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App Personalisation: What does it actually mean?

Personalisation seems to be the hot topic of discussion when considering digital marketing, but what does personalisation actually mean? AppMakr (2015) says that personalisation tailors various content depending on data from an individual. Each version will be different as the data will be unique. “Think of it as targeted advertising, but with an even higher degree of specificity.” (AppMakr, 2015)

Purchasing products via a mobile application has become increasingly popular over the last few years. Magrath and McCormick (2013) have recognised this trend and mention, “it is vital that retail marketers manage and design a mobile marketing strategy that can successfully take advantage of the rapid expansion of the ubiquitous selling channel.”

Three steps to create your personalised app

Localytics (2015) have created a really simple yet well explained three-step guide on how to create your perfect personalised app. The following points have been briefly explained however the full guide can be downloaded from here for further information.

  1. Data gathering to understand your customers

First things first, getting to know your customers, but how to do this? Data that the users have supplied to the app initially will provide the basis of ‘profile data’. This includes the usual demographics such as age, gender and location, but also in-app settings and preferences. The next type of data to collect is ‘behavioural data’; these tend to include what the user does when on the app such as the pages they view. There are several platforms available to help gather the necessary data, one in which is called Profiles. However, in order to fully understand your customer, the data collection needs to go wider than just the app. By making it multi-channel will benefit both yourself and the final personalised result for the user. The image below should help to clarify the types of data needed.

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 21.44.39

Source: Localytics. (2015a) How to use personalisation to create great app user experiences. [Online], <http://info.localytics.com/how-to-use-personalization-to-create-great-app-user-experiences> [Accessed 10th April]

 

  1. Use data to create groups of similar audiences

Next you have to actually use the data collected in step one to create some sort of beneficial outcome. The easiest way to do this is to segment the data by various common attributes between users and what this means for your app and the audience. Gather some key correlations here, as “segmenting is the key between analytics and marketing” (Localytics, 2015a).

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 21.48.22

Source: Localytics. (2015a) How to use personalisation to create great app user experiences. [Online], <http://info.localytics.com/how-to-use-personalization-to-create-great-app-user-experiences> [Accessed 10th April]

 

  1. Launch personalised marketing messages

Finally, to launch the personalised marketing messages you should aim to start with segment-based campaigns. These will be the easiest to distinguish, as you should already be aware of common interests and profile/behaviour data. Push messages and in-app messaging are the best marketing tool a company can use within an app. Automation is another way to get messages across to the users. This is based on behavioural data, for example, when a user views a page a certain number of times, or added a particular item to the basket, the app will send an automatic trigger message offering a discount (or any other kind of message). However, to keep users truly engaged, these campaigns will need to be run across channel, and consider other outlets such as the website and stores.

Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 21.48.41

Source: Localytics. (2015a) How to use personalisation to create great app user experiences. [Online], <http://info.localytics.com/how-to-use-personalization-to-create-great-app-user-experiences> [Accessed 10th April]

 

How can personalisation help consumers?

Personalisation of smartphone applications can bring a whole host of benefits to the consumer as well as the organisation. The Filter (2015) comments that if the consumer believes that the app experience has been tailored to meet their needs, they are more likely to engage with the product or app.

When searching online for news or products a user would typically spend 8 minutes reading online compared to a 30-50 minute span that they might spend if reading the news in print (Chung, Wedel and Rust, 2016). Personalisation of apps and websites will help to grasp the shorter attention span of the individuals when they are online.

A key personalisation example as discussed by Chung, Wedel and Rust (2016) is the use of personalisation in reading the news. Many of the largest websites offer personalisation on both their website and their app, however these tend to be self-customisable, allowing the customer to tick what news categories would be most beneficial for them. Automatic personalisation has started to infiltrate into the industry with some sites starting to display news articles based on the users reading history. Drippler and News360 are amongst the first few to utilise personalised news.

IRMG (2016) provide a downloadable guide to personalisation, stating that year-on-year there has been a 320% increase in sales by a mobile device as it gets the information needed to the consumer faster. What wouldn’t be beneficial about that? Having accessible, relatable information at your fingertips.

 

Risky business

Personalisation can bring a lot of risk, again to the customer and the brand. Privacy is a key policy that everyone is concerned with, especially following hacking scandals and data mistreating. Agreeing to permissions in apps is easy, a little pop up that prompts that you should agree to provide your location and access to your photos and other private data is easy to accept. Before you really know what they are going to be used for, you’ve supplied a host of information to the brand, which you may or may not want to do (The Guardian, 2013).

There are however several types of personalisation which will not breach your privacy – whether you’ve agreed to or not – and those include campaigns such as the Heinz’s Get Well campaign and Coca Cola’s Share a Coke campaign according to The Guardian (2014a). The result? A personalised gift with no user data needed.

Blog 3.4

Source: Grey Coffee, (2013) Sharing a Coke this summer – or advertising their brand through their customers? [Online], <http://greycoffee.co.uk/website-design-and-development/2013/05/sharing-a-coke-this-summer-or-advertising-their-brand-through-their-customers/> [Accessed 16th April]

 

The good, the bad and the ugly

There are several apps that have been successful at personalising the customer experience, two of the top rated apps for personalisation are Starbucks, and Nike+ Running. Have a little look at Marketing Magazine (2016) for a few more successful apps that are delivering exceptional and unique experiences for the customer.

Not all are a success though; there are also apps that have not adopted the new trend and those that haven’t done it well. For example, Pintrest sent out emails to everyone who had ‘pinned’ anything about weddings, however most of these were irrelevant as they were younger girl using them as inspiration (Entrepreneur, 2014). By not using customer data correctly, or correlating with other user information this is a perfect example of a company who delivered personalised content wrong.

To sum up, personalisation of apps is great if you can get it right.

 

References

Mobile Marketing for Retailers: Optimisation or Application?

The growth of the smart device industry has had a huge impact on businesses across the globe. Rowles (2014) discovered that actually 23% of consumers access websites via mobile, so if mobile marketing is ignored that would mean ignoring nearly a quarter of your customers.

What does mobile marketing actually mean? It’s the use of smart devices to access information such as websites and online advertisements. There are various ways of ensuring your company is successful at mobile marketing. This for retailers is something that is becoming more prevalent as the numbers who shop online are increasing.

Hopkins and Turner (2012) backed the mobile marketing notion and outlined the following benefits and drawbacks to consider.

Benefits

  1. Mobiles or smart devices such as tablets are personal items and are rarely shared with others, allowing content to be customised easier
  2. The devices – mobiles in particular – are nearly always switched on and carried by the consumer making the delivery of information fairly easy
  3. Mobiles work anywhere, and are usually location tracked, again making it easy to contact specific consumers no matter where they are

Drawbacks

  1. Mobiles can be difficult to navigate on. Using mobiles for extensive internet research can become difficult if the websites are not mobile optimised
  2. There are two main operating systems for applications on mobiles, iOS and Andriod. They both display information different and work in a slightly different manner, meaning two versions of the same site or app may have to be developed to work with each
  3. Privacy: mobiles and personal devices are a private item. It could be seen to be intrusive if a company is customising marketing and sending messages when it suits them

So having discovered some benefits and drawbacks of mobile marketing it is important for companies to analyse their mobile marketing strategy and work out how it can be best implemented in the world of mobile.

First things first, as defined by Rowles (2014), there are differences between a mobile site, and a mobile optimised site. This is something that a lot of businesses are getting wrong. As they can access their website via a mobile phone or smart device they seem to think that it’s an effective mobile site. Effective or not, a mobile site is all that it is. A mobile optimised website is one that has been created with a smart device in mind, allowing content to be displayed differently from the desktop version. This makes it easier for the user to navigate and find the information they’re looking for without having to zoom in and out across the page. Optimising a website could in fact be the success factor to the previously mentioned 23% of consumers. Offering an easily accessible and smooth user experience could be the reason for a purchase.

mobile

Paley, A. (2015) A Development Dilemma: Mobile App or Mobile Website. [Online] <http://www.bluefountainmedia.com/blog/a-development-dilemma-mobile-app-or-mobile-website/> [Accessed 28th January]

From mobile optimisation to apps, companies need to evaluate whether they need an app as well as an optimised site. So far, it’s been deemed essential to have an optimised site, so the app is simply an add-on to the mobile marketing approach. According to Mobile Marketing Magazine (2015) “more than 80% prefer mobile apps to traditional sites”. For retailers in particular, apps can provide a whole host of benefits. Purchasing items online have become more popular in the last few years, and retailers have created apps that mean their customers can buy directly from there. After the initial download, it is easy to tailor information to the consumers and give a personalised feel, whereas it would be a lot harder to achieve that through a mobile optimised site.

Summerfield (2015) gave an interesting insight into the mobile site vs. application debate that has been at the forefront of business’s minds. There are several benefits to a mobile site over an app, cost being one of the main contributors. However it was also noted that it could depend on the industry in question as to whether it’s worth building an app as well or not. For retailers in particular, the app success rate is higher compared to various other apps which contain information that could easily be accessed from the website. Retailers are able to provide a customised approach and it is worth their while if customers use the app frequently. For example, it is quicker to click on the Amazon app and use their one click purchase option than it is to log into the mobile site and then go through the whole checkout process.

Bustos (2015) conducted some research around the use of applications, and it was clear to see that actually only 5% of mobile app usage in total is used for shopping. Thus meaning retailers need to be able to justify the expenditure on creating an app. For sites such as Amazon, Boots, and clothing websites, the apps have been successful, and it is predicted that over 40% of mobile sales will come from applications for the top 500 retailers this year.

It cannot be said that those who prefer mobile sites to applications are dissatisfied with the latter and visa versa. Showing that both can be successful for businesses as long as they keep them updated. In terms of providing recommendations, it can be said that mobile optimised sites should come first, followed by an application if the need is there and can be justified.

References

Bustos, L. (2015) Do shoppers prefer native apps or mobile websites? [Online], <http://www.getelastic.com/do-shoppers-prefer-native-apps-or-mobile-websites/> [Accessed 28th January]

Hopkins, J. & Turner, J. (2012) Go mobile: location-based marketing, apps, mobile optimized ad campaigns, 2D codes and other mobile strategies to grow your business. Wiley, Hoboken, N.J.

Mobile Marketing Magazine. (2015) What is mobile engagement and why does it matter? [Online], <http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/whitepapers/what-is-mobile-engagement-and-why-does-it-matter/> [Accessed 28th January]

Paley, A. (2015) A Development Dilemma: Mobile App or Mobile Website. [Online] <http://www.bluefountainmedia.com/blog/a-development-dilemma-mobile-app-or-mobile-website/> [Accessed 28th January]

Rowles, D. (2014) Mobile marketing: how mobile technology is revolutionizing marketing, communications and advertising, Kogan Page, London.

Summerfield, J. (2015) Mobile website vs. Mobile app: Which is best for your organisation? [Online], <http://www.hswsolutions.com/services/mobile-web-development/mobile-website-vs-apps/> [Accessed 28th January]

What makes an effective social media strategy?

The world of social media has taken everyone and everything by storm over the last few years or so, with the need for businesses to get involved becoming more and more important.

So why do businesses need to start taking their marketing online? Well as we have suddenly been pushed into the world of digital, that’s where businesses are more likely to find their customers hiding. By targeting them from a different angle aside from TV advertising and billboards or old fashioned written print, it’s about time to take it to where they are most active, and sit and wait for them to approach.

Safko (2010) wrote a book named, “The social media bible: tactics, tools and strategies for business success” and listed the 5 key steps into creating a successful social media strategy.

  1. Analyse existing media

First of all the company in question needs to analyse the media that they are already using in their marketing strategies, whether that’s online or not. It is important to have a look at the return on investment and see how beneficial it actually is.

  1. The social media trinity

The next stage is to analyse various ways of using social media to bring benefit. For example, understanding the differences between blogs, social media sites such as Facebook and vlogging. Knowing and understanding that there are different types of digital marketing spaces in a social environment that could attract attention from consumers is important.

  1. Integrate strategies

Integrating the current successful marketing ideas with the new ways of producing social content should be combined to create an overall digital marketing strategy. Perhaps new content could be distributed through a different medium compared to before, potentially creating a larger return on investment.

  1. Identify resources

Next you need a team who are going to roll out this strategy. It may involve employees who are currently in the marketing team or it is possible to hire in extra resources to help with the new social space. This of course would vary from one company to another so it’s hard to provide general recommendations.

  1. Implement and measurement

Lastly, it is key to measure the success of a new strategy. Finding out how well it’s doing as well as calculating the new return on investment will provide an insight into the new way of creating digital marketing. Ensuring a smooth roll out with a high ROI will prove a success in the future.

safko

Safko, L. (2010) The social media bible: tactics, tools, and strategies for business success, 2nd edn, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J.

Satell (2013) has also come up with four key steps to creating a successful social media strategy for businesses, which complements the above.

  1. Clarify the mission

The company needs to know what they want to achieve before they set out and launch a new strategy. No one likes the unknown at the end of the day.

  1. Identify analogues

There are many different ways to phrase things, or deliver messages. Make it clear; know what you want to come across to the consumer. Perhaps take some sneaky tips from competitors if you’re stuck.

  1. Focus on the structure

Everything needs to be structured and set in stone. Just like every story has a beginning, middle and an end, your marketing needs this too.

  1. Create a community (not an audience)

You want your customers to essentially become like family. Make them feel welcomed in your marketing messages.

The two above approaches have considered the consumers first and the most achievable way of getting attention from social media. However, they haven’t taken into account the consumers that are not on social media, or those who do not actively ‘follow’ the companies. It’s all well and good posting information, but if your customers don’t use social media to follow companies and brands that they like, they might miss your messaging. It’s all about word of mouth and getting individuals to share information that could potentially get the message across to more customers. Constable (2016) noted some items that you do not want to do when completing online business. The most important point being: “chasing after people who aren’t interested and won’t be”. This is crucial in social media marketing. It’s all about targeting the right audience.

There are several websites on the Internet nowadays that give you the ‘success factors’ to creating a social media marketing strategy. However, it’s important for companies to understand that what works well for one business, may go horribly wrong for another. You can’t set in stone a social media strategy or a blueprint for everyone else to follow. It’s about being creative, trying to find new ways to get in contact with your consumers, gaining their attention, which will hopefully lead to a sale.

To end this post about creating an effective social media marketing strategy, here is a final piece of advice.

“Social media marketing is all about listening first, understanding the conversation and speaking last” (Safko, 2010).

Here are some other sources that might be useful.

  • Daoud, H. (2014) 8 essential elements of a social media marketing strategy. [Online], <http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/essential-elements-social-media-marketing-strategy/> [Accessed 27th January]
  • LePage, E. (2014) How to create a social media marketing plan in 6 steps. [Online], <http://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-marketing-plan/> [Accessed 27th January]
  • Patterson, M. (2015) 7 Steps in Creating a Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy. [Online], <http://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-marketing-strategy/> [Accessed 27th January]
  • Zarrella, D. (2010) The social media marketing book. O’Reilly, Beijing;Farnham;.

References

  • Constable, K. (2016) 4 Rookie Errors that stunt your online business. [Online],<http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/254381> [Accessed 27th January]
  • Safko, L. (2010) The social media bible: tactics, tools, and strategies for business success, 2nd edn, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J.
  • Satell, G. (2013) How to build an effective social marketing strategy. [Online],<http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2013/10/06/how-to-build-an-effective-social-marketing-strategy/#da67a295a450> [Accessed 27th January]

Argos and Brandwatch have gone digital

Argos and Brandwatch have teamed together to conquer the new digital age.

As one of the largest UK online high street retailers with 738 million site views annually, Argos has decided to take the shopping experience digital.

53 digital stores have opened across the UK. If you’re like me and unsure what a digital store is, have a look at this link… This is all well and good, but Argos now have the challenge of mediating the online responses. Being aware of the online responses made via social media is critical, and this is where Brandwatch come in.

Categories and Rules have become so important in the way that Argos analyse their data. Installing categories has allowed online responses to be easily searched depending on the store in question. Rules have also meant that specific mentions are automatically collected into the pre-set category. Making it easier to understand and digest the comments from the public, and most importantly, do something about it. Brandwatch have been supporting Argos throughout and helping to develop their new digital platform, both inside and outside the stores.

Demographic information can be extracted, allowing Argos to see the difference between male and female opinions, as well as opinions from different locations. This helped a customer from Clapham who tweeted Argos stating that the signage was incorrect. Within minutes this had been received by the Argos team and was instantly fixed.

At the end of the day, the customer is always right. You should listen to them.