Developing a mobile
commerce application is one of the most effective strategies for e-commerce
businesses to increase sales. This is because mobile applications convert more
effectively than the mobile web.
However, simply
publishing an app is insufficient to ensure its success.
The greatest
e-commerce applications on the market share certain features. All of these
features are focused on enhancing the consumer experience, increasing sales,
and enhancing conversions.
Whether your app is
active or in the early phases of development, adding the appropriate features
will result in prosperity, success, and profitability.
We've identified the
top 15 characteristics that your mobile commerce application must have based on
our study into the current mobile commerce trends, mobile commerce
recommendations, and best practices.
1. Push Notifications
A big benefit of your
mobile commerce app is the ability to communicate with app users. You don't
have this benefit with either your mobile or desktop site.
When used properly,
sending the appropriate push message at the appropriate time can lead to sales.
Push notifications can
be thought of as an extension of your email marketing initiatives.
Additionally, you can send product updates, discounts, promotions, and special
offers. Except for push notifications, your finest offers should be reserved
for them.
If the offer is good
enough that you'd send a text message to your clients about it (which you
almost certainly would), then send it via push.
70% of app users value
push alerts. Within an hour, 40% of individuals engage with push alerts,
compared to just 8% who ignore them entirely.
The following is a
breakdown of the most often requested features that content app users seek from
a push notification:
●
Promotions - 34%
●
New developments - 26 percent
●
Geo-targeted information - 26%
●
Others - 14%
Are you running a
flash sale? Send a push notification to your device. Are you launching a
limited-edition product? Inform users with a push notification.
Consider sending push
alerts to customers to inform them of their orders. For instance, you can send
a message stating "package delivered" when the order comes at the
front door.
2. Location Tracking
As I briefly noted,
26% of app users prefer location-based push alerts. Additionally, 53% of
consumers agree to share their location with mobile apps.
Utilize this critical
data to enhance your mobile commerce marketing strategy. There is a wide range
of approaches to exploit location monitoring in mobile applications.
Here are a few basic
examples demonstrating the versatility of location tracking.
For those of you who
have physical retail locations, your app can include a "store finder"
option. Users can use this to determine the location of the nearest store to
their present location.
According to a recent
customer survey, the ability to locate actual stores through a mobile commerce
app is one of the most valuable features.
In addition to the
shop location feature, you may send relevant push alerts using geofencing
technology.
If an app user walks
near one of your stores, you can instantly send them a push notification
encouraging them to make a purchase. Even if you do not have physical
locations, geofencing can be highly beneficial.
Here's an obvious
illustration of my point.
Assume your business
sells sporting goods. If a user of your app goes to the beach, you can send
them an offer for surfboards or kayaks. If a user visits a ski resort, you can
send them snowboarding and skiing offers.
Additionally, a
person's physical location can be used to customize their app's home screen.
Customers in Chennai
City should not be presented with the same offers as those in Bangalore.
3. User Profiles
The ultimate benefit
of having a mobile commerce app is the option for users to log in and make
purchases from a customer profile.
This feature has
numerous advantages for both you and your clients.
To begin, a user
profile gives new insight into the thoughts of each consumer. You'll be able to
recommend products that are relevant to them based on their purchase and
browsing history.
Customers are
delighted to get personalized offers, and you are delighted that these
recommendations will result in sales.
Personalization
attracts over 90% of individuals.
As you can see, 80
percent of consumers choose brands that provide a personalized experience.
Apart from
personalization, customer profiles simplify the lives of app users
significantly.
Because their profile
contains all of their information, they can shop and check out in a matter of
seconds. Consider the amount of information required to perform a transaction.
But at a very minimum,
you're requesting the following:
●
Customer name
●
Credit card number
●
Billing address
●
Shipping address
●
Email address
Each added step a
customer must do decreases their conversion possibilities. Submitting all of
this information on a mobile device is difficult.
However, users of the
app only need to do this once. The data can then be saved and utilized for
future transactions.
4. Social Media Integration
74% of shoppers are
influenced by social media when making purchases.
I'm assuming (and
hoping) that your business already has a social media presence. Therefore,
combine those channels with your mobile commerce application to maximize their
effectiveness.
This is why. Likely,
clients who downloaded your mobile app are not currently following you on
social media. Even your most loyal clients are unlikely to open your app daily,
but they are almost certainly on social media.
By incorporating your
Facebook wall or Instagram feed within your app, you may attract customers to
become followers.
On days when they are
not using the app, you can continue to communicate with them via social media.
Additionally, social
media integration saves you time when it comes to content creation for your
app. For instance, if you install a YouTube plugin, any video you submit to
your YouTube channel would display in the app instantly. As a result, you will
avoid having to upload it twice.
5. Discounts and Promotions
When shopping,
everyone wants to feel as though they received a good deal. Therefore, provide
an incentive for clients to download the app by offering exclusive discounts
and promotions.
A recent study found
that 65% of users use e-commerce apps to receive special deals and offers.
This feature will have
a significant impact on your brand's entire image and price strategy. I'm aware
that some luxury manufacturers never provide discounts or promotions.
However, for the
majority of you, this characteristic will be vital to success.
I like the concept of
starting with a discount or promotional offer to increase app downloads. For
instance, you could provide a $20 discount or a 20% discount on the first
transaction made using the app.
However, discounts are
still an effective technique to increase mobile commerce sales after the
original offer. This is especially true for time-sensitive offers.
Send push
notifications for flash sales and offers that are about to expire. If you can
create fear or miss out (FOMO), you can drive app users to act immediately.
Individuals desire to obtain a bargain before it is too late.
6. Customer Loyalty Program
A mobile application
is an ideal platform for managing your client loyalty programme.
This is an excellent
opportunity for companies that currently have a loyalty programme, as well as
those that are beginning one from scratch. Through their user profile, a mobile
commerce app enables customers to track their loyalty status.
There are numerous
strategies for increasing consumer loyalty. Each of these factors encourages
consumer spending.
Customers can be
rewarded based on their frequency of purchases, their overall spending, or a
mix of the two.
What makes a loyalty
programme more effective when it's integrated into an app? Consider the
findings of a recent CodeBroker study.
The great majority of
consumers are more eager to engage in loyalty programmes when information is
immediately accessible via their smartphones. Nothing simplifies this process
more than a mobile application.
Mobile e-commerce
loyalty programmes also address additional client desires and demands that we
covered previously. Previously, we discovered that the primary reason users use
e-commerce apps is to take advantage of exclusive deals and promotions.
A client loyalty
programme gives those individuals precisely what they desire.
7. Lots of Payment Options
Allow me to paint a
picture for you.
Assume that a customer
is unfamiliar with your brand. Maybe they came across a social media
advertisement or received a word from a friend. The customer enters your
website, discovers your app's first-purchase promotion, and chooses to download
it.
The consumer browses
for products and adds a few items to their shopping cart using the app loaded
on their device. It's time to check out, correct?
As the user proceeds
through the purchasing process, they quickly learn that you do not take their
preferred way of payment. The user abandons the cart, and you will most likely
never see them again.
Allow this not to happen
to you. Consider the quantity of effort that the user has just completed and
their disappointment when they were unable to complete the request.
You cannot assume that
everyone wishes to make a purchase using a Visa or Mastercard. Even if the
customer possesses one of those cards, they may be eligible for better rewards
or advantages if they use an alternative method.
Each e-commerce mobile
application should accept the following credit cards:
All major credit cards
(Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express)
●
Debit cards
●
PayPal
●
Apple Pay
●
Google Pay
●
Venmo
We are not yet at the
point where you must accept cryptocurrencies, but that could change within the
next five to 10 years.
8. Speedy Checkout Process
Let's continue
discussing the checkout procedure for your app. Along with offering a variety
of payment options, the checkout process must be as quick as possible.
The ideal mobile
commerce checkout process can be done in a matter of seconds. The purchase
process should take little more than one or two clicks.
Consider the
information that you are requesting from your consumers. To complete the
transaction, you do not need to know their favorite color or their mother's
maiden name.
Previously, we
discussed the importance of user profiles in a mobile application. This
provides you with a significant advantage over your desktop or mobile website.
After a customer makes
a purchase, you can save their information to facilitate future purchases (with
their permission, of course). This can significantly reduce checkout times and
result in extremely high conversion rates.
Users of the app will
be able to checkout in seconds with a single click.
9. Product Search
How do consumers
navigate your app?
Some of you may sell a
few goods, while others may sell hundreds or even thousands. Regardless of the
number of things you sell, the consumer needs to find what they're looking for
with the least amount of friction possible.
Simply ensure that
your application includes an effective search and filtering system. These are
the primary sources of frustration when it comes to retail site searches.
While this study
focuses on websites, the same characteristics apply to mobile commerce
applications. If your search does not return relevant results, it can cause
more harm than good.
Having said that,
incorporating search capabilities into your mobile application can produce
outstanding results.
Conversion rates are
often two to four times greater for users who use the search option than for
those who do not. Up to 60% of all transactions originate from sessions that
utilized the search feature.
Here's another point
to consider. Consider the most popular shopping applications in the United
States.
Global corporate
giants such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target set the standard. What are the
commonalities across these applications? They all include a sophisticated
search and filtering mechanism.
Even though these
applications sell thousands of things, customers can still find what they're
looking for with a quick search.
10. Customer Support
Regardless of how easy
your application is, individuals will always require assistance. You must be
ready to assist your consumers with any issues they may have concerned specific
products, refunds, payments, or navigation.
Consider this in a
positive light.
86% of users are ready
to pay a premium for superior customer service. Additionally, superior service
builds client loyalty and retention.
According to HubSpot,
77% of satisfied customers tell others about their great brand experiences.
Customer service can eventually result in free referrals.
Keeping this in mind,
your app must provide customer support functions.
Customer assistance
should be easily accessible to all app users, whether by live chat, email,
ticket support, or phone calls.
According to
VentureBeat, 77% of consumers between the ages of 18 and 24 contact customer
care using their smartphones. As a result, it's only logical that your
e-commerce mobile application has support functions.
11. Retail Integration
This is another essential
feature for anyone with a physical shop presence.
Your application and
stores should not be considered distinct entities. Allow each to enhance the
other. This is something that a desktop or mobile site cannot accomplish.
Consumers are already
utilizing their mobile devices to browse in physical stores, according to
studies. Consider how those devices are used.
Your mobile app can
significantly simplify all of these functions for your clients. Whether this
results in sales via the app or at your physical registers, the advantage to
your business is the same.
Some shoppers may
conduct pre-buy research on the app and then wait to purchase the item in
person. Permit users of the app to construct a wish list for this purpose.
Other users may behave
oppositely. They may come across an item while browsing in-store and decide to
purchase it later.
Remember how we
discussed before how to use location tracking to improve your app? Integration
with retail stores is another way to take advantage of this capability.
Install beacons
throughout your store to track the movements of app users. If you observe them
browse for an extended period in a single aisle, you will gain a deeper
knowledge of their demands.
Consider the following
scenario: a user is standing in an aisle looking for makeup. You can send them
a real-time push notice for a cosmetics discount.
12. Mobile Optimized Product Descriptions
Each product in your
application must have a description. However, these descriptions must be
mobile-friendly.
Desktop users benefit
from a 13- or 15-inch screen for viewing product descriptions. However, that
screen is just about four or five inches away from the app. Therefore, if your
product description contains lengthy paragraphs, it will be difficult to read
for users.
In an ideal world,
your app and e-commerce site would have similar product descriptions. However,
try using a different description to condense the information on your mobile
app. Conversions will increase as a result of this mobile commerce suggestion.
I propose using brief
bullet points that are no more than two lines long when viewed on a mobile
device.
Analyze your present
product descriptions and identify areas that might be shortened.
13. Mobile Optimized Product Images
Let's continue
discussing the presentation of your merchandise in an app. Additionally, you
must supply mobile-optimized photos.
Inability to touch and
feel a product is one of the most challenging aspects of online shopping.
Consumers rely on precise and detailed photos to overcome this barrier.
According to research,
an inaccurate representation of products is the primary reason for returns.
Your app should have
as many photos of products as feasible. These must be of superior quality and
depict the goods from all angles.
If feasible, find a
technique to demonstrate the items' proportions. Include action photos of the
product in action and individuals modeling or using it.
Consider the following
scenario: you're selling a shirt. A shirt worn by a person adds greater value
to a buyer than a shirt lying on a table or against a plain background.
According to CXL
Institute research, product photos featuring a 360-degree spin option can
increase conversions by up to 27%.
14. Simple Returns
In an ideal world, all
of your consumers would be completely satisfied with your items. However, we
are both aware that this is not the case.
Returns are a
necessary component of operating an online retail firm. For your customers,
keep things as simple as possible.
92 percent of
consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand again if the return process
is simple. 67 percent of consumers research a company's return policy before
making a purchase.
Additionally,
ineffective return policies are a significant contributor to shopping cart
abandonment.
Always provide a free
return policy.
Allow users to manage
returns straight from the app. You can follow Amazon's lead and produce a QR
code within the app. This code is scannable and processable at UPS and FedEx
locations.
You are aware that
returns are certain to occur. Making them simple for app users will encourage
them to return and make additional purchases in the future.
15. App Analytics
Utilize app analytics
to continuously improve your mobile commerce application. You can keep track of
the following:
●
Conversion rates on product pages
●
The most frequently used payment methods
●
The segment of the screen which receives the
most clicks
●
Users' geographic location
●
Types of a mobile device being used
●
Daily app usage per user
●
Per-visit duration of app usage
●
Reports of bugs and errors
The list could go on
indefinitely. This is incredibly important information. You might discover
anything about your app's users' behavior that prompts you to modify your app.
Assume that your app
is not ideal in its current state. Likely, it's not the case. Analyzing your
app's performance will enable you to make major changes.
Conclusion
If you want your
e-commerce mobile app to be successful, you must include these must-have
features.
All of the data above
is derived from real-world research on high-performing apps.
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