A few days ago, Deloitte published its annual global mobile consumer survey, an in-depth report that analyzes consumer habits and tech trends surrounding mobile phone usage around the world. And in keeping up with trends from previous years, 2017 has seen an increase in almost every major statistic, including device ownership, device usage, mobile payments, and infusion of other technologies such as the IoT and artificial intelligence into traditional mobile platforms.
For businesses, these trends have proved to be extremely beneficial. With more consumers on their smartphones, many businesses have capitalized on the opportunity to create direct marketing channels, increase brand awareness, and even run their businesses more effectively and on the go as illustrated in the following infographic from Ooma.
However, while mobile platforms continue to give businesses a competitive edge in the business world, many businesses still struggle to give customers the best experience on mobile devices. From faulty in-app features to websites that aren’t responsive or functional on smartphones, poor CX on mobile platforms continues to drive away customers in droves.
If you’re concerned about the potential of poor mobile CX hurting your business, here are a few tips to help you stay on the right track.
1. Make platforms interactive and easy to use
In a perfect world, every customer that uses your app needs to feel like they are walking through your offices or checking out your products in person. When you give your customers a sense of control when using your app or mobile website, it becomes easier for them to fall in love with your brand. They are also more likely to engage with you and your business, which helps promote CX in the long run.
Making an app interactive doesn’t have to be rock science. MailChimp, for instance, gives you high-fives when you complete an activity within their app.
It’s also important to remember to keep apps and mobile websites simple to use, even when the underlying code and functions are complex. Avoid too many in-app prompts for usernames, passwords and other complex functions for users while they’re using your app.
Instead of passwords and logins, use the fingerprint sensors that come with many modern smartphones for authentication. Your customers will thank you for making their lives easier.
2. Design for specific platforms
On average, an app gets uninstalled by 77% of its users within the first 3 days of installation, according to Qettra, a mobile analytics company. There are many reasons for that ugly statistic, but the most significant one is poor platform-specific etiquette.
Many developers often try to cut development times (and budgets) by fusing several aspects of code, irrespective of the platform. For instance, your developer may decide to create a UI with a standard format across both iOS and Android platforms, with only small differences in functionality.
However, even though you’ll benefit from shorter development times and a leaner budget, you run the risk of driving your customers away with an app that fails to sync well with platform-specific dynamics of use. For instance, while iOS platforms offer tabs at the screen level, the Android OS incorporates tabs at the topmost part of a page.
Therefore, always ensure your developers understand the importance of customizing your app for a specific platform, even if it means spending more time and resources on the project.
3. Employ tools to measure mobile CX
Creating an app or mobile website for your website is one thing. However, don’t be duped into thinking you’re in business just because your app was downloaded a few thousand times. This usually doesn’t translate into more customers unless you harness the power of good CX to bring customers through your doors.
With mobile analytical tools, you can keep tabs on important metrics that’ll give you a good picture of the state of CX. Some of these metrics include retention rate, lifetime value of the user, user traction, app usage, and other important metrics.
4. Don’t forget other business processes outside of your app or website
Finally, it’s also important to ensure your business processes outside of the app are aligned with your mobile CX strategy. Use data analytics to help you understand other facets of the buyer journey and how your app can make that process seamless.
For instance, enable customers to search for your products in stores that are closest to them within your app or mobile website, making sure any information provided is accurate. On their own, apps and mobile websites are mere technical representations of what you want to achieve for CX.
However, when combined with sound business processes, your mobile platforms stand a better chance of improved CX and unlimited business growth into the future.