How to Use a Mobile App to Develop Your Business?

Transcription

1 How to Use a Mobile App to Develop Your Business?

2 Table of Contents What Information Can You Find in Our E-Book? 02 Table of Contents 03 Introduction 05 Mobile Market General Trends 11 What Can a Mobile App Give You? 14 Good Usability Practices for Mobile 17 How to Use a Mobile App in Your Business? 21 When Does an Application Make Sense?

3 03 Introduction Introduction About the E-Book The following material is devoted to the use of the mobile apps to build a competitive advantage. At the start, we focus on presenting general market trends, and then on the ways of using the mobile apps, with examples of projects. We wanted to point to good practices that should be taken into account when designing communication with the client. We also outlined the possibilities of using the functions characteristic of the mobile applications. We hope that the insights gathered here will help you in choosing and adapting the appropriate management strategy in your company.

4 04 Introduction About the Author Appchance is a software house specializing in building mobile and web applications, IoT solutions and CMS systems. The company designs high-quality digital products, including for startups, corporations, big brands and advertising agencies from around the world. Thanks to the combination of very good technical and soft skills, Appchance has been helping its clients achieve business goals and develop business using new technologies since 2011.

5 05 Mobile Market General Trends Mobile Market General Trends Current statistics on consumer trends and behaviors clearly indicate that media consumption is moving towards the mobile channel % of global Internet traffic comes from mobile devices, whereas in Europe it amounts to 37.18% and in the United States to 39.62% (data from Feb 2017 Feb 2018 Statcounter, excluding tablets). Desktop, Mobile & Tablet Market Share Worldwide Mar Mar 2018 by Appchance, source: statcounter 2018

6 06 Mobile Market General Trends The total number of people in the world using a mobile phone is 4.91 billion people in 2018, an increase of about 23 pp since Number of mobile phone users worldwide from 2013 to 2019 by Appchance, source: Statista 2018 However, the mere fact of ownership of the device cannot indicate a degree of usability. Useful here is the data on the time spent on mobile devices in relation to the total time spent online, where it accounts for 71% in the United States and 61% in the United Kingdom (Com- Score 2017).

7 07 Mobile Market General Trends Mobile share of total digital minutes by Appchance, source: comscore 2017 Next, we should think about what these users do during their daily activities on mobile devices. We can see that for example in the United States as much as 90% of the time on mobile devices (in this case 5 hours) users spend in applications (Flurry Analytics 2016). Time spent by app category for US by Appchance, source: Flurry 2016

8 08 Mobile Market General Trends The e-commerce market looks just as promising. According to data from the European Ecommerce Report 2017, as many as 75% of Europeans make purchases via the mobile channel, and 6% of them do it every day. The percentage of mobile payment users by Appchance, source: Ecommerce Foundation 2017 Europeans who purchase via mobile by Appchance, source: Ecommerce Foundation 2017

9 09 Mobile Market General Trends However, considering the US market in terms of the value of purchases using mobile devices, we can see a progressive upward trend. Mobile share of e-commerce, forecast for US by Appchance, source: BI Intelligence 2017 It is worth mentioning that we can t look at the purchase process only in regard to the number of transactions carried out using a smartphone or tablet. The mobile channel is used to acquire information before choosing an offer and for the distribution of information after choosing it. For example, content checked in the store before making a purchase may regard, among other things: finding a location, finding opening hours, comparing prices, finding a promotion, finding whether a given product is sold at a given place, product information or its availability.

10 10 Mobile Market General Trends Looking at the general trends, we can see that mobile devices are an inseparable part of the life of a growing part of society. People check information, plan, communicate and make purchases using smartphones. Therefore, it is worth considering the use of the mobile channel in your business, analyzing not only the market, but also the opportunities it creates.

11 11 What Can a Mobile App Give You? What Can a Mobile App Give You? The main benefit of using a mobile app in the company s communication is related to the way mobile devices are used. More and more people use their smartphone throughout their day by checking content that is important to them. The convenience, ease, immediacy and availability are the main advantages of using the mobile channel. Such usability is an opportunity to create a unique and close relationship between the customer and the brand. The main advantages of using mobile applications in the context of relationships are: 1. Direct contact with the user Thanks to the usage of push messages, it is possible to provide the user with quick information on a selected topic. This may include content regarding news, offers, discounts, promotions or changes. First of all, notifications should concern information that is important from the point of view of the client. An example of the use of such a mechanism is the Hot Shot used in x-kom s application. This is a time- and quantity-limited preferential price offer for a given product, about which application users are notified, allowing them to react quickly. A good idea is also the ability to manage notifications users decide whether they want to receive

12 12 What Can a Mobile App Give You? Hot Shot, x-kom, by Appchance a message on a given subject, e.g. change in the shipment status or a price discount. Stock exchange applications allow the users to observe individual companies quotations and receive push or text notifications if they exceed a pre-set threshold. All this can be a reason for users to come back to a given application, use its unique features and recommend it to others. 2. Contact personalization By downloading applications, the user consents to the processing of their personal data. Thanks to careful behavioral analysis (behavior of the application), geolocation analysis (where the user is at the moment), demographic analysis (age, sex, place of residence), hardware analysis (devices owned and amount of time per device) and

13 13 What Can a Mobile App Give You? transaction analysis (number and value of transactions), it is possible to match the appropriate marketing message to the user. By analyzing the browsing history or transactional data, you can send the user, for example, a discount coupon for a given product on their birthday, or present a complementary offer (cross- and up-selling methods). Thanks to behavioral analysis, you can analyze the user s interest in a given category and display related advertising. Adequate targeting of messages increases the probability of the desired action being carried out on the part of the user, which translates into business results. 3. Building loyalty The effect of ensuring a close contact with the user is greater customer attachment to a given brand. According to the data collected by Invesp, the acquisition of a new user costs up to five times more than keeping the current one, and the probability of sales is higher by 60 70%. Loyalty therefore has a close relationship with business efficiency. In addition, customer attachment to a given brand and its more frequent use also affects the stability of the business, limiting its dependence on what the competition does, which protects the company against price battles (less sensitivity to price changes). 4. Increasing the brand exposure 90% of the time spent on the phone is spent in applications (US, Flurry 2016). Therefore, assuming that your application will be one of those included in these 90%, you gain daily exposure to your brand. Depending on the marketing activities carried out by the company, you can calculate the appropriate advertising equivalent.

14 14 Good Usability Practices for Mobile Good Usability Practices for Mobile Despite the numerous advantages of the mobile channel, building a useful mobile application is undoubtedly a challenge. All those who have decided to implement mobile solutions in their business know how difficult it is to create an application, which users will be happy to use and return to. Therefore, below are some tips of good practices helping you to achieve this. 1. Providing the user with a unique value Think about why you download applications and why you use them. Now treat your target group with the same approach. The user must have a strong enough motivation to download the application and then use it. The application should bring a number of benefits to the user that will motivate him to use it. Unique value may be related to a preferential price of a given service, the way the application works, the speed of information transfer, or providing access to features unavailable from another channel. Remember that the mobile channel also has quite strong competition for the user s attention, so the benefit of using the application must outweigh the effort involved in its installation and use.

15 15 Good Usability Practices for Mobile 2. Simplicity and intuitiveness Keep and highlight the information that is crucial for your customers. The small screen surface means that you cannot afford placing distracting content. Content should be maximally optimized for the user. Using the mobile application should be simpler and more comfortable than using the website. Otherwise, the user may opt for the latter. Facilitations are especially important in the case of e-commerce applications and should cover every aspect of the program s use: from the search engine adapted to mobile devices to the shopping cart view and the transaction interface. simple checkout process, by Appchance

16 16 Good Usability Practices for Mobile 3. Remembering data The ability to accurately identify the user and remember behaviors within the application, means that the user does not have to perform them from the beginning every time. This can be useful in the case of the autocomplete function for payment preferences or delivery address, which increases the convenience of using the application. In addition, data can be saved per account, which means that actions performed on one device are visible on another, which the user wants to use this is called data synchronization. 4. Analysis and improvement of applications User behavior in the application and the comments left by users are the best indicators of its usefulness. If some functions are not used (or are used not as intended), it is worth taking a closer look and correcting them. Listening to comments and opinions of users may also contribute to the creation of elements that were initially omitted at the first publication. The quality of experiences in the application affects the frequency of its use.

17 17 How to Use a Mobile App in Your Business? How to Use a Mobile App in Your Business? 1. Providing important information The ability to send a push message to the user on topics important from the user s point of view, such as notification about a shipment being completed, promotion of an observed product or category, allows the user to maintain greater control and react faster to changes. 2. Appropriate timing The context of time and location has a definite effect on the purchase decisions made by the client. The geolocation function allows sending push notifications to the users when they are in the right place (e.g. near a store during its opening hours). This significantly increases the probability of concluding a transaction. 3. Offering discounts and special offers Providing the user with an offer not available through any other channel may be a good solution for m-commerce applications. 4. Gamification Collecting points and the ability to upgrade one s level is not only a mechanism designed for game-related applications. Users collect

18 18 How to Use a Mobile App in Your Business? points and compare their results, thanks to which they gain motivation to perform additional activities and return to the application. Educational applications, in which points are awarded for passing subsequent stages, are an example of this. 5. Native functions The smartphone has a number of native functions that can be used to build additional value for the client. For example: Gyroscope is used for precise detection of the device s orientation. It can be used, for example, to make a 360-degree presentation of an apartment in the case of sale or rental. Camera not only for taking pictures, but also for scanning. It can be used, for example, to search for products using barcodes, to scan documents into PDF files or to log in using fingerprint or face recognition systems. NFC is used to transfer information from close range (up to 20 cm), for example when paying using the phone. Bluetooth wireless technology that allows two devices to connect up to approx. 10 meters. It is used, among other things, in IoT solutions for connecting and controlling devices. GPS makes device navigation possible, e.g. allowing you to track the route of the vehicle, inform about the distances between objects. It is often used in transport-related applications.

19 19 How to Use a Mobile App in Your Business? Accelerometer recognizes how fast and in which direction the device moves. An example of using it may be to play faster music in applications dedicated to running activities. Push notifications a message that is initiated by the server without executing a query on the user s side. They should be used in the case of user-relevant information, e.g. sending the shipment status. Microphone transmits information carried by sound waves. It is increasingly used in applications thanks to the popularization of devices managed by voice (VUI). It is becoming possible to respond to user commands, e.g. voice control of devices, ordering relevant products, or searching for them. Touch the use of specific touch combinations shortens the path that the user has to go through to perform the given command. An example of this is the action of placing a selected product in the basket by swiping left in the given auction, or a double tapping to display the details of the transaction. 6. Integration with social media Supporting key functions using social mechanisms contributes to increasing the reach of the application and its credibility. Commenting, the possibility of voting or sharing interesting content increases the brand s exposure and also the credibility of the offer.

20 20 How to Use a Mobile App in Your Business? 7. Using new technological solutions The newest technological solutions allow to implement improvements within the application, such as voice management of the application, or the use of artificial intelligence to provide answers. Thanks to better automation of repeatable commands it is possible to: shorten the waiting time for response, minimize the risk of errors and save resources.

21 21 When Does an Application Make Sense? When Does an Application Make Sense? The use of the mobile channel should be conditioned by the specificity of the business and its objectives. Therefore, both the construction of the application itself and the method of its use should have its business justification. First of all, you have to answer one basic question: how does your target group use the mobile channel. General statistics indicate the need to verify trends in the context of your business, whereas a detailed analysis answers the question whether the implementation makes sense for your business. Only when the parameters of the target group and the specificity of your business are taken into account you can determine whether a mobile application is needed. If, after verification, you find that the answer is yes, you can start the stage of development. At this stage, you should consider such elements as: What goals should the application meet? What level of revenue will cover expenses related to the development of the application? How the application will be maintained and developed? Who will be the first user of the application?

22 22 When Does an Application Make Sense? What will be the main value for the user? How to measure success and how potential users will learn about the application? A mobile application is an investment that requires a lot of effort on the part of the project owner and the company responsible for its development. Therefore, the greater the level of detail of the answers to the questions asked, the greater the chances that the selected strategy will be appropriately adapted to market needs and thus bring a proper return on investment (increase of competitive advantage of the company and value for customers).

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