Sunday 17 September 2017

How to drive mobile app engagement along the customer’s life cycle?


Thousands of mobile apps are added to the various App stores every day. However, considering the limited space on the phones of the user, customer engagement is one of the major aspects that contribute to the success of your app. Keeping the online customers engaged in a mobile app is an ongoing process. 

In general marketing concept, there are 6 phases in a customer’s life cycle. Same goes true with the users of mobile app. The online customers of the eCommerce mobile app have 5 phases in their life cycle. These phases are mentioned below:

customer's Life cycle

App Discovery – This is when your prospect customers come to know about your mobile app. The engagement technique in this phase should include the ways he/she will first hear about your app.

App Download – This is when the prospect downloads and installs the app. However, just being aware of the app is not enough. The person needs to have a motivation to download the app and keep it on the phone?

Onboarding and exploration – This phase of the life cycle is crucial. It involves the reasons that tick them off to explore your services or just leave it without even using the app properly.

Reuse and Purchase – While some users may engage with the app others may just uninstall it. This aspect of the life cycle includes the ways in which you keep the customers loyal.

App advocacy – This is when the reviews of your customer and the word-of-mouth entice others to download and use your  app.

Having a sustainable personalized mobile app engagement in every phase of the life cycle is the key. The question arises, how can it be done? Well, listed below are some of questions that need to be answered in order to keep the customers engaged in each stage of the life cycle.

make your app visible

How make your app visible to your prospect?

It is not just the mobile app development that matters in order to allure the user to install it. You need to make the app visible to them. The very first step to towards achieving this goal is to have a clear app's description. The first few sentence of the description should compel the visitor to click on the 'more' button. Work on the UX of the app and invest in the stellar graphics of the app. Pitch the customers with enticing ads and generate buzz on the right media. As per Kissmetrics, the engagement rate for photos is 37% higher than that for text. App users are generally internet-savvy, so, you can use social media platforms to reach to the core audience.

compel the customers to download the app

How to compel the customers to download the app once they have discovered it?

There is a thin gap between promotion and influence. Making the app visible to the customers doesn't ensure whether it be downloaded or not. You need to influence the visitors in order to boost your downloads. The more positive reviews an app has, the higher its rating will be which naturally improves downloads. Include popular keywords in the title of the app and description. Use clever promotion tactics to engage the customer. Experiment with Promo codes, discounts and cash backs on downloads.

tick the customers off to leave your app

What can tick the customers off to leave your app without even using it properly?

Just like the eCommerce sights, even mobile apps face the risk of uninstalls without even being used properly. In the case of m-Commerce, tedious sign ups and too many permissions is a major concern that can turn off the customers. Make sure that app can surpass the installation process smoothly. Simplify the sign-up process by using social login modules. Asking for too many information is one the biggest mistakes in the registration form. Irrelevant notifications and pop-ups can annoy the user. Along with this, if your app is guilty of eating up too much data then the chances of uninstallation are much higher than otherwise. Moreover,  if your app happens to be the cause of this battery drain, chances of it being uninstalled are pretty high.

users engaged with the app after installation and first use?

How to keep the users engaged with the app after installation and first use?

Users tend to uninstall the app if it is not used for some time. So, keeping the customers engaged after the use is quite a task. According to a recent survey, the percentage of users who abandon an app after one use is 23%. App messages can help trigger your target audience in a compelling and targeted way. Reach out to the right demographics with customized and rich content. No one likes to receive irrelevant information and waste their time. More than half the users download apps to receive discounts and special offers. Thus, app rewards is a handy way to delight users and boost user retention.The event-based triggers is an apt way to interact with the app audience. Sending additional information regarding the products and discounts for a particular event or promoting further activity will reap better benefits and create better user engagement.

word-of-mouth of your mobile app

How to spread word-of-mouth of your mobile app?

The idea of a successful business is to retain the customer base and add more prospects to it. Word-of-mouth is one of the handiest ways to trigger the interest of others. One of the stats shows that 25% of search results for the world’s 20 greatest brands are links to user generated content. Convince the user to share their success story and experience related to your app, in form of video, pictures or even comments. Make the users share the app on the various social media platform. Engage your users through the main characteristics of your app and assure them an easy way to tell their friends about your app. Carefully choose the platform that provides services to boost campaigns.  Do not go with fraudulent activities and scammers. Moreover, do not make false promises to the existing and new users. Always claim the things that you can do.

Final words

The transition of an eCommerce business to a mobile app is a must to optimize your business fortunes among your rivals. The unprecedented growth in app usage makes it an apt time to develop your own app. Comprehend an outreach strategy along each stage of your customer’s lifecycle and avail our mobile app development services at Velsof that can help foster your future goals.

Wednesday 6 September 2017

Internet of Things: Transforming the world at a click of a button

Internet of things

The Internet of Things has the potential to change the world, just as the internet did. Maybe even more so.” ~ Kevin Ashton

With the aim of computerizing the everyday objects and devices, the Internet of Things (IoT) is all set to give yet another Eureka moment to the world. The in-home automated and eco-friendly devices are expected to harness the everyday life of the Internet-driven age by saving time, energy consumption and even money.

What exactly is Internet of things?

Talking in a layman language and from the prospect of a consumer, an IoT development project is an advanced technology and ecosystem that allow the physical objects to communicate with each other, collect and exchange data. The entire network of objects such as vehicles, buildings and other items are embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators and network connectivity.

The whole concept can be summed up by saying, "The Internet of Things refers to the ever-growing network of physical objects that feature an IP address for internet connectivity, and the communication that occurs between these objects and other Internet-enabled devices and systems. ‘Things’ in IoT may refer to a wide range of devices like wearables, connected home devices, circuit design, GPS programming, 3D design, and even the humans."

History of IOT

History of IoT

As per Wikipedia, the vision of IoT was first discussed in the year 1982 with a modified Coke machine at Carnegie Mellon University that become the first Internet-connected appliance. The very concept of integration and automation of the home appliance has seen a lot of innovation since then. However, the Internet of Things gained popularity in the year 1999.  With the introduction of Auto-ID Center at MIT and related market-analysis publications, Radio-frequency identification (RFID) was seen as a prerequisite for the Internet of things by Kevin Ashton. 

The vision of IoT witnessed major evolution in the year 2016 with the convergence of technologies such as wireless communication, real-time analytics, machine learning, commodity sensors, and embedded systems. In short, the fields of embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation have the major contribution in enabling the Internet of things (IoT).

IOT development the future

Why is IoT development the future?

The entire concept of IoT development is not just aimed at making the lives of people easier. It can make the entire issue with access control, vulnerability management, patching, monitoring, etc. a cinch. 

An article published by Kevin Ashton in the RFID Journal in 1999 said, "If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things - using data they gathered without any help from us - we would be able to track and count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss and cost. We would know when things needed replacing, repairing or recalling, and whether they were fresh or past their best. We need to empower computers with their own means of gathering information, so they can see, hear and smell the world for themselves, in all its random glory."

IOT development platform

IoT Development Platform

These devices basically hinge on embedded programming that includes both software and hardware angles. You need to have a platform in order to launch the product. The Arduino platform is one of the most used platforms for creating interactive IoT devices. It offers an integrated development environment (IDE) that includes physical board processor, shields with individual libraries of C code for compilation and uploading codes.

Future scope of IOT

The future scope of IoT

The technology features the “always-on” concept whose growth is expected to span across business and consumers. Listed below are some of the moderate expectation of the scope of IoT. 
  • As per an extensive forecast by Cisco Systems, the IoT market is expected to project by 50 billion units by the year 2020.
  • Even the revenue is expected to grow to $7.1 trillion in 2020.
  • The businesses are expected to show the strongest gains. While consumer growth and adoption will be lower initially. 
  • The Internet of Things marketplace is expected to see increased adoption and revenue growth through the year 2020. 

Final words

Just like any innovation, IoT is expected to bring both beneficial and destructive elements. Such technologies will require a change in the mindset of the consumers, in particular. However, with the flamboyance of "smart world", the dust of Internet of Things that started a few years back is now showing a specific pattern of development. This will continue to foster the vision of having a technology-driven lifestyle in the future. For IoT services and updates, stay tuned with Velsof.com.