Abhishek Agarwal, Negosentro | Mobile apps have become a very important part of our daily lives. However, did you know that apps that are downloaded are barely used after the first time? Some delete apps after one time use. Less than 25% of the app users will return to the same app after using it once. This is nothing new, since 2010, this is has been the scenario.
% of Mobile Apps used once in first six months after Download from 2010-2017
Image Source: Statista
This makes it very difficult to retain your users. Creating an app is just the beginning of your success; you have to have a strong product that will keep your customers hung on your app. You have to have solid marketing strategies that will attract more users to your app. You need to have some thrilling and interesting engaging activities that will retain your users.
It is not easy to have a good strategy that will build strong customer relationship. However, understanding the customer and the importance of their experience in your app and the strategies you use for branding will be easier to retain them.
Before we go ahead, let us look at a few stats of mobile app retention rate during the first 90 days after installed as of March 2016
As per the Statista 27% of Android and 23% of iOS, users used the app first day the 90-day retention rate was 4% for both Android & iOS.
Retention Rate of App Use of Day 1 and Day 90
Image Source: Statista
This is a big problem for all app development companies. As an organization, you need to ensure to provide personalized experiences to your customers based on their requirements and activities in the app. Hence, here we bring to you top five tips that will help you engage your customers and retain them.
1. Be an Active Listener
“Remember 71% of users ended their relationship because of bad customer service. And globally, the average value of a lost customer is $243.”
If you want to engage your customers, you must be an active listener and take actions accordingly. Not necessary that you have to talk to them over the phone, their feedback after the purchase, is another way they are passing their message to you. You need to keep a close on them. From here, you will be able to find opportunities to improve your customer satisfaction and will help to retain your customers because they know they will always get a solution to their problems. Your customer service must to top class.
2. Hassle Free Customer Interactions
“77% of people say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service. – Forrester Research”
If you want to engage your customers then you must measure their way of gathering info about any brand and how much they trust the information and the brand. The more hassle they face the lesser they will trust any brand. Hence, you need provide a hassle free shopping journey to your customers. The lesser complicated the features the more satisfied the customers would be. It is important you use customer engagement technologies that make interactions hassle free thus able to gain trust of the users and retain them back for good. Remember their time is very important.
3. Social Media Optimization
“A study by Bain & Company suggests that when companies engage and respond to customer service requests over social media, those customers, on average, end up spending 20% to 40% more with the company.”
Social media is merely a platform for connecting but it is a tool for building amazing customer interactions. If social media is used in the right way, you can use it to increase the website’s visibility. Interacting online enhances your business reach globally and connects people from across the world. SMO allows companies to connect all their social media accounts in a interconnected network that will direct a prospect for further communication. Engaging on Social Media with customers those customers end up spending more in your app.
4. Improving Customer Experience
“In research on actual customer transactions published in the Harvard Business Review, researchers found that among thousands of customers studied, customers who had the best past experiences spend 140% more compared to those who had the poorest past experience.”
Customer engagement is important when you want to build strategies for improving customer experience. Competitors are always on the look to give amazing features and pull your customers. However, what customers want is reliability and speed; with this, you can make your app a little ahead of your competitors. Retain your users by offer rewards and discounts for their purchase activities in the past or the ones to take place in the future. Use Deep Link to save the user’s time and help them engage more. Send Push notifications for offers and other important info. When they engage more, it is easier to retain them.
5. Regenerate Old Users
“More than half of customers would consider increasing the amount of business they do with a company for a loyalty reward, and 46% already have.”
Use the right strategies to find your lost users. If you are able to reconnect with them and bring them back to your app, you can retain them for good. Your old customers can be your most loyal customers. you can run loyalty programs too for them. Be transparent and honest with them and they will respect you even more. Loyalty programs always work in retaining your existing customers.
Conclusion
Engaging & Retaining Mobile App Users can be done through a lot more ways. These are just a few tips that can help you bring back your users. Where many think that acquiring new customers/users is more beneficial, you need to know that it is 7 times costly than retaining your existing customers. You need to engage your customers in the app if you wish to retain them. Hence, you need to have some sure shot strategies that will skyrocket your app.
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Author Bio
Abhishek Agarwal is the Co-founder & CEO of MobiCommerce provides a Complete Turnkey Solution for eCommerce and mCommerce Applications. MobiCommerce holds expertise in developing eCommerce websites, Mobile Apps and Web Apps. With an entrepreneurial experience of 14 years, Abhishek is a visionary who proactively looks out for the next big thing. Being in the industry for more than a decade, he is well versed with the latest trends in the market and is passionate to write about them.
