Build User Retention with a Mobile Engagement Strategy
Recent findings have shown that 54% of mobile apps are deleted within 30 days of installation.1 That’s right, 54%! If you’re about to embark on a mobile project, you need to consider that the possibility of your app falling flat could come down to the flip of a coin.
At Credera, we specialize in beating those odds, but it doesn’t happen by accident. Success is founded upon intentionally building engaging mobile applications that deliver clear value to users and enable meaningful, two-way interactions. Our method is to develop a mobile engagement strategy that is repeatable, measured, and refined over time.
Credera’s mobile engagement strategies are made up of four key components:
1. Familiarity
Consider the level of intimacy your audience has with your brand and the purpose of the app. Users will often be segmented, thus, it’s important to define and consider relevant groups when designing mobile experiences.
Your users will choose to install your app for a reason; therefore, be intentional about meeting or exceeding the expectations of new and experienced audiences alike.
ROVIO’s Bad Piggies includes nonverbal gameplay cues the first time a level is played to help familiarize new users.
2. Contexts
Meaningful mobile contexts match up situational user needs with complimentary business functions in order to achieve a greater experience with your brand. Phone hardware and OS features are helpful in further identifying user context. For example, GPS and cameras provide data inputs while NFC and iOS’ Passbook features allow for streamlined real-world interactions. Contexts are the cornerstone of any mobile engagement strategy and what separate a mobile app from a traditional website.
Yelp effectively applies the contexts of user location and intent to local maps, business hours, and reviews in order to facilitate great experiences.
3. Communication
The most engaging experiences involve two-way conversations; people are social creatures at heart. Mobile phones bring the potential for cross-channel communication via voice, SMS, email, social networks, push notifications, and data networks. When developing an engagement strategy, define communication events and select the appropriate channel for each in advance. Make sure that each communication provides value to the recipient, represents your brand honorably, and has a channel for user feedback. Your app should enable ‘conversations’ with customers on your behalf so be sure they’re great ones.
Facebook’s app allows users to tailor communication via notifications, email, and text messaging.
4. Measurement
Effective mobile engagement strategies evolve over time, which is especially true in the mobile space where product cycles are short and innovation is constant. Setting specific goals for your application and identifying key performance indicators by which to judge the success of your mobile engagement strategy is critical. This foundation will allow you to be intentional about changes to the strategy and provide baseline metrics by which to evaluate future performance. Overlooking this step is often a root cause of disinterest as users will notice when your app begins to stagnate amongst its competitors.
Flurry’s mobile analytics can help track the goals outlined in your mobile engagement strategy.
What’s Next?
A working mobile engagement strategy becomes the input to many other components of the overall mobile application strategy. Since you have identified your audience and the interactions you would like to facilitate, you can now develop a device support strategy, identify security requirements, and select an implementation technology. Additionally, the results of your mobile engagement strategy should be your go-to answer to the question, ‘How is this different from our website?’ This question is often critical to project approval and funding efforts.
Good News!
The best feature of a mobile engagement strategy is that it can be developed at any time and implemented in phases. It is never too late to analyze your mobile offerings, define or change strategies, and/or create more engaging applications. In order to ensure that your app is part of the 46% that remains installed, we recommend you be purposeful in your mobile offerings and create applications that have meaningful, engaging experiences for those who use them.
We’d love to hear any questions, feedback, or mobile engagement strategy experiences you’ve had in the comments section below.
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