Are you a business owner? Then read this amazing story of a famous company and you will realize what a mobile app can do.
America’s iconic clothing retail company GAP was suffering from high product return rates as customers used to return their products (clothing and dresses) frequently, which affected their business profits.
They analyzed the reason behind the high return rate and found customers were mostly giving one common reason which was the fitting and dress mismatch issue.
When they deeply analyzed the shoppers’ reviews and feedback, they found shoppers were looking for an option to try out the products to ensure they are buying the perfect matching as well as fitting dress. And it was obvious as shoppers become ready to purchase anything when they have more options to try and engage with the products.
Then GAP comes with a creative way to engage with customers. The company built the “DressingRoom” app that uses augmented reality feature to allow shoppers to “try on” clothes without having to step into a store, just like a virtual trial room.
You might not believe but after introducing this app, GAP reported their DressingRoom app tremendously reduced the high return rate because it provided shoppers with a great option to try their clothes virtually into the app which helped them to buy the perfect product.
Today, company and businesses are using mobile applications to provide better services and options to consumers so they feel inspired to buy products.
But despite having a dedicated mobile app, many companies struggle a lot to convert users into paying customers. They invest a significant amount in marketing and promoting the app, however, their app doesn’t give them the desired business results.
Can you tell the reason, why?
Because companies and businesses don’t know when consumers feel inspired to use a mobile app.
Therefore, I told you the story of GAP what they did in their mobile app that helped them to improve the business outcomes. Your mobile app will increase your sales when it will be able to engage the audience, and not all companies know when customers love to use the app.
In this blog, I will tell you what features influence consumers to use a mobile app.
This blog is for product selling companies and business owners who want to know in what cases consumers start using mobile app and ultimately make a purchase through it.
What do consumers think while using your app?
In this digital age, before people enjoy a cup of coffee every morning, they first see their mobile app and then start the day.
Whether it is finding the shortest route to a location, logging a fitness routine, or even adding the cost of a restaurant bill to the weekly budget, one thing is clear: mobile apps are now an essential part of everyone’s daily life from macro to micro level of requirements.
Mobile apps have changed both consumer’s life and business ecosystem. Apps are helping consumers in every sphere of life from searching for information and making purchases.
Top Android app development company India suggests mobile apps have started taking over websites when it comes to connect with audience.
Marketers are now increasingly adopting mobile app development to provide customer-oriented solutions to try every possible way to get connected with consumers 24×7 beyond the barriers of locations.
At the same time, consumers are more aware of the world around them and now seek any information at their fingertips. The app market is flooding and consumers have a wide variety of apps available on app stores that they can download anytime, anywhere.
So consumers and industry both are experiencing a new wave of technology in the form of mobile apps.
Sounds fascinating, isn’t it?
But if this is so, then why many mobile apps struggle or take time to gain a large number of users?
Few years ago, Google and Ipsos conducted research to find out how consumers are using apps and what brands can do about it. They surveyed 8,470 smartphone users and uncovered interesting insights about what factors drive consumers to install and engage with mobile applications.
And here is the below data that will reveal the reality
People download mobile apps every day, but the fact is that majority of them are either abandoned or less used. But if this is so, then why many mobile apps struggle or take time to gain a large number of users?
The average app user has 36 apps installed on his or her smartphone but only 26 % of installed apps are used daily and 25% of apps are abandoned after a single-use.
In the context of which type of apps people mostly use daily,
The survey unveils the top reasons that inspire users to download apps; social recommendation and price factors stand out among the important factors users consider when deciding to download any app.
Google and Ipsos deeply analyzed the app usage behaviors of consumers as what they ultimately think or choose the elements to use or uninstall an app, they found:
So you can conclude from this data consumers get easily tend to download an app and they highly use it for many purposes. But the fact is people not use all installed apps, and they abandon the apps instantly when they don’t find it engaging and useful.
(Source: Google)
Sales are driven by consumer behavior. No matter how much resource you have invested into mobile app marketing and gain thousands or even millions of downloads, you should note one important thing that if your mobile app is not providing what consumers need, your entire investment in mobile app development will generate better ROI.
Once consumers find your app is giving exactly what they are looking for or even more than that, there are high chances they will continue using your app for a long period of time and make regular purchases through it.
iPhone app development company in India says Apple users are more likely to pay for premium apps than Android users because they appreciate good features.
That is why it is crucial for business owners and companies to understand what are those mobile app features influence them to use the app enthusiastically and eagerly.
Feeling excited to know?
Here are the features that will make your customers fall in love with your app and eventually enhance your sales growth.
1. Ensure your app give better performance
Users are more attracted to the app which results in enhancing their productivity in terms of better knowledge about the content and keeps the consumers more aware than others.
Market researchers confirmed that app performance has a direct effect on satisfaction when consumers adopt any technology that leads to continued use of the app. Male consumers found performance is an important factor they expect in any mobile app.
2. Provide ease of use
If consumers are able to use your app easily or access the features without any hassle, they will sure tend to use the app. Senior citizens cited this as a key factor and confirm they prefer those apps that offer ease of use.
This aspect gives positive emotion to users and leads to great satisfaction. When consumers find mobile apps less confusing and easy to use they are more likely to use them regularly.
3. Community building
Acceptance of any technology in society is largely hit by reviews and feedback of the people who are important to the consumers and consequently influence consumer behavior about the adoption of the app.
Consumer decisions are highly influenced and shaped by the reviews and photos of friends, relatives, celebrities, famous personalities, and other users. If your app allows users to build community through socializing and interact with other people, they will spend more time using the app and as a result, consumer’s interest in your app will increase and survive for a long time.
Community building allows users to create awareness and social influence among people, which helps you getting users to return again and again to the app.
Fitness, dieting, and health monitoring apps allow people to read and share progress reports and advice from fellow users. Recipe and travel apps let users share comments and favorites, as well as compile ratings.
For instance, when Fit Woman app added a community-building layer to their app in one month the user retention rate increased by 35%.
4. Social Media Integration
Social media is probably the most influential feature that not only increases user engagement but also boosts your app exposure. Every time a user shares content using your app, your brand visibility grows in the social media universe and your content gets a chance to start trending.
That is why you should integrate social media feeds and features into your app if you want to improve consumers’ in-app experience and engage them on your commercial platform.
5. Add augmented reality feature
Use the powerful features of AR to boost your sales. Augmented reality is today’s exciting and latest technology trend that enables users to seamlessly combine virtual and real-world experiences.
A Clutch survey found that 54% of consumers using eCommerce apps would use AR features if they were available.
For example, the IKEA Place app allows consumers to use their smartphone camera to visualize how a particular piece of furniture would look in different places around the home, and Sepora app allows their customers to see how a particular cosmetic product would look on a user’s face.
And as I already told you the interesting story of GAP’s famous “DressingRoom” app that lets shoppers ‘try on’ clothes without having to step into a real store.
So find a way to add an augmented reality feature to your app that helps consumers understand your products and you will see users will start using the app more frequently.
6. Security and GDPR Compliance
Mobile App security is the foremost aspect of the app development process. If you are selling products globally through an app, you should be aware of the General Data Protection Regulation imposes new requirements to secure EU residents’ personal information.
Mobile app development companies in India now come up with a more detailed and updated policy for collecting and using user’s data and presenting it transparently to users.
The mobile app security aspect is highly important which needs to be analyzed during the development process. Thus, you should check with app developers to ensure the best mobile security features such as data encryption, ensuring to use the latest and authorized APIs.
Apart from this, you can also integrate high-level and multi-layer authentication into the app. This will convey the message that you take users’ privacy seriously and users will feel safe and confident to share their data to sign up for your app.
7. Use artificial intelligence and data science
Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, a business or eCommerce app which integrates machine learning and artificial intelligence can upgrade user’s experience and allow you to generate more profits in different cases.
For example, an eCommerce app can use data science to predict weekly demand, suggest relevant products, and offer targeted discounts- while keeping inventory minimized.
Consumer apps are using machine learning in multiple ways like identifying objects the camera is pointed at, suggesting ways to save battery life based on a user’s smartphone habits, and recommending the perfect emoji based on the content of a message.
So don’t hesitate to use today’s hot technologies- data science, ML, and AI in mobile app development.
8. Embrace interoperability
Interoperability is the ability of an application to exchange and make use of information with other devices or systems. This feature is extremely important to consider IoT as it is growing so rapidly that market trends predict that IoT will boost mobile app development.
IoT will allow mobile apps to connect with other devices using the latest as well as the most common networks including WiFi, Bluetooth Low Energy, LoRa, and whatever the future brings.
Prepare yourself to add flexible interoperability functionality combined with robust security to your app. This feature is highly essential for apps that need to link with banks, give access to physical facilities, operate appliances, and more.
9. Personalize user experiences
Consumers love apps that offer personalized experiences. No one wants to feel like they are just a number to you or a cog in a machine.
Developers can use demographics, geolocation, user’s past behavior, and other data to make interactions feel natural personal.
For instance, a Spotify app allows users to create their playlist based on various preferences like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, and Daily Mix- which has been a key element of its successful services.
10. Use gamification to increase engagement
If you observe the Google and Ipsos survey data, you will find that 31% download an app when they find it interesting and fun.
This is called gamification which simply means users may feel bored while continuously using the app so there should be an entertaining way to engage users with your app.
Convert your app features into game-like features which make your mobile app seem fun and rewarding. Most often, these are incentives, rewarding points, stickers, and animations for taking certain actions.
You can learn the gamification process from the Samsung Health app that offers packages or targets to users as an opportunity to reach their personal goals.
11. Ensure customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is the response in which consumers show how much they are satisfied using your mobile app. If users are feeling pleasure in using the app, it will lead to loyalty and make users into paying customers with the continuous usage of the app.
That is why ensure whether what users feel about your app. You can ask about their reviews on the Google Play Store or social media channels. This will entrust other prospective consumers who may feel inspired to download your app based on other’s positive reviews.
Conclusion
The more rich user experience you will give to consumers, the more they feel inspired to use your app. People do not care about how many features you have developed or what technologies you used, all they care about how fast and amazing your app is.
At eSearch Logix, our developers and marketing experts know how to mix technologies with engaging features that a customer wants. If you aspire to develop a mobile app that people love, collaborate with eSearch Logix and will take care of the experiences your customers want.
Have a project in your mind? Share your idea in the below comment box and we will get back to you with the perfect solution.
