Anand Rao, SVP marketing and E-commerce, AutoNation, talks about how increasing mobile influence on B2B marketing has reshaped the customer experience. He further discusses why 2021 will represent another year of growth, evolution, and maturation in the mobile space.
When it comes to ecommerce, mobile has been a growing channel for a decade. In some industries, mobile traffic is as high as 80%. While a mobile-first approach to website development is a given today, mobile apps are what every viable, growth-oriented brand and retailer will have to master to engage effectively with consumers in 2021.
Digital leaders in the past thought twice about mobile apps because of the fear that the investment would not justify usage. Here are a few more fears and how businesses can address them:
- It is challenging to entice customers to download an app
Brands and retailers have finally figured out how to drive app downloads. QR codes on products and in-store displays, prominent website banners that evangelize the key benefits of apps, and email and text offer for first time app usage.
- You get one shot to delight the customer with your app before they delete it
This fear was largely driven by limited storage space on phones. Three moves by phone manufacturers have assuaged this: 1. ability to create app folders, 2. larger in-built storage on phones, and 3. increased adoption of cloud storage and backup.
- Frequent engagement is required to stay on the main home screen.
With the advent of iOS 14, widgets can now take up the space occupied by 4-8 app icons on the Home Screen. This is training the user to adopt multiple home screens. The idea that your app is relegated to the app graveyard if it is not on the Home Screen is no longer valid.
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No longer should the past limitations of mobile phones give pause to developing consumer mobile apps.
Go forth and unleash apps with confidence knowing the following:
Everyone Now Has a Smartphone
It is an accepted fact that even the most ardent owner of a flip phone now has a smartphone. The pandemic has even digitized restaurants – one of the most analog of businesses – with QR codes for menus, knowing that all patrons own smartphones.
No longer does any enterprise need to worry about “the traditional†customer not using mobile devices. Moreover, customers and businesses that have held on to unsupported mobile devices and computers are upgrading to newer technology.
This has significant cost reduction and speed to market implications for businesses developing digital applications because they no longer have to test multiple older operating systems and browser versions.
It Is All About the Apps
 App usage has come a long way since the release of the iPhone in 2007. Data from App Annie shows that the average person installs 60-90 apps on their phone, uses 25-30 of them each month, and launches an average of 9 per day.
Apps have now become a thing, no longer to be traded off by enterprises for mobile responsive websites. In fact, if the mobile app strategy is well-conceived and well-executed, mobile apps can augment ecommerce and post-sale digital transactions.
Consider the fast-food industry. Almost every fast-food chain has its own app now. Some question the efficacy of these apps in the age of Grubhub and Doordash. However, individual brands can give customers much more tailored experiences that align with their value propositions, products, and services, along with a keen understanding of who is buying from them, when, and why.
Having a mobile app has become important, but it must also be exceptional. Otherwise, in the age of customer reviews, your app will be a forgotten one.
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What’s Up?
As individuals’ comfort level with different, common messaging platforms such as WhatsApp has increased, people have become acclimated to typing on screens — opening up a whole new world of engagement and promotion.
For the longest time in the United States, texting was reserved for person-to-person communication. Now customer preferences have changed, and texting is an accepted way for brands to send offers to customers or one-time passcodes for 2-factor authentication.
This comfort with texting has opened other avenues for engaging customers, such as with mobile chat.
Auto shopping and retail are seeing a 20 to 30% year-over-year growth in the chat channel. Customers are getting more comfortable asking about vehicle availability or making a test drive appointment over chat than calling a sales associate.
Ensure that mobile chat is factored into your app strategy as a delivery system for customer communication, the shopping experience at large, and a convenient purchase avenue.
If you align your marketing and digital strategies around mobile apps for 2021, you will have a competitive advantage over brands that do not.