Build Brand Loyalty: What a Mobile App Can Do
Keeping your customer base engaged is the number-one way to make sure that when they are ready to make a purchase, your name is at the tip of their clicking finger. While there are several ways to do this, creating a mobile app currently has the biggest buzz, and rightfully so. The proliferation of Smartphones on the world stage has completely changed the world of marketing. There are over 91.4 million Smartphones in the United States alone with 9 out of 10 users online browsing the web every day. That’s over 80 million users, each day. Tapping into this market is easy – keeping potential customers engaged is not.
When you create a mobile application that has value for your customers, they are more likely to bookmark it and return to it over and over. One of the most popular app additions that promotes return users is offering “app only” coupons. These coupons can start small, like 5% off or something along those lines, and grow as the customer continues to purchase from you. This is a loyalty rewards based program. Putting a customer rewards plan in the palm of a customer’s hand makes it ultra easy to use because there is no need to remember to clip a coupon and bring it along. Most users always carry their Smartphones so they always have the coupon on them!
Another popular mobile app is the referral bonus program that rewards current customers for forwarding and linking your promotions to their social networks. If you can get even a small percentage of your customers to become active promoters and word of mouth advertisers, your sales will see an increase as will your customer base.
While many organizations haven’t paid much attention to FourSquare, promoting “Checking In” can be a hugely successful way to get your brand out there in the minds of potential customers. If one of their friend’s checks in at your location it gives a vote of confidence for your product. There is no better form of advertising than a friend’s recommendation – and that’s exactly what “checking-in” does. Giving out a discount or coupon for checking-in via an app not only keeps your current customer engaged it opens the door to all of his or her friends too!
If you don’t currently have an app, it should be obvious what the advantages of getting one are. What may not be so obvious is that if your current app isn’t performing well you may need to tweak it. If you aren’t seeing the results you expected from it, the only way to really understand why is to have a third party review of it. In fact, a better solution would be to have a full digital strategy review done. A digital strategy review can help your company pinpoint the areas that your marketing plan is failing and help you develop a more effective campaign that incorporates your existing material.
