In the time of crisis, businesses of any size need to rethink their operations and come up with new solutions to keep their customers and stay afloat. Even without a crisis, being flexible and continuously adapting to evolving customers’ needs are among major challenges for companies. This challenge is more acute than ever when the world is facing a dramatic shift that threatens a global economy.
Let’s see how to help your business with relevant marketing and how to strategize through the crisis.
If You Don’t Go Mobile, You Basically Don’t Exist
Mobile experience defines brands’ success in most industries. While this was already a reality all companies had to deal with, the crisis made it even more obvious: businesses that didn’t have a solid online presence at the moment of global lockdown were left with no channel to connect with customers.
Mobile usage was growing enough already and the pandemic and crisis that followed on just sped it up. Statista shows that the daily average data usage from phones has increased from 0.7 to 1 gigabyte, comparing March 2020 with the same period last year. This trend hit all major mobile app categories: for example, the 2020 Mobile Finance Apps Report by Liftoff and App Annie shows that finance apps we accessed 50 percent more and the conversion costs dropped by almost 80 percent.
In the e-commerce sector, an exponentially growing demand worked in favor of online stores: as Nymedia researched, they have experienced a 50 percent growth in the quarantine period, with the number of new customers increasing 300 percent. As for the m-commerce, according to eMarketer, it had a share of 58.9 percent in the general e-commerce growth and was expected to reach even a bigger share of 72.9 percent.
As m-commerce becomes more and more common and digital-only becomes the new norm of getting information and purchasing things, more and more people learn about the benefits and join the trend. Which is why this is perfect timing to focus more on mobile channels.
Acknowledge the New Reality
Before anything else, you need to identify the problem and recognize the need to adapt to new circumstances as early as possible. The recent AppsFlyer survey shows that the majority of marketers are not implementing new strategies right away but are evaluating their spend and activity during the challenging time of the pandemic. Evaluation is indeed required but don’t put your marketing on pause – this way, you’ll only disengage with customers and lose your chance to stay relevant.
Customers are prioritizing critical survival needs and looking for relatable brand messaging. Mobile marketing platform CleverTap’s Charles Orlando says that people expect connection, guidance, and hope and businesses should reflect these desires and offer content that shows empathy, gives trustworthy information, and crafts some plan for a better future.
No customer wants to be pushed into a purchasing decision nowadays. As it is seen in the report by Edited, many retailers found the positive message that speaks for the brand and is appropriate for the situation: they provided experts’ advice on how to shop online, worked with influences on home looks, and created different ‘wellness edits,’ promoting self-care and positive health attitude along with their products.
Mobile Channels To Connect With Customers
Since smartphone device usage is growing in the time of crisis, mobile marketing has become an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. If a couple of years ago most companies admitted having a rather fragmented approach to mobile marketing, now it’s an absolute must to craft a particular strategy for it.
A new online survey by Opinium showed that people want to hear more from brands during this time: so it’s not that much about promoting your products and services but about establishing supportive communication and connecting with your customers.
How can you reach your customers on their smartphones?
- SMS. Mass text messaging is a great chance to communicate with customers, especially since the SMS open rates have increased. But it’s important not to be pushy but rather understanding. Postscript’s report on SMS marketing campaigns created by their clients during the pandemic shows a new tendency of fewer links and a bigger focus on deepening relationships with customers. Some messages didn’t contain any link or promotion and were aimed at just checking in.
- Social media ads. Social media designed primarily for smartphones (Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok) are experiencing growth in both usage and advertising. It’s your chance to boost your company’s image. Be creative and unlock the full potential of social media: their specific features like IGTV streaming or Snapchat AR lens might bring you more user engagement.
- Mobile-optimized emails. Emails might not be most efficient now but it doesn’t mean you should drop your email marketing. Just like with other channels of communication, make sure your emails have a relevant and positive message that speaks to your audience’s needs.
Engage Better With a Mobile App
In a situation of crisis, you will face a qualitative competition instead of a quantitative one. Some companies will be shut down because of an economic downturn but those companies that will stay in the game will create a competitive environment and the answer to who will win in the race for customers is obvious: those who adjust their offering to a new reality and communicate it properly to their audience. Many brands are pushing similar messages and you need to separate yourself from the rest. Making your mobile communication more engaging might be the solution.
A custom mobile app can be a great engaging extension. According to eMarketer, over 20 percent of mobile users open e-commerce apps once a day after installing but disengage quickly: only 3 percent use such apps after a month. As Unbound Commerce’s Wilson Kerr claims, if done right, an app can convert sales up to six times better. Compared to a mobile website, an app gives you more space to own customers’ attention and app-specific features like push notifications can allow for direct communication.
From our own experience, we can add that a custom app can lead to building trust in your business: with the new mobile access solution we designed for a travel company, customers felt more secure knowing they could contact their travel provider right from the app. As a result, the app gained 210 thousand active users per month, and trips booking increased four times compared to the web platform. Technologies integrated into an app can also boost the personalization level: for example, predictive analytics in the app for a cloud-based irrigating platform allows customizing the service for each particular customer. The convenience and functionality of the app led to up to 50 percent greater clients’ water-saving results.
To help you put digital strategy to the center of your business, pwrteams offers custom m-commerce app development from the discovery stage to ongoing maintenance. We can start your journey from brainstorming ideas or enhance the already existing app with more compelling interfaces and user-centric functionality. Reach out to us to learn more.
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