy access to information and seamless navigation. Remember, consumers have short attention spans, so you’ll lose them if your app is difficult to use.
- Fast loading times because you’ll also lose your mobile app user if the app takes to long to load and function.
- Flexibility across operating systems since your customers can be using iOS, Android or Windows devices. That means that you have to consider different screen sizes, resolutions and more during the development of the app. Of course, whether you’re creating the app or have hired someone else to, it should be tested across all operating systems.
- Basic security (including for personal information and in-app payments) because security is a must. You must enforce strict practices and have a security checklist to refer to.
- Strong search, which can make or break the user experience on your mobile app. If a user searches for something they’re looking for and can never find anything remotely related, your app immediately loses value. Successful in-app search is a great conversion tool.
- Push notifications can reach users very directly, so make sure that you keep them straightforward and concise. Of course, to make them even more effective and relevant, leverage personalization techniques.
- Feedback opportunities in which users can easily let you know what’s working and not working for them.
- Regular updates, which are critical for any successful mobile app. Not only will you want to improve and enhance your app, but you’ll also want to stay on top of any necessary security- or operating system-related updates.
Segment your mobile app audience
Audience segmentation is critical for any digital marketing strategy, and your mobile app is no different.
A segment is a grouping of your audience who share common attributes. Segmentation helps you get the right message to the right people.
Examples of segments include people in a 30-day trial who have not completed a purchase or customers whose membership expires next month.
When segmenting, you likely will want to consider demographics, purchasing behavior, in-app behavior, geographic location and any other factors that are relevant to your brand and business goals.
To market best to your mobile app users, remember that they are not one large homogenous group. You’ll want to target your efforts and messages just like you would on any other medium.
Personalize the mobile app shopping experience
Just like on your website, you should be able to understand your customers’ behavior and act accordingly. Wherever a user has begun an action on your mobile app but hasn’t completed it, you should know. Then, you can ping them (like with a push notification) to remind them of the action they never finished.
For example, a user adds items to the shopping cart but leaves the app without checking out. Sending out a reminder about those forgotten items can help complete the sale.
Just remember that you also should dig deeper into the possible why behind these incomplete actions. Did a customer just get distracted or busy? And is there an opportunity to upsell or cross-sell with your reminder push notification? Or, is there a bug in your app that’s making an action difficult to execute? Or, perhaps the customer changed his or her mind because the item was simply too expensive?
Whatever the cause, the more you understand, the better you can update your app and even your digital marketing strategy accordingly. Personalization is about more than knowing your customer’s first name, it includes an intuitive shopping experience, spot-on product recommendations based on what they’re browsing or have already purchased and so on.
Learn more about personalization in digital marketing.
Send compelling push notifications
Push notifications are an important feature for successful mobile apps. The reason is that they can directly help boost your sales. They’re that powerful.
Push notifications typically result in about 26 percent higher mobile open rates and about 92 percent higher mobile app retention rates. In fact, about 50 percent of users who opt-in for push notifications do so to get exclusive or special offers. That’s great news because it means they’re already looking to buy from you.
With push notifications specifically, there are a few different types, such as informative, time-bound or reminder. Knowing who you’re targeting and why will help you decide what mix of push notification types (and even tone) you’ll want to plan for your campaign.
Dive deeper into how you can approach your push notification strategy, as well as our seven tips to write an effective push notification.
Include your customer loyalty program
Your mobile app is the perfect place to house your customer loyalty program. This will enable you to stay engaged with your customers more consistently, which strengthens your relationships and boosts your customer retention rate.
Keep in mind that consumers are more likely to engage in a loyalty program when it doesn’t require them to invest a lot of time or effort.
On top of that, you likely should consider not only rewarding those who are frequently purchasing from you but also those who spend more money while doing so. When you’re also rewarding the average amount spent, you’ll help boost your overall sales and revenue.
There are a number of ways to structure your loyalty program. Customers could be generating points that can then be redeemed, for example. But however you structure it, make sure that it works both for your business and your customers.
In conclusion
Developing a well-functioning mobile app can help you reach your business goals, but if you’re not focusing on a specific mobile app strategy, you’re missing opportunities to grow your revenue.
If you already have a mobile app for your business, take time to audit its functionality and effectiveness. Remember that tools can always be improved. And customer feedback will be critical in knowing what to prioritize and focus on.
