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App-rehensive about creating an app for your brand? Here’s 5 free ways to boost download success.

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There’s no arguing with the fact that creating an app for your brand can be key in driving success (Anthes, 2012). According to Sheng et al (2015), it is vital for a brand to consider creating an app, despite the risks, to gain competitive edge and more loyal customers. However, with 2.8 million Android apps and 2.2 Apple Store apps available & rising (Statista, 2018), it is vital you consider these 5 simple steps to support your app launch and maximise downloads.

This tremendous amount of competition on the app market may, understandably, have you feeling app-rehensive about launching an app and potentially leaving you un-appy that your app may be under app-reciated. However, you should worry no more as this blog promises to alleviate your concerns (as well as promising to put an end to the terrible puns) by providing 5 effective ways to boost your app’s downloads. Oh, and they’re completely FREE – winner.

  1. Improve your App Store Optimisation (ASO) 

ASO is the process of improving a mobile app’s visibility in the store by optimising each metadata element (app title, description, keywords, screenshots, etc.) according to the store and trends’ best practices. This is a crucial step as it ensures your app is more visible in the Store’s charts, increasing downloads naturally. Despite it’s increasing popularity, many app developers do not utilise ASO so take advantage of this cost effective tool and stay one step ahead.

If you’re stuck on what keywords to use for your ASO, you can download a great cheat sheet here to introduce you to the idea. Similarly, you can download a free trial to AppTweak which is a great tool to improve your app’s ASO.

AppTweak Website, 2018

2. Start Building Your Online Presence 

The more brand awareness you have, the more app downloads you will receive. In other words, push your app everywhere you can on the web. Whether this be integrated on your website, your social media platforms or email lists, shout to the world about how great your app is & how they can’t be without it – the more information the better.

Once you’ve got people to download the app, make sure your app design is creative, personal and, most importantly, maintains your brand’s identity. The aim is to encourage users to spread your app awareness themselves, therefore make the content about the app insightful and exciting, making the customer want to be the first to tell their friend’s about your great idea.

Here’s a great example from UberEATS’ Facebook page, encouraging users to promote their app and leveraging the power of social media – you can do this too!

UberEats Facebook Page, 2018

       3. Make Your App Free At Launch

This may sound easy, but it will drastically increase your app downloads – you have my word. Don’t panic though, you don’t have to do this indefinitely, but by creating a free period will stir curiosity, driving downloads and entice users in to your wonderful app.

Once your engagement rate increases, the App Store/Play Store will reward you by boosting your app rankings. Your app will therefore be more visible and therefore you’ll see your app installs increase – result!

4. Ask Your Users to Rate / Review Your App

Not only will boosting your app rankings improve download volume, but positive customer reviews will entice new users further. App users heavily rely on other app users’ opinions before downloading an app. If you have bad reviews or a low number of reviews and ratings, you can be sure that your conversion rate will be very low.

A great way of encouraging users to review your app is through push notifications whilst the app is operating. This will be sure to boost your reviews fast and effectively. Be careful not to bombard your users with this though as it may have a negative effect on the user’s experience. Read about how to effectively use push notifications for reviews here. Below is an example from Rdio on how this is done well.

Rdio App, 2018

5. Get Your App in the Spotlight!

Last but not least, it is essential to try getting other people to mention or talk about your app. This will reinforce your brand awareness and reputation, which will inevitably bring you more downloads. Ehrenhard et al (2017) discuss the importance of how brands, especially start-ups, should focus on this cheap and effective method to spread awareness about your app – sparking conversation in the most relevant parts of the web to your target audience.

“What’s the best way of going about this”, I hear you ask. Well, start by building a complete press kit (app screenshots, logos, brand info etc), ready to send out to as many influencers and press as possible. This will build your brand reputation as well as boosting app downloads. For example, if you’re launching a fitness app why not try and get a sport star like Mo Farah to promote your work? Or Jamie Oliver for a food app? You get my drift. Just always remember – promotion is key.

 

Watch this insightful video to learn even more about how to boost your app’s success. Now, what are you waiting for? Go and tell the world about your app!

 

REFERENCES

Anthes, G. (2012) Invasion of the mobile apps, Commun. ACM, 54 (9), pp. 16-18

Ehrenhard, M.L., Wijnhoven, A.B.J.M., van den Broek, Tijs Aiaan & Zinck Stagno, M. 2017, “Unlocking how start-ups create business value with mobile applications: Development of an App-enabled Business Innovation Cycle”, Technological forecasting and social change, vol. 115, pp. 26-36.

Sheng H., F.F.-H. Nah, K. Siau, Strategic implications of mobile technology: a case study using Value-Focused Thinking, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst., 14 (3) (2015), pp. 269-290

Statista (2018) Number of Apps available in leading app stores [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/276623/number-of-apps-available-in-leading-app-stores/ [Last accessed 26 Mar 2018]

Attention Entrepreneurs! Here’s how creating an App can drive your brand to success.

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Times have truly changed and it’s imperative for any business to quickly adapt to the latest technological developments in the industry. Noticeably, iPhone apps and other mobile applications are taking the world by storm. And the majority of smart, forward-thinking entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this application phenomenon to further improve and grow their business. So, how should an app be done well and what are the risks, I hear you ask. Well, look no further.

WHAT DOES A GREAT APP LOOK LIKE?

Mobile apps provide organisations with new and exciting opportunities to create value, for example by meeting new demands, increasing efficiency, supporting knowledge sharing and improving competitiveness (Sheng et al., 2015; Anthes, 2012). The framework below from Ehrenard et al (2017) depicts this value creating process applying it to the creation of an app:

Ehrenhard, 2017

Does this framework apply to your business and you believe an app will grow value amongst your customers? Then follow these top 5 ways to ensure your app is done right to maximise effectiveness:

1. Boost your branding.

Take this opportunity to ensure your logo and branding is consistent and obvious throughout the entirety of the app’s interface. This is a great way to boost recognition and gain competitive advantage over competitors who are yet to adopt this digital marketing strategy.

2. Customer service experience.

Be sure to add elements to your app so that customers can access your services at all times. By adding functions such as being able to contact your business at any time, customers will feel a greater sense of loyalty to your brand over competitors.

3. Use as a marketing tool.

Not only should you integrate your app with social media sites, but you should highlight promotions through the app which encourages users to share these campaigns with friends or family gaining free publicity – result!

4. Gain more customers.

Modern day consumers are addicted to their mobile devices – fact. Your app will ensure you take full advantage of this so make sure it is engaging and useful as possible to the largest possible target market.

5. Ability to make more money!

Use your app as another channel of making money. Allow your app users to learn more about your products or services which will encourage them to buy more. Or even better, why not offer a function to purchase your goods at a click of a button whilst on the app – boom!

Cafe Nero Application, 2018

Cafe Nero is a great example of how a brand should do an app well. They offer everything from information on the different coffee beans available, to free drink promotions to loyalty schemes resulting in them being number #7 in the App store’s top food & drink applications. You can download it and get some top tips firsthand here.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS?

It is clear there is a big potential in creating an app for you business. But.. In order to bring your business’ app to life, you will need to overcome a unique set of risks that are not only challenging, but potentially costly as well:

Mobile Development Expertise – Whether this be in-house or outsourced, carefully select your IT staff to create your app and work closely to a budget and time scale as this can mount up in cost quickly.

Ongoing Maintenance – As technology evolves you must develop your app to keep up with the times and stay appealing. You will need a skilled worker to ensure your app is always on trend and eliminate any risk of bugs or things negatively effecting the user’s experience.

Cross-Platform Distribution – Annoyingly there is no ‘one size fits all’ concept to creating an app on different platforms. Start by creating your app to iOS and Android specifications (most popular) to lower costs and consider breaking into the Google and Windows market in the future.

Marketing and Promotions – Once the initial buzz of your innovative app launch has fizzled out, it is inportant for you to keep pumping time and money into the marketing of the app to ensure it stays afloat. Do not become complacent despite high app performance.

You can read more about the risks of app creation here.

 

To gain a further understanding of creating an app to enhance your business, you can watch Google Plays’ insightful and informative video here.

So, what are you waiting for? Start thinking about how an app can drive your business to success today.

 

REFERENCES

  • Alnawas, I. & Aburub, F. 2016, “The effect of benefits generated from interacting with branded mobile apps on consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 31, pp. 313-322.
  • G. Anthes (2012) Invasion of the mobile apps, Commun. ACM, 54 (9), pp. 16-18
  • Ehrenhard, M.L., Wijnhoven, A.B.J.M., van den Broek, Tijs Aiaan & Zinck Stagno, M. 2017, “Unlocking how start-ups create business value with mobile applications: Development of an App-enabled Business Innovation Cycle”, Technological forecasting and social change, vol. 115, pp. 26-36.
  • Haubrich, M. (2017). Developing Mobile Apps for Your Business. [online] Small Biz Daily. Available at: https://www.smallbizdaily.com/identifying-hidden-costs-risks-mobile-app-development/ [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].
  • H. Sheng, F.F.-H. Nah, K. Siau, Strategic implications of mobile technology: a case study using Value-Focused Thinking, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst., 14 (3) (2015), pp. 269-290

ROLL UP, BABIES! How baby food brands can use opt-in emails to drive customer loyalty.

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“One born every minute” is a saying recognised by many. 696,271 UK live births were recorded in 2016 alone (ONS, 2016), meaning that we actually see an average of 1.32 babies being born every minute, to be precise (not the same ring to it, I know..). With this ever-growing supply of babies and wide range of baby food on the UK supermarket shelves, it is of paramount importance for existing brands to seek new and innovative ways to drive customer retention and brand loyalty.
Chaffey, 2015

According to Groves (2009), Email marketing is an incredibly cost-effective way to establish and build relationships that drive business success. Although cheap and accessible, it is tricky for brands to create effective and useful content to build relationships with their customers and stand out from the crowded inbox.  Baby food brands must unceasingly adopt new ways to use email to entice and excite their customer base: parents. “How on earth do you do that?” I hear you ask. Well, look no further:

PERSONALISED NEWSLETTERS

It is typical that upwards of 50% of customers feel emotionally unsubscribed to a brand despite being subscribed to their electronic mailing list (Chaffey, 2015). Baby food brands can help avoid this potentially fatal error by personalising their newsletters to the parent or child using the data the parent entered when opting-in. By using a double opt-in process instead of a single, a brands email list may take longer to compile but will be cleaner and have a more engaged audience which is ideal for baby food brands trying to capture the attention of new parents.Ometria, 2017

This simple yet effective technique of personalising emails can help parents feel a greater sense of connectedness towards the brand which consequently drives loyalty (Ryan, 2017). UK baby food market leader, Ella’s Kitchen, use personalised messages to both the parent and child which makes the consumer feel more treasured and more willing to trust the brand as they “Become a friend” and not just another number on a list.Ella’s Kitchen, 2017

It is very important to keep the baby food brand’s tone of voice consistent when speaking to parents as well as having similar visuals when marketing via email to ensure the consumer’s loyalty is not affected in any way (Carmen, 2010). At the point of opting in it is important for brands to obtain as much information as possible to target the most effective messages on email. BUT.. as new parents will be sensitive on even the most basic data of their child, the brand should make the parent fully aware of how this data will be used in newsletters etc to ensure loyalty is not lost further down the line.

DIGITAL COUPONS

Everybody loves a freebie. New parents who are feeling the pinch especially so. By integrating digital coupons into weekly or monthly newsletters, parents are more enticed to join the mailing list which is a great way of keeping them in the loop and building brand loyalty. Here’s another example from the baby food market leader on how to do this:

Ella’s Kitchen, 2017

In this example, not only are the brand encouraging sign-ups to the email group with a clear free product, but have labelled it the “Lil foodies club” with savings which is more appealing to the parent. Whether this be a frequent occurrence or just a one-off when first joining the list, it can cause customers to feel a sense of gratitude towards the brand and could mean it’s the first tastes their baby will try and enjoy – win! Those parents just keep getting more loyal and loyal…

FOLLOWING THE BABY’S LIFE CYCLE

Depending on the data you obtain at the point of opting-in, baby food brands can target messages to parents depending on what stage their baby is at. Whether it be weaning tips or introduction to solid foods, brands can send these messages (combined with personalisation) to parent’s emails which allows them to be more involved with the brand. Hipp Organic, second largest baby food brand, offer a baby club which does just this. You can read more about it on their website here.

This is a very effective technique and addition to the standard email marketing found across other baby food brands and is sure to stand out in a parent’s cluttered inbox. The more relevant emails can be to the parent, the more connected they feel with the brand. The greater connectedness and loyalty to the brand, the greater the sales. Perfect.

 

If you are eager to learn more about the Do’s and Don’ts of Email marketing you can watch Google Business’ tutorial video here. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and explore the wonders of email marketing!

 

REFERENCES

Carmen, P. & Al, P.N. 2010, “EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS: THE EASIEST PATH FROM ORGANIZATIONS TO CONSUMERS”, Annals of the University of Oradea: Business

Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F. 2015, Digital marketing, Sixth edn, Pearson, Upper Saddle River.

Groves, E. 2009, The Constant Contact guide to email marketing, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J.

ONS – Office for National Statistics (2017). Births in England and Wales – Office for National Statistics. [online] Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsand marriages / livebirths/bulletins/birthsummarytablesenglandandwales/2016 [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018].

Ryan, D. 2017, Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation, Fourth edn, KoganPage, London.

ATTENTION ENTREPRENEURS! How to tell if start-up brands are using the power of social media to reach new customers

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Little fish have to keep moving all the time to avoid being swallowed up by the big fish. Start-up businesses constantly find themselves in a similar scenario when entering a market place that is dominated by giant category leaders. Entrepreneur Adam Morgan (2012) explains that in order to succeed, start-ups must “unceasingly adopt new ways to challenge and innovate the existing conventions of the category as well as the culture around it.” With money being a sensitive subject amongst most start-up SMEs, it makes perfect sense to stop what you’re doing, turn off your TV, put that cuppa on hold, and draw your close attention to the power of social media: a cheap and powerful medium to grow YOUR business.

So… Now I have your attention, let’s focus on how to tell when start-ups use social media, that Chaffey (2015) explains as a vital channel of marketing, to grow their customer base and how we can gauge effectiveness. Exciting stuff.

Image result for chaffey digital marketing 6 channels

Source: 6 Key digital marketing tactics from Dave Chaffey’s Digital Marketing Strategy, 2015)

 

#HASHTAGGING YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS

It has become the norm for the everyday social media addict, like myself, to be confronted with a sea of #hashtags #everywhere #they #look (..you get my gist). Brands have to cunningly adopt this function and weave it into their campaigns on all leading social media platforms in order to generate noise amongst consumers which drives brand awareness. By creating an effective hashtag which is in the consumer’s interest to use (such as competitions, events etc), start-ups raise brand awareness with very little effort and cost. According to Cheung et al (2009), this is a vital channel of marketing and is named ‘Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM)’. Below is one great example of this is where a baby food start-up, Piccolo, asks its customers to take photos of their babies with the product using the hashtag #PiccoloOfTheMonth to be in with the chance of winning a month’s supply, yummy!

So.. How on earth do you go about measuring a hashtag’s success I hear you ask? Rather than employ a number of staff to carry out the tedious task of exploring the consumer profile each like and share you receive, you can simply download a tool called Audiense that does it for you. Audiense is an electronic tool that not only accurately measures how many times your small business is mentioned or your hashtag is used, but it also breaks this information down into more detail such as who, what, where, when and how consumers are interacting with you using hashtags on social media. For example, Piccolo (figure 1), could use this cheap and easy tool to discover exactly how many times their unique hashtag was used across all social media or how many extra likes or followers they gained since the start of the campaign. They could also use Google analytics to measure the volume of consumers that clicked on their website link through their Facebook and Instagram pages to gauge which drives more traffic and where their attention should focus. This precious data is very precious to a start-up as it allows them to cheaply establish their target market for future campaigns.

You can watch more about Audiense’s work here.

SOCIAL MEDIA CUSTOMER SERVICE

With 64% of the UK population actively using social media (Statista, 2017), start-ups can take advantage of this to have direct contact with their customers online without the need of a large customer service department or system. By increasing brand transparency by communicating various issues with consumers publically on your social media, the wide range of people who view this form of effect customer service are more likely to trust and buy into your brand (Lazanyi, 2015). So.. What does effective social media customer service look like?

Here we have a great example of effective social media customer service from another start-up, just like you!  The clear indication of whether a public gesture such as the Facebook live Q&A on the left is effective is from the engagement rate (ER) of the post. This is made up of 3 key elements: likes, shares and comments. If you cause consumers to interact with your post, their friends will see this which will consequently builds more effective brand awareness as eWOM from a friend is more effective than directly from the brand itself (Cheung et al,2009).

Here is yet another great example of effective customer service on a smaller less public scale on Twitter – take note! As you can see from the screenshot, the direct tweets between the brand and the consumer resulted in the consumer feeling special and therefore placing a large order of their popcorn. Kerching!

This is just a couple of simple ways you can boost your customer base using the power of social media, in the most simplest of ways. So what are you waiting for? Get out there on your social media platform and build your brand!

 

 

REFERENCES

Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F. 2015, Digital marketing, Sixth edn, Pearson, Upper Saddle River.

Cheung, M.Y., Luo, C., Sia, C.L. & Chen, H. 2009, “Credibility of Electronic Word-of-Mouth: Informational and Normative Determinants of On-line Consumer Recommendations”, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 9-38

Lazanyi, K. 2015, “WHAT MAKES A START-UP SUCCESSFUL? – SMALL BUSINESS VENTURES IN FOCUS”, On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe, no. 16.

Morgan, A. 2012, “Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders: Second Edition”

Critical analysis of ‘The Online Consumer’s Hierarchy of Needs’

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While it is important to understand which characteristics can be successfully applied to a Web site’s design, it is equally important to understand their relative value in shaping a consumer’s experience, given the natural trade-offs that occur due to design complexity, resources limitations, or situational factors. Piccolo is a brand new organic baby food brand that has a very engaging website that uses it’s design to entice new potential consumers.
Many aspects to the website are used to shape the consumer’s experience and enhance the general perception of the brand. One way in which they do this is through interactive elements such as videos and animations. Piccolo’s work links directly with Valacich’s ‘General interface categories’ shown below:
Image result for able 1. General interfacecategories and representativecharacteristics
The Piccolo website has a very good flow which uses factors from all 3 columns of Valacich’s table. For example, it’s ease of use and navigation links with the ‘Representational Delight’ of appropriate screen size and layout, pleasant background colour throughout which is aesthetically pleasing for the consumer, leading to longer duration spent on the website browsing. From using this academic source and integrating this into the Piccolo website, the consumer’s perception of the brand improves that consequently drigves sales and profit.
See the Piccolo website here:
www.mylittlepiccolo.com

Argos revolutionise their in-store experience.

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The UK’s largest digital retailer has just upped the digital game. The 53 brand new Argos digital stores have just transformed the traditional in-store shopping experience which make it both easier and more exciting to shop for the 43 thousand products on offer.

Image result for argos digital store

The new stores, that can be found in cities nationwide, have proved to be a real hit with customers saving them time as well as fundamentally improving the overall customer service. Interestingly, the stores have been most popular for Londoners who are arguably more open to change and innovation.

The successful retailer has partnered with BrandWatch to gather data based on the new stores’ feedback on social media. From this data, it became clear that men generally found the new technology more appealing whereas women preferred the new high improvement to the customer service.

The future for Argos is yet to be set in stone. However, we should expect to become more familiar with the revolution as the digital concept spreads into more of their 758 stores nationwide. A big step in the world of digitisation.

You can read more here:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/StaticDisplay/includeName/digitalstores.htm

 

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