Author Archives: Kimber Johnson

Kimber Johnson

About Kimber Johnson

Kimber Johnson is the co-founder of Pacific App Design. Kimber has worked within the web development, graphics design, mobile application development, marketing and advertising fields for over 17 years.

3 Hot Ideas to Improve Your Mobile User Experience

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App design has become more and more customer focused since the mobile app first came out. Consequently customer experience is king when it comes to mobile apps and rightly so.  Before you start your next mobile app development project make sure you think about how you will be collecting data, what data you will be collecting and how you can use it to benefit your app’s user experience.

Make sure you think about how you will be collecting data

Make sure you think about how you will be collecting data | Photo: TechStage (Flikr)

Here are three hot ideas on how to improve your app’s user experience using data:

Personalize

The modern shopper and app user wants a personalized experience. Your users will expect you to not only understand their needs but also be able to deliver messaging based on those needs.  Businesses that are able to do this will be able to build a more personal connection with their customers.  Using data such as a users name, age, gender or location in your messaging can help improve response. Simply using a customer’s name puts your message in a more conversational tone that customers respond to and by developing a full plan based on delivering personalized information you can use your apps to build customer relationships.

Keep a sharp eye on privacy

I think we have all experienced marketing that is so targeted that it comes across as creepy. One day I was buying a pair of boots for my daughter at Journeys and came home to find my Facebook feed full of Journeys ads, I have to admit I felt fairly creeped out at that moment. You need to respect your customers desire for privacy and not step over boundaries. Customer’s respond favorably to ads that are relevant and interesting but will be put off if they feel you are going too deep into their personal lives. You need to be strategic with what data you collect and how you use it.

Be data savvy

Be collecting and analyzing the right data you will be one step closer to a great user experience, but remember the experience is only as good as you data. A quality data analyst or architect can be very useful in helping you with this stage and you will probably realize it is easier than you think it will be if you talk to the right data analyst. Focus on the information that is important to your customers.  What is their purchase history? What is their behavior while using your app? What demographic data have they given per their profile? Once you have this data you can use it to personalize your messaging to customers.

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Make Sure Your Email is Designed with Mobile in Mind

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It is nearly impossible to overstate the importance of mobile in the modern business world. In fact, studies indicate that  80% of people will delete an email if it doesn’t look good on their smartphone.  Mobile design is important to marketers looking to maximize the effectiveness of their message.

Mobile design is important to marketers looking to maximize the effectiveness

Mobile design is important to marketers looking to maximize the effectiveness | Photo: John Karakatsanis (Flikr)

A key feature when designing your email for mobile is making sure that your email is easy to scan and engage with on a user’s mobile device. The simpler the better as cluttered emails are not easy to scan. Make sure you content is easy to read and simple to consume with eye-catching images, large fonts and call-to-action buttons that stand out.  Don’t forget to use white space and make sure you organize your content into sections with headings to make skimming easy for your readers. Many mobile email designers find a single column layout to be the easiest and most effective to work with.

One great feature of mobile design is that your emails will still look good on a user’s desktop device. In fact, most users will be used to seeing mobile design when it comes to their in-box.  That is why it is a good idea is to design for the small screen first. If your email looks good on a smartphone, it will also look good on a desktop.

Many businesses will set up an email template that is responsive. Here your email will adapt to the device your reader is using to view the email.

Don’t forget that any links you include are to pages that are optimized for mobile.  You don’t want your customer to bail at the last moment because your web link was to a page that was hard to navigate on their mobile device.

Follow these tips and you will see your email marketing have better results.

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Target Your Marketing For Mobile App Success

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Current research on targeted marketing shows that targeted messages can improve conversions 200% over general messaging.

With mobile devices it is easier than ever to collect data and put it in to action.

If you are able to collect the right data and define the proper audiences for your messaging based on their wants and needs and combining it with factors such as location and other demographic information your messaging can be truly powerful. You will want to define the data you collect prior to beginning your mobile application development project. Often iPhone application development companies in Los Angeles will make use of personas to define logistical groups for messaging after the data is collected. You will want to define your process before developing your app to ensure you collect the right data.

With mobile devices it is easier than ever to collect data and put it in to action.

With mobile devices it is easier than ever to collect data and put it in to action | Photo: Tech Stage (Flikr)

After you are able to dig into your own data and analyze customer usage behavior you will be able to define personas and deliver targeted messaging to that group.

By creating personas will be able to carefully craft your messaging so that you speak to them in a way that will improve conversions.

By really understanding who those customers are; their demographics, interests, etc lets you tailor your messaging but determine the tactics you should use. Different mobile tactics work better for different groups.

Your customers interact in different ways with you and only by understanding how they interact with you can you understand how to interact with them. This is why you need understand how customers interact with you and develop personas is you can interact with them in ways they are most likely to respond.

Traditionally users were split into groups based on demographic info, but with modern techniques you can and will want to segment based on their digital attitudes and preferences for maximum effectiveness. By defining digital customer segments utilizing behavior data you will be able to realize success by tailoring interactions to customer abilities and attitudes.

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Engage Your Mobile App Users with Location Based Marketing

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Location-based mobile marketing not only creates opportunities for businesses but benefits your consumers. Mobile is part of our lives today and with the effectiveness of location-based marketing programs it is important that businesses leverage the tools available at their disposal.

Location based marketing brings context into the marketing equation and is the perfect tool to leverage time and place. With a little planning prior to your mobile application development and the proper communication with your iPhone app developer or Android app developer and you business will be able to communicate personalized communications with your customers at just the right time and in just the right place. Using geo-targeting, geo-fencing and beacons you will be able to enhance your customers’ experiences and improve your revenues.

Geo-targeting, geo-fencing and beacons can enhance customers’ experiences

Geo-targeting, geo-fencing and beacons can enhance customers’ experiences | Photo: CAFNR (Flikr)

According to Cisco, 61% of mobile application users have an improved opinion of a brand when it offers a good mobile experience. They also found the impact was highest when utilized location-based programs.

If you are not familiar with the difference between geo-fencing and geo-targeting or don’t know what a beacon is here is a quick overview.

Leveraging customer records that customers are generally willing to opt-in to in order to improve mobile experiences, businesses are able to dramatically improve relationships with their customers. This data allows businesses the ability to deliver a personalized message based on a user interests. Geo-targeting involves delivering specific content based on the location of a user. This location is easily determined based on the location of their smart phone. Imagine you run a chain of sporting good stores and want to increase the effectiveness of your marketing. Geo-targeting allows you to deliver content that will likely be of interest to users depending on their location, for instance you might want to showcase sales on surfboards in California locations while sending out push notifications to Arizona users highlighting hiking boots and mountain bikes.

These marketing efforts can be augmented with a geo-fencing program that allows notifications to be sent whenever users are withing 5 miles of one of your locations or perhaps withing 5 miles of your competitor. Studies have shown ads to be delivered within 5 miles of a retail location to be highly effective due to the contextual relevance.

Once customers are in your retail location beacons are tremendously effective for delivering content while with the store. Beacon technology allows you to be notified who a customer is when they walk through the door. While this customer walks through your store notifications can be delivered based on their location within the store and data regarding their interests, making for a truly effective engagement program. Customers will appreciate that you can anticipate their needs and deliver the content they are looking for without even asking for it.

This all leads to a scenario where a customer researches a product via your app one day and then receives a notifications from your business when they are driving by your location attracting them in. Once that customer enters your store your store manager can great them by name and your mobile app could remind them of the product they were looking at a couple days ago.

Remember that customers will not be engaged if you messaging is not relevant and that location is an important factor in relevance. The better you can engage your customers with relevent data the more likely they will be to use your application on a regular basis.

Photo: http://bit.ly/1KoT2KQ

Mobile Video Viewing Explodes

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Just as mobile has become integrated into our lives, so has mobile video.

Based on research from Ooyala, mobile video watching has grown an incredible 367% over the past two years.  In fact, Ooyala predicts that by the end of 2015 over half of all online viewing of video content will take place from mobile devices.

Many businesses starting mobile app development projects are currently integrating video into their applications or are updating older apps by having their iPhone application developers or Android application developers adding video to current offerings.

Mobile video should be used to tell a story.

Mobile video should be used to tell a story | Photo: Slanted Publishers (Flikr)

More than just adding mobile video into your app offerings, you need to have a strategy for how it integrates into your marketing program and your brand. It is important to remember that mobile video should be used to tell a story. Ask yourself if you can separate the story  your company is trying to tell into several smaller parts – each snippet of video can build the relationship between your brand and consumers if properly done, supporting your overall marketing program.

Remember that in a recent study from the IAB, 48% of respondents stated they mostly accessed video content via mobile applications rather than visiting mobile websites (only 18% stated that they watch a video via mobile browsers). Mobile apps are leading the way when it comes to video consumption. Understanding user consumption patterns lets you focus your efforts where they will do the most good.

Getting your video program going might not take as much effort as you image either.

You may not know it but your business might already have some great mobile video content for you to use. If you have worked in advertising you know that for every one hour of video you shoot, typically only about a minute will be used. The remaining video offers some great opportunities for your business to capitalize on the extra footage for your app or to use on social media. During filming make sure you note opportunities to use your extra footage. Things like quick behind-the-scenes clips make for great opportunities as well that do not require any additional set-up.

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