The following is a guest post by Nataliia Kharchenko. Nataliia is a technical writer at Cleveroad, a web and app development company in Ukraine that successfully implements various projects of any complexity. The main goal of the company is to provide clients with quality and exceptional software. Find out more about guest posts.
The modern consumer market is extremely competitive. Now it is not only the idea of your mobile app that matters but the community which you build around your product and your brand. The majority of the world’s largest brands have already applied this approach and proved that this direction brings not only higher revenue but can also guarantee a longer life in the market. But first things first.
How Does a Loyal Community Maximize App Revenue?
Revenue is a nice motivation to make your product better. Moreover, it is a basis that allows you to improve your product. Building long-term relationships with users is much more important than building a perfect mobile app. And even if users didn’t buy anything from your site or app for the first time, they would come back to you if they felt that your platform is reliable.
According to statistics, customers buy something via a mobile application only after the tenth visit. Before that, your task is to prove that you are worthy of their trust. Another statistical data shows that more than 70% of all users install an app, open it once and delete it immediately or never go back to it. These facts have to make you think about the most important thing – how to create a community of loyal users. Here are some pitfalls which may occur on your path.
Difficulties on the Way
The first issue is that less than a half of all users who downloaded your app would open it one more time. It means that you have only one chance to attract customers. More than that, you have to concentrate on the group of people who are more likely to use your app (more than once) than to target as many people as possible.
The other pitfall is pinging your users. We all know that push notifications work the best here but you have to bear in mind that being too intrusive will not add you extra points. Usually, we have about 20 apps on our phone; can you imagine what a person would feel if all 20 applications sent at least one notification a day? Think this point through. Think about the content of your notification and frequency you will send them.
Best Practices to Retain Users
Probably I will not reveal a secret right now if I say that the most important factor in this strategy is user engagement. But there is a reason why I remind you of this fact: user engagement is the key to captivate customers and make them loyal. User engagement is a basis for a tight interaction between customers and product owner.
User engagement helps to achieve different goals. For instance, a loyal user leaves comments about an app or rates it on the store with pleasure. This positively influences the number of downloads of your product. Here are a few tips on how to increase user engagement:
- Smooth workflow. Modern customers are very demanding and do not want to be left waiting. They will simply download a new app. So, make sure that your app works seamlessly and quickly.
- Introduction is a vital part of your app. A short and clear interactive walkthrough will introduce your product to the users and make the right emphasis on the most important features.
- User interface. Add a well-considered user interface which would be clear even to a child. This step shows how you care about your customers making their lives easier.
- Social registration is the best option. Nowadays, it is the most convenient way to sign up for a new application. If this approach is inappropriate to your app, at least, make the registration simple and fast.
- Appreciation. Thank and reward your customers for using your app. It is a simple way to motivate and engage users. When they rate or comment your app on a store, reply with some grateful words. If feedback was negative, ask what changes a user would like to see in an updated version. Reward loyal customers with bonuses and discounts and they will always come back to you.
- Make it social. Social integration is not only a cool feature so beloved by users. It is a free advertisement to make. So why don’t you give users an opportunity to share any bit of information from your app? But here’s the thing, there are so many different social networks that it would be difficult to integrate your app with all of them. Do some research on your target audience and choose three of the most relevant social networks among them.
- Listen to your users. Take their opinion into account. Read their feedback, always thank them and try to understand what would be better for users. There are also many surveys which could help you with this task. Use this information to improve or modify your product and make it even more useful for the customers.
There are lots of hacks to acquire users to your application, proven practices to engage users and retain them for a long time. This topic deserves a separate article. So, let’s move forward.
Experience of the World’s Leaders
The majority of world’s business leaders have already realized the importance of mobile apps for their business, their marketing strategy, and the brand itself. And we see the results. Brands increased their income and users got fantastic experience using high-grade applications. There are lots of things we can borrow from their approach, so let’s look closer.
When Starbucks made their application they managed to increase income by 20%. Here the company applies a trick which we’ve mentioned earlier. It is a program “My Starbucks Rewards”. People get some small bonuses for their loyalty and it really works.
The company Nike is also famous for its applications. They have developed lots but the most popular app is Nike Running Club. The app helps users train, track progress, keeps users motivated and builds a community of loyal athletes, which is almost 30 million people all over the globe.
There are many more great examples of fantastic apps which gather people into communities. All are made to create a strong link between a mobile app, a brand and a user and make a person feel special. Only, in this case, a person will want to go back to your app.
