|
Businesses are taking advantage of the massive growth of smartphone usage as more consumers are using mobile devices to purchase services and products. Companies now realise the benefit of including mobile marketing in their marketing strategies as it offers a high return on investment. It also provides valuable insights on consumer mobile behaviour as it allows companies to better plan their marketing strategies. Branded apps can measure a customer's life cycle from the initial download right through to the purchasing stage and any future purchases. From small and medium-sized businesses, to large retail chains and non-profits, all businesses can reap the benefits of investing in an app. With proper marketing strategies and goals set, businesses can use apps for great branding, marketing and customer service. These types of apps are normally free to get more customers downloading them. Increased ROI is evident through a number of metrics. Companies can generate more sales through the instantaneous transactions that an app enables. Customers can browse the products and services of an organisation; make an informed decision, leading to an easy and prompt transaction through the app. Loyal customers that regularly purchase from a company may choose to have the app as it is easier for them to do their regular transactions. For example, banking customers of leading banks, restaurant chains like McDonalds and retailers like Target, all have apps to service their customers better and effectively promote their products, all within reach of their customers’ fingertips. Furthermore, branded apps can increase customer loyalty by enabling instantaneous rewards for those customers that make a transaction. Apps assist companies with successful campaigns and promotions as the smartphone is an effective communication tool between companies and their customers. An increasing number of consumers are using their mobile devices to access web and interactive content instead of the traditional PC based web browsers. The effective development of apps can increase revenue after a relatively low investment cost, leading to an increase of the bottom line. As with any marketing campaign, the success of a mobile marketing campaign must begin with understanding consumer behaviour; understanding how often consumers use their mobile devices, what they search for and ‘why’. High rates of ROI can only be achieved with realistic mobile marketing strategies that are aligned with realistic goals; otherwise you will be just a business with an app in the mobile space, achieving no results. Apps can cost anywhere between $15,000 and $200,000. For large corporations like McDonalds and Target, this cost is viable as they have larger budgets and global customers but for most businesses, they settle for a less elaborate app that still reaches their customers and provides them with a high ROI. With estimates that companies are expected to allocate a total of $8.2 billion dollars to mobile by 2016, it is not surprising that more organisations, no matter the size or industry, are developing and launching apps everyday.
Related Articles -
mobile apps, mobile applications, business app, iphone app, android app,
| 
