According to reports from Smart Insights, 80% of people who access the Internet use smartphones and 48% of smartphone users utilize search engines for research. A similar report from Express Pigeon revealed that more than 50% of smartphone users start using their devices right after waking up. As you can see, these is huge potential for mobile marketing.
According to Adobe’s Mobile Benchmark Report, new app launches increased to 24% last year whereas before, there was only a 6%. A deeper analysis revealed half of the apps installed where used less than ten times.
So, what does this mean? It means that if you want your app to be successful, then you need to do your research.
Making it available on app stores doesn’t mean you’re done. You have to create a strong base of loyal customers before you jump into mobile app optimization. Mobile web can be a good entry point to attract people and redirecting them to your app. You can also list your app in various app listing sites. Some of them offer a direct download while others redirect to the app stores of various mobile OSs. If your primary aim is to market your app only on the app store, you should go for the redirect listing sites and if you want to promote your app other than the app store, you should list your app in the sites that allow a direct download link.
Apart from influencing app search engines or the app stores, you also need other ways to promote your app.
Text messaging is an alternative. There are several ways (normal text message, WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger) to reach your targeted customers. Popular chat services have millions of customers. Following them will help you achieve greater reach.
While marketing your app through text messaging, keep in mind that these chat services are very personal. People generally use them to be connected to friends or family members. The sudden introduction of brands may be annoying to some people. Therefore, be cautious when taking this route. Identify your leads first, then map out their needs before approaching.
In mobile marketing, seconds lost could mean at least a 20% drop down in the conversion rate. Every single moment costs huge here and thus, you need to have a fast mobile site with minimum loading speed. You should remove the friction in mobile, and add split-testing features and mobile friendly payments to ensure that your customers don’t leave your site before completing the payment procedure.
Besides, mobile friendliness is also related to how you do in the SERPs. AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) enabled websites get a higher position in mobile ranking as Google wants to deliver the best experience to customers. Right now, AMP is in its infancy, without many features. But the situation is going to change soon as AMP’s open source is coming up with new features like creating eCommerce plugins to help increase the conversion rate.
Mobile is the future and if you are planning to enter the market strong, then you need to optimize your business for mobiles users. The mobile world is changing fast and you have to keep up to date.