My previous blog posts follow the theme of personalisation – and this one expands on mobile app experience!

In the article by the Telegraph (2015), personalisation is the hot topic of discussion in the digital marketing universe; it has long exceeded the years of engraving and monogramming jewellery, photo frames, stationery, etc. Continuing advancements has now allowed technology to make is possible to personalise a whole experience, especially for the consumers of the retail sector.

“Mobile app personalisation is the process of tailoring an app to each individual user based on his or her unique data.”

AppMakr (2015)

Statistics released in the report by Infosys (2013) surveyed that 86% of consumers say personalisation plays a significant role in their purchasing decisions; the majority are in favour of product recommendations based on previous purchases (58%) and personalised offers/promotions based on previous experiences (62%). Personalisation marketing is a critical component to create a well-rounded shopping experience for the desired target market – as mentioned in one of my previous blogs, email marketing is the most common channel that retailers use to reach their customers – it is used to retain loyal buyers and encourage new shoppers to sign-up. Purchasing via mobile apps has become increasingly popular over the last few years. Magrath and McCormick (2013) acknowledged this trend and mention that “it is vital that retail marketers manage and design a strong mobile marketing strategy that can successfully take advantage of the rapid expansion of the ubiquitous selling channel.

Missguided’s shopping App is a good example of personalisation marketing strategy in action. A significant part of the app is the ‘Swipe to Hype’ where there are outfits and product recommendations based upon previous purchases and new trends. A swipe to the right approves that the shopper is interested in the outfit/product and is saved for later viewing; each time the user plays the “game” the app uses the user’s pervious information/data to generate custom-tailored purchasing suggestions.

The principal goal of personalisation is to increase user engagement. With personalisation, the app experience can be tweaked according to the users’ age, gender, likes and dislikes, making them more likely to engage and ultimately encourage to make a purchase, this is further elaborated in an article by Kosir (2016), which stated that focusing on personalisation within retail apps can improve the buyer experience, and helps to meet consumer expectations. The infographic below shows a comparison of product viewing/purchases via apps over mobile browsers – it shows the increasing popularity in the depiction of the digital marketing funnel.

Combined with personalisation, Demko-Rihter and Halle (2015) highlight how the m-commerce shopping experience offers consumers a more convenient and faster way of shopping and with oppurtunities to customise products/services to individual needs.

In addition, mobile applications can be personalised through content or experience. Content personalisation appears the same to all users, though the content is altered according to location, and previous selections – it is commonly adopted by the big online retailers – Missguided, ASOS and Boohoo. Whereas, within experience personalisation an app changes to fit and meet the needs of the user. For example, Netflix whether it’s on their app or desktop, their interface automatically opens recommendations for the user based upon what they have previously watched and selected during the sign-up selection process (illustrated on the right). This is a more subtle form of personalisation as it is one that goes unnoticed majority of the time. Netflix’s’ algorithm is fed into their metadata; the data makes the viewer recommendations based on similarities between the shows they have watched and genre preferences, when the content was created and, whether they have similar ratings.

Cross-channel personalisation is also a form adopted by app developers; it is a lucrative tactic that can help businesses increase their bottom lines. If a customer is shopping and decides to add an item to their cart and gets distracted with something else, the brand can send a mobile-optimized email reminding them about the saved items, and additonaly, they sometimes offer a certain amount of discount with a link to their cart to easily complete their outstanding transaction.

Additionally, automatic personalisation has also started to infiltrate into the industry with  sites starting to display articles bsed on the users reading history. The News360 and the BBC+ apps are amongst the first few to utilise personalised news.Individuals are able to tailor the app to show local news for them. The individual user is able to view content based upon their location, their interest and current topics. IRMG (2016) stated that there has been a 320%y ear-on-year increase in sales by a mobile devices as it gets the information needed to the consumer faster.

Personalisation Risks:

On the contrary, app makers should be conscious not to cross any privacy lines such as asking customers questions about their yearly income, or relationship status. Brands need to make their reasonings clear as why they require data and need to set a limit on the amount of information they are collecting without invading a user’s personal life. Retail app developers would benefit more, by establishing a more trusting relationship if they only request information that’s directly related to the specific product or service – this entail would make users feel safe, and secure during online transactions or they risk using customer data incorrectly, which set an example of a  personalised content gone wrong.

References:

Demko-Rihter, J. and ter Halle, I., 2015. Revival of high street retailing – the added value of shopping apps. Amfiteatru Economic, 17(39), p 632-645

Holt, B. (2015). The rise of personalisation. [online] The Telegraph.<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/style/the-rise-of-personalisation/> [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017].

Infosys, (2013). Rethinking Retail: Insights from consumers and retailers into an omni-channel shopping experience. [online] Infosys. <https://www.infosys.com/newsroom/press-releases/Documents/genome-research-report.pdf> [Accessed 6 Apr. 2017].

IRMG. (2016) Personalisation: what does it mean – where is it going? [Online], <http://imrg.org/index.php?catalog=2614> [Accessed 11 Apr. 2017]

Kosir, D. (2016). Why Retailers Need to Pay Attention To Mobile Personalisation. <https://clearbridgemobile.com/why-retailers-need-to-pay-attention-to-mobile-personalization/> [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017].

Magrath, V, McCormick, H. (2013) Marketing design elements of mobile fashion retail apps. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, Vol. 17 Iss: 1, pp.115 – 134

Melvin, D. (2015) Mobile App Personalization: The Next Frontier. [online], AppMakr <https://www.appmakr.com/blog/mobile-app-personalization/> [Accessed 9 Apr. 2017.]

Stewart, R. (2017). Missguided launches Tinder-style shopping app. [online] <http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/03/03/missguided-launches-tinder-style-shopping-app> [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017].