Category Archives: mobile app opportunities

How to Improve Your App Store Ranking

With the massive popularity of mobile devices we have seen huge growth in the app stores. While this is great for device owners as they have many options to choose from (as of June 2016, Android users can choose from 2.2 million apps and Apple iOS users have 2 million apps to pick from), it can make getting an app noticed harder for individual business and mobile app developers.

App store visitors make a priority out of looking at an app’s ratings and reviews | Liu Tao (Flikr)

To begin with, it is important that you understand that app store visitors are making a priority out of looking at an app’s ratings and reviews. The app stores are paying attention to this information as well. Just like the app store’s visitors, the app stores themselves are looking at social proof to see how well an app is liked. These ratings and reviews provide the difference between apps that might otherwise seem nearly identical.

Because of this, apps that have more ratings and higher ratings will be ranked higher in search results than their counterparts. You are probably thinking “OK but how can I get more reviews and higher ratings?”

There is a way to do this while at the same time working to reducing the number of bad reviews. First of all, you want to make it easy for users to reach you. You can cut down on bad reviews but giving users multiple different ways to contact you for customer support. These can including support contact info on your app store listing, having easy to find and use support on your website and putting support contact information within your application itself. The thought process here is that you want to nip potential issues in the bud. Give your users an easy way to address issues before they end up being negative reviews on the app store.

On top of that you will want to take action to help increase the number of reviews. You can start by simply asking users to give feedback at the end of your app store description. From there you can take a less passive approach and utilize carefully timed in-app messages to prompt users to provide feedback. Make sure your messages aren’t a nuisance to users though. You don’t want to turn away users with your efforts to generate ratings.

Remember that while getting ratings can help your app store rankings, you also should be trying to get honest feedback that can help you improve your app.

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Deliver the Personalized Mobile Shopping Experiences that Customers Expect

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Are you delivering the personalized shopping experience that modern customers expect from mobile applications and web sites?

Personalize and enhance user’s stopping experiences in exciting new ways | Photo: TechStage (Flikr)

Businesses around the globe are missing out on millions of dollars in revenue due to their failure to personalize the online and offline shopping experiences according to Webloyalty. Their research goes on to state that more than 50 percent of those surveyed responded that a personalized shopping experience would motivate them to shop at a retailer. Further, Guy Chiswick, Managing Director, Webloyalty Northern Europe, stated that “personalization is the future of online shopping”.

However, their research also found that a full 26 percent of respondents replied that they had never received a personalized offer. Clearly indicating a gap between what customers want and what retailers are giving them with their online and mobile programs,

Personalized shopping experiences are well within the reach of most businesses due to the availability of affordable, high quality iPhone application developers and Android application developers around the globe.

With mobile technology more accessible than ever before, businesses have access to a wealth of opportunity when it comes to personalizing shopping experiences. With beacons or other location-based campaigns, businesses can personalize and enhance their shoppers’ experiences in exciting new ways that can propel sales.

Backing these numbers up, in another recent survey published by Merkle Inc., 46 percent of shoppers under 50 stated that they would like personalized offers for in-store purchases on their mobile phones. Paul Schottmiller, senior vice president of strategy, retail and consumer goods for Merkle, went on to state that “Consumers expectations are high and retailers have never had more options for using technology to deliver differentiated customer experiences.”

Personalization promotes customer loyalty, and loyalty is just as valuable (if not more so) than attracting new customers. Efforts to retain and increase sales from a businesses existing customer base can pay sizable dividends.

The exciting thing about personalization is that not only will customers be more loyal, but that you will find that they are willing to pay for personalization as well. Based on research by RightNow, 86 percent of consumers would be willing to pay up to 25 percent more for better customer experiences.

With data collection easier than ever before, consumers have come to expect retailers to know what they want without even telling them. Most consumers know that modern retailers have that capability and expect it from their shopping experience. Most consumers aren’t surprised by this ability to collect this information, and in fact, most opt in to programs and encourage it so that retailers can personalize their shopping experiences. In fact, according to MyBuys research, 78 percent of consumers are willing to allow retailers to use information from their in-store purchases to create more personalized experiences whenever they shop.

With mobile growing so rapidly and entrenching itself so deeply in the fabric of how we shop, failure to act on the opportunities available to marketers today would be short-sighted.

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Smartphone Becoming Primary Computing Device

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The most recent forecast from IDC predicts that the smart devices market will grow 15.6% in 2014. This would have the smart device market reaching close to 1.8 billion devices. This growth is expected to be lead by smartphone growth as PC and tablet sales expectations have been lowered slightly. IDC further estimates that shipments will grow to 2.4 billion units in 2018 and expects smartphone shipments to outpace total PC shipments by more than 6 to 1 in 2018.

“Apple’s iOS-ification of Mac OS, and Microsoft’s implementation of Modern UI throughout different form factors are clear indicators that we’re living in a mobile-first world,” states Jitesh Ubrani, IDC Research Analyst.

Further illustrating the move to smartphones as users primary devices are usage numbers. The amount of daily time spent on mobile devices is now outpacing TV in the U.S. (according a newly-released 2014 AdReaction study from Millward Brown). On average U.S. users now spend 151 minutes per day on smartphones and only 147 on average in front of TVs. In China users spend an average of 170 minutes per day on their devices.

xAd and Telmetrics 2nd Annual UK Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study states that up to 46 percent of UK consumers now use mobile devices as their primary medium for purchase decision making, while one in four use mobile devices as their exclusive shopping research device. Mobile applications and mobile web sites are becoming more important than ever as they are becoming consumers primary point of contact with brands.

Growth of Mobile Services Benefits Businesses

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Continuing along with mobile’s rapid growth, mobile payments continue to grow at a rapid rate. Adyen’s Mobile Payment Index shows 20% of all payment transactions coming from Adyen’s global network are now generated on mobile devices. This is about a 66% increase over 2013 numbers.

“Customers are no longer talking about ‘taking a chance’ in the mobile market like they were a few short years ago,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Pacific App Design, “Now mobile applications and mobile commerce are an established channel and the focus is on how to improve the quality of the sales channel.”

Additionally, 70% of global merchants now say they are processing mobile payments. As the services grow so do sales. The sale of Digital goods such books and streaming content saw growth of 6.2% according to Adyen.

RTB.com states they have had a 36,000% revenue increase from 2011-2014. Illustrating the growth potential in the mobile marketplace.

“Services created for the mobile market are experiencing huge growth as they mature with the industry,” continues Mr. Johnson, “We are seeing businesses benefit as those services mature. Additional options and improved payment options are helping businesses improve their mobile presence.”

Many Users Want Improved Contact with Brands

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In a recent survey conducted by Contact Solutions, researchers found that mobile shoppers want more contact than many retailers are currently giving them. Based on study results, nearly three-fourths of shoppers said they would use mobile applications that offered a live chat option to users.

The survey points out that many consumers would like more enhanced forms of contact with retailers and brands via mobile channels.

“To start meeting the needs of customers, retailers must develop a strategy that provides consumers with a positive, interactive engagement with the brand,” says Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Pacific App Design. “While mobile applications have been a great way to access information, retailers need to see apps as more of a two way communication tool.”

The survey goes on to detail other findings that support this conclusion, such as the feeling many shoppers had they can’t solve problems via mobile.

“Proactively acting to offer the shopping experience that consumers are looking for will set brands apart from their competitors,” concludes Mr. Johnson.