So, you've put your brand's name on a shiny new app!
It's visually enticing and it works “as smooth as butter”, too. And where do you add that its navigation is more than intuitive, as well.
It sure looks like you've checked all the major “must-haves” off your app's list. And yet...
It takes just a “Hello there!” or recommending to your app visitors products with absolutely no connection, whatsoever, to their previously bought items, and your “visually-arresting”, smoothly functioning app itself will risk to “become history”.
Personalization is key in mobile marketing!
A tailor-made customer approach is what makes the difference between “just another” great-looking, fast-loading app and a great-looking, fast-loading app that keeps users hooked on and wanting to come back for more. We, too, the team in this web development company in Toronto, are great fans of this approach.
Now, don't rush in to “recycle” your previous targeting experience, either! It may be still relevant for your desktop marketing strategy, but not for mobile.
A new medium comes with a different user behavior and requires a different type of strategy, as well.
Without further ado, let us highlight for you some things to keep in mind when you put together your personalized mobile marketing plan:
Get To Know Your Users
You couldn't possibly personalize your users' journeys inside your app if you continue to see them as “audience”.
Start perceiving them as “individuals” first, then individualize their experiences.
Especially since nowadays you have valuable analytics at your fingertip practically: this gives you an accurate (real-time) insight into your users':
- demoraphics
- age
- sex
- on what sections from your app they visit more often
- when was the last time they used it
- even what they're doing in your app RIGHT NOW
And this is gold information!
Why not use all this data about your “guests” for crafting contextual offers for them, for boosting your app with tailor-made engagement features (instead of the “one-size-fits-all” type of in-app messages): coupons, video tutorials, notifications, you name it?
“Say Their Names” As You Welcome Them On Board
Yes, you've got it right: this means so much more than just going for a “Hello + Your User' First Name” greeting formula.
This is just basic personalization, but it's a start.
Still, take a few steps further: use the details that your users provide you with, as they sign up into your app, for customizing their experiences right from the start.
For ensuring your app will leave the very best first impression on your users!
By the time they start exploring your app, you'll have their names, their dates of birth, you will then know something about their preferences, so you can come up with your first tailor-made product suggestions for them.
Why not trying to guide them towards the exact pages of your app that they're interested in?
Instead of letting them “without any guidance whatsoever”, wandering about your app?
Tailor Your Content To Your Users' Behaviors
Once you've made them feel welcomed and “handled as individuals” in your app, go ahead and tailor all your content to your guests' click behavior.
Recommend them products/services similar to those that they've already shown interest for!
Moreover, if you want to collect data for personalizing their next visits, make sure to implement in your app features such as “auto suggest” and “product recommendations”.
This way, they'll feel that you truly care about the experience they had using your products/services. Not that you're collecting information in order to “prepare” your content for their future visits in your app!
Your users will "tell" you how to personalize the content you deliver them in your app. You just need to invest some time in “listening to them”, then some more in turning the “clues” they'll give you into “mobile marketing gold”. It's “well invested time”, and we, the team of developers in this digital agency in Toronto, can confirm it from experience.
Personalize Your Push Notifications
This is not a matter of “just” reaching out to your users and “closing a sale”, but a matter of infusing your push notifications with personalization. Of focusing on the wrapping, as well, not just on the message within!
Offer something to those customers who will have abandoned the cart, but make sure that “something” is perfectly tailored to their preferences, to their action history!
Implement In-App Features To Boost Interaction
Browsing through piles of pictures, watching videos, “digesting” plenty of text, keeping up with all the notifications, scanning through all the fields of your menu can get quite overwhelming for your app users after a while.
You are aware of this, aren't you?
Now, for easing their exploration and for enhancing interaction, consider boosting your app with some personalized in-app features.
Here are just two examples:
- personalized in-app referrals: give your users reasons to “pay you another visit”
- in-app chat: your users can get over the “paradox of choice” if they can stay connected with their family and friends and thus ask for their opinions on the purchases they indent to make
Engage in Ongoing Conversation With Your App Users
… instead of simply popping up “messages”, whether they're general or personalized in-app messages.
The approach to success is the one of “individualized feedback”!
Depending on what screens from your app your users has accessed, on what actions they did or did not perform, you can adapt your in-app messages and level them up to “ongoing conversations”.
Here are 2 possible scenarios for you:
- a user has given you a good review, he/she's just filled in your customer satisfaction survey: you could then invite him/her to rate your app in the app store
- another user has given you a negative feedback: you could then ask him/her for more info so that you can fix the signaled issue(s) and improve his/her future experience in your app or you could tempt him/her with a tailor-made offer.
Final Thoughts
Your app users expect not to just to enjoy some “memorable experiences” while in your app: they demand “personalized experiences”.
So, instead of investing all your resources in functionality, it's time to focus on implementing those elements of personalization which drive users to convert into shoppers and to come back for more.
Also, another final thought for you: test it once, test it twice and experiment som more! Test different visuals, content, layouts, you name it. Look for ways to constantly improve your users' journey in your app, to constantly add new levels of personalization to their experience.
What are your thoughts about personalized mobile marketing? To what extent do you personalize your mobile apps? Use the comments section below to drop in a few words about your own experiences as an app developer!
