Nowadays, the majority of a client’s first interaction with a brand happens on a mobile device. This could be an enterprise’s website or app, so creating an experience that helps you stand out from your competition is key. These mobile devices have become such a significant part of our lives, and utilizing them can result in unmatched customer experience.
It’s fair to go as far as to say that your customer’s mobile experience should be your priority because implementing a mobile-first approach can help you gain a significant market share while helping you understand your clients better. These, in turn, will result in higher revenue for your business.
The Role of Customer Experience in Business Success
Before we go any further, it’s important to break down what customer experience is. So, what is customer experience?
It’s generally described as the way your clients view your brand. This perception is usually influenced by:
- Customer service
- Ease of interaction
- Personalization
- Consistency across touchpoints
- Problem resolution
- Clear communication
- Response time
- Post-sale support
When looking into creating a good customer experience, your aim should be to build a good relationship with your clients by understanding what they want, need, or value. It’s not just about whether or not they use your digital product or service.
Every interaction your clients make with your company will elicit a specific emotion, and this emotion will stick with your brand. That’s why it’s important to keep in mind that their needs and desires constantly change. Humans are complex beings so fully understanding how they feel about your brand can make the biggest difference in your customer’s experience.
But why is customer experience so important?
Long story short, it makes your brand stand out from your competitors. There are hundreds of thousands of other companies probably doing something similar to what you do, and assuming you provide similar digital services, you’re competing with them to acquire the same clients. A good CX puts your brand ahead of others.
The Benefits of Mobile Applications in Business
Mobile application development plays a large role in your enterprise’s success. Regardless of your industry, you’re aiming to acquire a significant portion of the market. Currently, 15% of US adults use mobile devices only to access the internet while that figure is substantially higher in the UAE. Approximately 72% of UAE residents access the internet exclusively on their mobile devices. This emphasizes the importance of mobile app development.
Your app will also provide added advantages for both your company and customers. Let’s go through some of them to understand what you should expect through app development.
Repeated Business from Your Customers
Mobile apps can result in repeated business opportunities while improving referral rates. They can also give your digital product or service an adoption rate boost. The reason behind their effectiveness can be attributed to their convenient one or two-way communication between a company and its customers. This allows the enterprise to monitor its customers’ behaviors and adjust approaches accordingly. This would result in an improved customer satisfaction rate at a low cost.
Also, a mobile app typically stays on the user's phone screen, making it easily accessible even if it's been deleted. Finding a familiar icon is much quicker than opening a browser and searching for the website. Plus, the icon on a mobile phone grabs attention, allowing users to browse and add items to their cart even if they’re not ready to purchase immediately. Another effective feature is push notifications, which help bring customers back by reminding them of promotions and special offers. For instance, free shipping remains one of the most attractive promotions, despite a slight decrease in its perceived value since 2021, it continues to be a leading incentive.
Convenience for Your Users
Mobile application development provides your clients with flexibility, especially if your business is in retail. This convenience can not only provide a better experience for your clients but also lead to more sales.
A study conducted by Unnati Narang from the University of Illinois looking into the effects of mobile apps on shopper purchases isolated the effects of mobile apps on some retail metrics. These include how much customers spend, the number of products returned, and the correlation between app features and purchase decisions.
People who used mobile apps for shopping bought products 21% more frequently than those who didn’t use mobile apps to shop, meaning that app adoption resulted in a 24% increase in the net monetary value for purchases made.
Brand Awareness
Apps that use push notifications can help keep clients engaged with your brand. Small and medium businesses can reach their clients through notifications with product news and promotions, all through the app. You can also perform targeting with information you acquire through the app, such as location and past engagement history.
Aligning User Needs and Expectations
When developing a mobile application for your business, it’s important to understand your client’s needs and align them with their expectations. Your customers’ desires are generally based on current trends or what your competitors offer. However, their real needs and expectations concern convenience and solving key pain points. You should start by observing how your clients use your app to interact with your business, gathering feedback to determine what features they love most then shaping the app based on those findings.
However for this to be possible, you must be tracking the right metrics.
Tracking the Right Metrics
The goal behind tracking metrics is to gain insights into your app’s performance and understand what resonates with your clients and what doesn’t. If you’re not utilizing this step properly, you’ll find that improving your app proves to be a difficult task.
A few important mobile app KPIs you should pay attention to are:
- User growth rate
- Conversion rate
- Engagement rate
- Daily active users
- Monthly active users
- Session length
- Average screens per visit
- Churn rate
- Retention rate
Tracking this data allows you to make changes accordingly and improve your app and its metrics. For instance, after making changes to your app’s UX, you notice a significant decrease in your monthly active users. This suggests that users aren’t happy with your recent modifications. You can further assess these results through people’s feedback. Some of the tools you can use are heatmaps and session replays, enabling you to identify what people find frustrating about your app.
The idea is to track the right metrics to quickly recognize patterns and trends in behaviors, allowing you to make informed decisions to improve your customers’ overall user experience.
Reward Your Customers
One more advantage of mobile app development is the ability to reward people. Provide them with promotions, discounts, and exclusive offers to improve their loyalty to your brand. This will keep them motivated to keep your app installed while choosing your services over your competitors. This can be a measure of tit for tat. You can ask clients to provide you with feedback, and in return, they will receive exclusive discounts to make their shopping experiences more valuable within your ecosystem.
For example, let’s say you have a grocery store. Mobile application development allows your clients to make orders through their phones and arrange a delivery. You can send a set number of customers (aim for those who haven’t used your service in a while) a promo code with a 10% discount on their next in-app purchase. This will give them an incentive to use your service while growing your revenue in the process.
While this example focuses on a grocery store, the concept can be applied to any industry, improving your clients’ experiences in the process.