Learn How to Turn Your Website Traffic into Mobile Downloads and Retain Users

In this era of smartphones, the success of internet enterprises is determined by the mobile app market. Even though websites are still useful for creating online brand identities and garnering initial visibility, mobile applications are ultimately necessary to maintain momentum.

Because of this, the majority of companies are enhancing their websites with mobile applications and advertising their brands across a variety of other platforms, including social media and marketing networks.

For instance, developing a WordPress app for your website might increase your chances of success and present you with more opportunities if you already have a WordPress website. By directing incoming web traffic to the mobile app, you may convert one-time visitors into devoted consumers.

Our blog today deals specifically with this agenda. Discover some tactics to turn website visitors into repeat clients by reading this blog post all the way through.

Website Users vs Mobile Users: A statistical Overview 

The most powerful source of energy for businesses is data. Facts, surveys, case studies, and statistics can be used as the foundation for many business decisions. Therefore, we are providing a statistical overview to assist you to comprehend the distinction between website visitors and app users.

Learn more about the significance of converting website visitors into users of mobile apps by reviewing the interesting facts provided below:

• For online purchasing, 85% of consumers prefer mobile applications to mobile websites. Therefore, having an app increases your chances of acquiring and keeping customers.
• Utilizing smartphone apps, more than half of all digital media is consumed. Users only browse the rest of the internet on their mobile devices 10% of the time, compared to 90% spent on applications.
• The average session length for Android app users is 6.7 minutes, compared to 5.6 minutes for iOS app users. This exceeds the typical amount of money spent by website visitors.
• In 2022, user spending on app stores is anticipated to rise by 92%. This demonstrates the necessity of having an app for every company in order to take advantage of emerging prospects.
• Profit increases of between 25 and 95 percent are possible with a 5% improvement in client retention. The retention might result in enormous earnings because having an app means converting people into repeat users.
• Compared to website users, who spend 10.9 minutes per month shopping, mobile app users spend an average of 201.8 minutes per month.
• 58% of Millennials said they prefer making purchases through apps, and 61% of Millennials download retail applications.
• In comparison to mobile websites, people use apps to view 4.2 times more products every session. The larger basket size and increased spending are the results of this higher view rate.
• Conversion rates on apps are three times higher than those on mobile websites. Thus, applications have a higher conversion rate than web pages.
• After downloading a brand’s e-commerce app, 40.4% of all customers make additional purchases of its products. Additionally, 45.9% decide to go to their actual store more frequently.

Apps can be more advantageous than websites or even mobile web pages, as shown by the comments made above.

A website has very little repeat traffic, however, an app downloaded on a user’s phone is more likely to be used more than once. It also provides simple navigation and usage, which eventually promote longer session times and greater engagement.

Additionally, push notifications, prompts, updates, and other marketing and promotional communications have a greater impact and are more visible on apps than on websites and desktop notifications. All of these elements increase the viability of app users for any online brand or business and increase brand loyalty.

Effective Ways to Drive Web Traffic to Your App

According to studies, about half of customers look for and download apps directly from the app store. That is a lot, but what about the other customers? Where are they discovering you if not on the app store, where they can download the app right away? How do you make sure that traffic is converted into app users, especially if the potential customers are not near the device, they will later use to access the app? For instance, because mobile applications are more user-friendly and convenient to use while on the go, many consumers choose to order food through them.

Therefore, even if you already accept orders through your website, apps are the way of the future for restaurant online ordering, and you should make it possible for customers to download yours as follows.

1. Link to the App Store from Your Website

This seems like a no-brainer and is rather evident. If you don’t already, you should link from your website to the app store. There are three reasons you should still include them even though they are incredibly unsuccessful at converting desktop traffic into mobile app users.

• They are quite easy to use.
• Users anticipate that if you mention your app on your website (which you do, don’t you?), they may click a link to your app in the appropriate store (or stores).
• They are efficient at converting visitors who came to your website and read about your app on a mobile device rather than a desktop computer.

As long as your two devices are connected via a Google account (for Android devices) or an Apple ID, downloading an app from a desktop PC to your phone is very easy.

Despite their ease of use, there are a number of reasons why these connections are so inefficient at turning visitors from desktops into users of mobile apps:

• It’s possible that the user isn’t browsing on a desktop computer connected to their mobile device.
• The consumer may completely disregard this choice because they are unaware that they can download apps to their mobile device from a PC.
• When a user clicks “download,” the download need to start right away. If the user’s mobile device isn’t now Wi-Fi connected, this isn’t ideal.
• If the user doesn’t use the app immediately away on their mobile device, there’s a chance they may have forgotten about it by the time they do.

Just to be clear, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have an app store link on your website. Customers expect to see it and, more crucially, they might be using a mobile device to browse your website, in which case the aforementioned considerations are meaningless.

Simply said, I’m saying that there are more efficient ways to convert online visitors into users of mobile apps.

2. Utilize retargeting ads

Use this technique to persuade people who have shown interest in your app, such as those who have visited the app page on your website or who have received information via email or text, but have not yet downloaded it.

Retargeting on Facebook and Google are the two channels I’ll discuss. Either directly through these platforms or through a third-party provider like AdRoll or Criteo, you can advertise with them.

• Retargeting on Facebook

By adding a pixel to your website that tracks and re-markets to visitors who have previously visited your site, either to any page or a specific page, you can retarget users who have seen your Facebook ads. You can do this by uploading a custom audience of phone numbers or email addresses that you have gathered via text or email to download options (we’ll discuss that just below).

In all situations, the first step is to pick “Create New” and “Custom Audience” in the audience area of your ad package.

From here, you should select either “Customer File” or “Website Traffic” (to add customers’ phone numbers or email addresses) (for retargeting people who have visited your site).

You will be prompted to establish a Facebook Pixel if you wish to re-target website visitors and you haven’t done so already. Give your pixel a name and click “Create Pixel” to get started. Then, each page of your website that you wish to be able to track must have this code added to it.

• AdWords retargeting

On AdWords, select “Audiences” from the Campaigns > Shared Library menu to begin retargeting. Four options will be offered to you. Choose “website visitors” if you want to retarget those who have already visited your website.

A request to construct an HTML “tag” will be made. It’s the tracking code that you must include on each page of your website that you wish to track, which is effectively the same as a Facebook Pixel.

When you return to the “Audiences” page after getting the tracking code and adding it to your website, click the red “Remarketing List” button and choose “Website Visitors.” You can create the audience you want to target on the following page by choosing which page(s) of your website you want the visitors you’re targeting to have visited (in this case, probably your app page).

Google will start to add folks to your first list once you’ve made it as they visit your website and fit that audience’s requirements.

When you’re ready to start crafting your first ad, go to “Campaigns,” click the red “Campaign” button, then choose “Display Network Only.”

3. Allow Customers to Receive a Text to Download the App

This is by far my preferred strategy for getting visitors from desktops to download apps. The customer finds it straightforward and convenient, therefore that’s the first reason. More importantly, texts are rarely overlooked or forgotten. SMS marketing messages have a 98% open rate, whereas only 22% of email marketing messages are read, according to statistics from Mobile Marketing Watch. Check out this ranking of the top mass messaging services for 2020.

Customers of Bank of America have the choice of receiving a text link to the app (alongside the obligatory link to the app store).

Customers must select “Get the secure app” to access these choices from this page. When they do, a drop-down menu asking users to choose their device is activated. From here, a screen similar to the following will appear:

The customer has three options at this stage.

• They can instantly download the app to their mobile device by visiting Google Play.
• They will receive a text link to download the app after entering their phone number.
• Pick up their phone and go to BankofAmerica.com in their web browser to find a link to the app’s download page.

The middle option is clearly the best choice for desktop users.

Both options are available to customers of BT UK, although the text-to-download option works a little differently in this instance.

Instead of inputting their phone number, customers are instructed to text “MyBT” to “81192.” This setup, in my opinion, is significantly worse than Bank of America’s. This is why:

• The customer might not have their phone nearby if they are viewing this message on a desktop computer (yep, believe it or not, not everyone has their phone attached to their hip at all times).
• The consumer must exercise extra thought and double-check that they are texting the appropriate message to the appropriate phone number. Though not an unreasonable request, it is undoubtedly more cumbersome than simply entering their phone number in a box.
• The cost of sending the text to the customer could be incurred. Worse still, they might receive a warning. This is a very high entry barrier.

The BT model is a great illustration of what not to do. Instead, I would highly suggest using a strategy akin to Bank of America’s.

Utilizing an outside service like Link Texting is the simplest approach to give customers this choice.

Click “Get Started” to begin your free registration. Click “Create New Link” after which you should enter the SMS’s content and the domain (or domains) from which you wish to send it.

After that, simply click “Embed Test” and paste the code into your website to finish.

4. Allow Customers to Receive an Email to Download the App 

For the reasons mentioned above (emails are much more likely to be ignored than texts), this option works similarly to text to download, although it is not nearly as successful. However, not everyone feels comfortable revealing their phone number online or with companies, so it may be worthwhile to provide email as an alternative.

Most email marketing programs enable you to build a straightforward form that clients can fill out to get an email with a link to the appropriate app.

Effective Ways to Optimize Your Web to Download Conversion Funnel

The battle does not end with providing a path from the web to the app. It’s critical that you increase conversions at every stage of that funnel. Let’s examine the procedure.

1. Keep Your Calls to Action (CTA) Simple and Consistent

It’s crucial that you create a seamless transition from the web to the app. This calls for the inclusion of straightforward, minimum calls to action in the case of internet links and text or emails attachments (i.e., they should all look the same and clearly lead to the same location). If in doubt, always go with one big, bold CTA as opposed to several smaller, more subdued ones.

If you get this part incorrect, you run the danger of confusing your consumers or, worse, having them give up on installing your app completely.

Which one should I select?

Do these links all lead to the same location?

You don’t want your users to be asking these kinds of queries. Never place more than one sort of CTA on the same page (for instance, a “subscribe to our blog” button next to a button for installing the app). Make sure every CTA is uniform in appearance.

2. Carefully Consider Which Pages You Place Your CTAs On

The majority of website owners observe 4-5% conversion rates from CTAs placed on their websites, according to a Databox analysis. It makes sense to place clear, consistent calls to action on each page of a website that is completely dedicated to your app.

Consider how you can increase downloads by including CTAs on other pages of your website if your app is tied to your service or company and has its own page on your primary domain as a result. As was previously said, you shouldn’t use more than one CTA type on a single page. By requesting people to download your app on a page intended to promote products, you shouldn’t mislead consumers or take income away from the website.

However, if you have information pages that are supplemented by content from your app, blog entries that discuss your app or its features, or information that is linked to your app, you may use these pages to promote app downloads by improving them with pertinent CTAs.

Pop-up CTAs, like those on Hotspot Shield, is another choice you might want to think about. You can advertise your app to site visitors using pop-ups pretty much anywhere without having to worry about confusing them with too many call-to-actions. Even so, it is still wise to give considerable thought to when and where you want these pop-ups to appear. They should never, ever be activated when visitor behavior indicates that a conversion is going to occur.

3. Keep Your Ask Simple

This holds true for any time you ask consumers to do anything online, including filling out contact forms or signing up for emails. The more requests you make of your visitors, the lower conversion rates you should anticipate. The examples from previously, particularly BT UK and Bank of America, may be asking too much of their customers.

Customers of Bank of America are required to follow a three-step process, notwithstanding its simplicity. BT really requests that their clients text them to perform the research. The procedure can be made even more straightforward.

Customers only need to input their phone number and select “Text me the link” in order to download the SponOn app. The customer can select the type of app they want from that text (i.e., Apple, Android, or Windows). The consumer has advanced through the conversion funnel far enough that they are less likely to be discouraged at this point by the simple request of having to select from multiple links.

Best Practices for Effectively Turning Web Traffic into App Users

I strongly advise you to include some, or all, of the following best practices in your approach to get the most out of your conversion funnel optimization.

1. A B Test

Our basic tenet is that anything that can be tested should be tested. App download funnel web traffic is typical. You might want to test the following variations:

• Calls to action on websites.
• CTAs’ locations on the page.
• Exactly which pages have your CTAs?
• Using CTAs that show up.
• The locations and timing of pop-up CTAs.
• Your app’s description.
• The visuals you include in your app description.
• The options you provide users to download your app, as well as their ranking and prominence.

If you don’t currently use one, we advise utilizing Optimizely or Kissmetrics.

2. Track Conversions

If you don’t track conversions, how will you know if your attempts to convert web visitors into mobile app users are successful? Exactly which conversions you need to monitor will depend on the channels you’re using to convert web visitors into app users, but you’ll probably want to monitor at least some of the following:

• the number of site visitors who click an app store link.
• how many people have mobile devices that receive your software?
• the number of users that download your app after visiting a link on your website or reading information sent to them via SMS.

To determine how effective the phrasing, presentation, and positioning of your messaging are, combine this with A/B tests.

3. Track User Behavior

After a user downloads and installs your software, what happens? Are they only opening it once? Do they utilize it twice or three times before losing track of it? Or do they frequently use the app?

The objective is to “hook” users on your app, unless you’re selling a “premium” software that consumers pay a one-time fee to get full access to. A regular user of your app is more likely to post a positive review and refer you to others, even if additional users won’t directly enhance your revenue.

The discussion about how to encourage returning app users is right below. However, prior to downloading, you should be concerned with making sure that your marketing messages are not just attracting consumers, but attracting the proper kind of users. A high install rate combined with few repeat users may indicate an issue with the software itself. It could also be a symptom that your messaging isn’t clear, that people are being misled, or that you’re mismanaging their expectations.

In fact, it’s imperative to appropriately characterize your app because if you don’t, it can get taken down from both the Apple and Android app stores.

Effective Ways to Retain App Users

As mentioned above, customer retention is crucial if your software doesn’t make money purely from installs. Even if a current customer doesn’t directly contribute to your earnings after they’ve made a purchase, they may still be useful to you through reviews and word-of-mouth.

In other words, whether your app is a premium product with a one-time purchase charge or is designed to ease the purchasing process in your e-commerce business, keeping your users coming back for more is essential to your success. How? Let’s look at a couple of approaches.

1. Ensure It’s Easy to Use

One in four smartphone apps is deleted after only one use, according to a survey on app usage. There are a variety of reasons why users uninstall apps so quickly. As was mentioned previously, they might have been deceived about its contents. Or they might simply disregard it.

We can be very certain, though, that no one will use your app again if their initial experience with it left them perplexed about how to utilize it. Create a user-intuitive software that works as consumers would expect it to and you’ll see a significant rise in the number of repeat customers.

Don’t have returning users do tedious tasks each time they access your program. Once a person has registered, that is it—they shouldn’t need to log in again to utilize the app. However, the ease of returning to an app extends beyond the login screen.

• Is it preferable for the user if they are returned to the home screen or does your software save each user’s most recent position? Do I need to provide the user with a choice?
• What and how much information are users shown when they start the app if they are always taken back to the home screen? Identify the aspects that returning users will value the most and set up the home screen such that they are immediately accessible.

Your app’s functionality will determine exactly what functions best in this situation; not all apps will adhere to the same guidelines for the best user experience. For example, a banking app should always open to the home screen, partly because it feels more secure, but also because of the app’s function, which dictates that each use should result in a certain activity being begun and completed.

However, real-time strategy games should naturally begin where the player left off when they last exited the program.

Determine which configuration will provide your users with the best experience and design your app accordingly.

2. Ensure It Performs Correctly

96% of respondents to a Hewett-Packed survey cited the importance of app performance. It should go without saying that you will lose consumers if your software isn’t functioning properly. The more users you lose, the worse the usability issue will be.

Typical usability problems include, but are not restricted to:

• Poor Speed: Slow to reply andor load. If your app isn’t responsive enough, consumers will become irritated and stop using it. If you want people to return after that, you’ll need to be providing something really exceptional.
• More frequently than virtually ever, the app crashes. One of the most irritating things an app can do is this. It will inevitably happen on occasion, and you might not always be to blame—the issue might be with your users’ gadgets. However, if it occurs more frequently than extremely infrequently, there may be a problem that needs to be looked into.
• Slows down the apparatus (not really an issue with app usability as such, but definitely a problem that could lose you users).

Regularly test your app, get others to test it (using a range of devices), and read user reviews. If a user points out an issue, don’t assume it’s a “one-off.” Another 20 users may decide to cease using the app for everyone who reports a problem. If an issue with your app is discovered, look into it and solve it right away.

3. Create an Engaging Landing Page for Your App

Making a landing page for your mobile app is one of the best strategies to increase downloads. You might need to use some cutting-edge marketing technologies to create your website in order to achieve this.

Here are some best practices you should stick to ensure your landing page stands out:

• Include a photo of your software running on a mobile device to showcase it on one. This may seem simple, but it still needs to be said. That not only clarifies what you’re attempting to advertise, but it also illustrates how your app works.
• Write Captivating Copy – This landing page should succinctly summarize the benefits of your app. Your copy should be easy to understand and encourage readers to learn more about the functions and user interface of your app.
• When users arrive at your landing page, you need to make it clear what you want them to do. Add a call-to-action. If encouraging app downloads is your objective, place a suitable call-to-action in a prominent location on your landing page.
• Include videos or screenshots: Your landing page should showcase your mobile app through screenshots or a video demo. Users will have a clearer concept of what to anticipate from your mobile app as a result.

4. Utilize Push Notifications and In-App Messaging

When your app is closed, push notifications are messages that show up on your users’ smartphones. In these, there are messages intended to attract users to return to the program. Similar messages can be seen in-app, but they only show up when a user is actively using the app.

Both notification types are quite successful in encouraging repeat usage. It has been demonstrated that in-app messages increase user retention by 46%. According to studies, push notifications can boost app engagement by as much as 171%. You’re probably (almost certainly) losing out on a ton of recurring customers if you don’t use push notifications.

Having said that, it’s crucial to use them responsibly. Push alerts that are too obtrusive can and do cause uninstalls.

Conclusion

As was made clear from the discussion above, consumers of mobile apps may end up being more advantageous to your company in the long term. Additionally, if you convert your website into an app, you can make your brand complete and provide your stakeholders and clients with a 360-degree solution.

In reality, a well-designed and efficient app can increase your branding, income, and conversion rates. Therefore, now is the ideal time to start developing an app for your company. If you are concerned about the budget or other restrictions, put your concerns to rest right away. Make contact with skilled ESL app developers if you want to create a high-quality, feature-rich app at a reasonable cost.

Continue to encourage your website visitors to download the Android or iOS apps by endorsing your app. Gain a firm foothold in the retail sector and take advantage of the coming mobile-friendly era.