What Do You Do With Your Smartphone?
An uncomplicated inquiry can give us a rich contemplation on our smartphone use.
Consider this question: What are your smartphone-enabled functions?
The response is likely to be “nearly all.” When you wish to order your chosen entree or book a seat on an aeroplane, your smartphone has become a vital means of making it happen. In the past two years or so, the smartphone has become such a mark of modern society that we might think it is everywhere, when, in large part, it is the key to our daily lives. This opens up a new level of consumerism. It isn’t just that we want to consume; we want to do it, and the phone is a portal to achieve that.
The Rise of Mobile Usage
Our statistics reveal that people spend an average of 4.8 hours each day using their smartphones. This means that nearly one-third of our time is spent on mobile devices! The app-driven mobile world is truly efficient and convenient, pushing the app economy to the forefront of our digital lives.
Users can access 3 million apps from Google Play alone, while the App Store offers 2 million more apps to download. The increase in the use of mobile applications provides a unique chance for businesses to connect with their customers in the one place where they spend all those moments being customers, smartphones.
This is not just a chance that has developed in the last few years. It’s common knowledge that smartphones have become the primary method for consumers to interact with digital material.
Why Mobile Apps Matter for Businesses
A mobile-friendly site is sufficient to connect with your audience, some might think.
But you need to look beyond a powerful web presence to really pay off in the digital world.
Mobile apps offer a unique opportunity. Use them to connect with your customers and see three times the conversion rate you would get with a mobile-friendly website.
A mobile app can dramatically increase income, build customer engagement, and improve operational efficiency.
We now live in an app-centric world, and the sheer convenience and practicality of apps, even the not-so-handy ones, might make us question how we lived without them.
In the past few years, a growing number of businesses have opted to join the app revolution. For many, the app has become the new storefront.
Ensure a Strong Brand Presence
Mobile applications have utterly transformed the way customers interact with businesses. They allow not only a seamless dialogue between you and your customer but also function as an incredibly effective lure for bringing in new customers.
To reach your app even further, here’s a novel suggestion: promote it with offers redeemable only through the app. A discount has always been a good way to grab somebody’s attention, and a well-placed mention of the kind of discount that can be had when you download the app is sure to hook new users.
When customers download your app, the likelihood is strong that purchases will follow. The app is built not just for speed but for the kind of convenience that makes it the digital touchpoint in a user’s life that many brands’ websites are not. The mobile economy’s elixir, we’ve been told, is engagement; therefore, keeping customers in close quarters with an app is tilting success in the app’s favor.
Still, it’s very necessary to guarantee that your app provides a smooth user experience. An app that’s tedious to comprehend or, worse, just outright irritating, could cause your users to remove it and thwart your objectives.
So, what you want to have in place, and what you want to be as intuitive as possible, is a seamless platform, whatever that may mean to you and your particular circumstances.
When convenience, trust, and an excellent user experience are prioritised, the app becomes a potential cornerstone of a brand’s success. The average app lives or dies by the App Store’s slightly mysterious charts. But when it comes to carrying your app into the hearts and minds of users, design is what really matters.
Invest in it well, and you might soon enjoy the benefits of customer loyalty and a significant uptick in sales.
Better Loyalty Programme Experience
Loyalty points and rewards can hardly be managed more easily than through mobile apps. You don’t have to search your wallet or purse for a crumpled card. An app puts your rewards only a tap away.
What you need to do is start the app, log in to your account, and you’re all set! You can check your earned points, see how close you are to a reward, and examine offers that seem, more than ever, to be personalized for your shopping habits. The app is a virtual rewards card you can’t misplace and don’t have to remember to use.
What customers want is seamlessness. And this isn’t just something people would like to have; in today’s digital world, it is an absolute minimum for retention and conversion. A brilliant case study is Starbucks, whose loyalty program is baked into its mobile app. Customers who order through the app enjoy some not-inconsiderable perks over those who stick to the old-fashioned way of ordering. The app accounts for 21 per cent of the revenue and has wonderful user experience outcomes.
Of course, all those words serve as a nice preamble to the fact that app design and functionality are critical. Letting your customers use a retail app could yield some serious “loyalty dividends.”
Seamless Purchases
Imagine this scenario: You’re browsing through your favorite brand’s website, eyeing that perfect pair of shoes. But wait, you’re on the go and don’t have time to complete the purchase right now. Fear not, because, with a retailer mobile app, you can add those shoes to your cart and complete the purchase later, whenever and wherever it’s convenient.
Mobile apps allow you to make purchases with just a few taps, saving your payment information securely for future use. No more entering card details every time you shop. Some customer apps even offer the option to pre-order items before they hit the shelves, ensuring you never miss out on the latest releases. Sending such products or offer notifications makes customers feel you value them and boosts trust and loyalty.
Personalized Shopping Experience
Retailers’ mobile apps are changing the way their customers shop. The apps are designed to suit the average consumer’s wants and needs.
These applications can endorse items that resonate with your inclinations because they evaluate consumer behaviour. They exist to make commerce efficient and enjoyable!
They dissect your actions in the app, plus what millions of other consumers are doing, to concoct a strangely personalized experience for you.
In retail apps, push notifications and personalized, location-based messages keep consumers engaged and informed. Whether it’s about a clearance event or a direct offer regarding a product nearly bumped off a consumer’s wish list, these app-to-consumer communications serve relevance.
These innovations have enabled shopping to transcend simple transactions and become an individualized experience, with the customer at the centre.
More Profits
Mobile apps are also one of the best mediums to market your product or service. Retailers can trigger more interest in their products through push notifications, send offers and discounts, reduce cart abandonments instantly, etc. Many will purchase when they get the products in the cart at a discounted rate! All these can keep customers hooked and increase sales.
Are you aware that 42% of Black Friday purchases were made through mobile apps in 2021?
This implies that mobile apps stimulate more purchases.
On the other hand, mobile app building and management are affordable and help lower operational costs. However, this does not mean that you compromise on the user experience. OptCulture helps build a mobile app that offers users a seamless experience, optimizes mobile marketing communication and campaigns.
The math is simple: More sales + fewer costs =more profits!
Choose the Right Tech Partner
An omnichannel retailer has something that many others do not: the opportunity to engage its customers across an unexpectedly large number of platforms.
Fortunately, the right engagement partner, with retail conversions, can help make that platform set pay off.
OptCulture doesn’t just function smoothly as an omnichannel; it remakes omnichannel operation. From the ground up, every feature is there to get retailers to their audience in a way that’s almost too smooth to notice.
Suppose there’s any question about whether the app is intuitive. In that case, it isn’t with how seamlessly any interfacing goes. And interfacing, whether it’s the question of using the app for that, the marketing data for this, or the customer intel for making better, all-around decisions, is how practically any not-so-basic function of the app adds up to something much greater than the sum of its parts.
Ready to Elevate Your Retail Strategy?
With the OptCulture program, brands can embark on a fresh journey where technological innovation fuels customer engagement. We can assist if your omnichannel strategy is primed to ascend to the next level. Initiate constructing more robust links with your clientele now, every engagement holds significance.
