ebook: a guide to marketing your mobile app
TRANSCRIPT
NEW YORK 584 Broadway, Suite 904 New York, NY 10012 Tel: 212-‐488-‐2222
CHICAGO 123 W Madison, 19th Floor Chicago, IL 60602 Tel: 312-‐929-‐2439
www.gpshopper.com
A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
An eBook by GPShopper
March 2015
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
Introduction
We are all learning the importance of multichannel reach these days when it comes to marketing. Retail has shifted into a buyers’ market, with the customer often times holding more power than the company. Today’s consumers are educated and saavy, accustomed to on-‐demand service. They have higher expectations; they view user personalization as a sign of value and respect. The retail industry is more competitive as ever, and securing a long-‐standing position in this Digital Age requires a multichannel strategy, specifically a mobile application.
A mobile app is one of the most effective tools retailers have to engage their customers; both on-‐the-‐go shoppers as well as those browsing in-‐store. But many are daunted by the challenge of driving those initial app downloads. Simply submitting to the App Store or Google Play upon launch doesn't guarantee that your customers will take action to download (and keep!) your app on the prime real estate that is their smartphone.
Building an app is simply getting your toes wet; an app without successful marketing is equivalent to a Facebook page with no friends. One of the most vital elements of a successful mobile app strategy is productive marketing.
Think of marketing your app prior to launch as being similar to a film release. Before a theater is packed with viewers, the movie’s potential audience must become aware and gain interest. Therein lies the importance of the “buzz:” The commercials, the premiere, the ads, the taxicab and bus wrappers, the interviews with the cast.
Today is about building hype and launching your message.
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
Paid, Owned, Earned
As you and your team begin putting together your mobile application’s marketing plan, it is helpful to employ an approach that considers and categorizes the various channels you have at your disposal.
The image to the right depicts three categories of media: Paid, Owned and Earned, and how they work together to fully realize the power of cross-‐channel marketing.
“Paid” media is any form of marketing promotion that requires payment. This includes print ads, TV spots, banners, and Google search buys. “Owned” media are the marketing channels you own and have complete control over. This includes your website, email lists, employee email signatures, business cards, sales collateral, and so on.
Lastly, “Earned” is the media and attention you receive. This can include everything from a journalist, blogger or LinkedIn Influencer or writing about your app, to someone on Facebook or Twitter showing your app some attention (e.g. Likes and Retweets).
With most things in marketing, there are gray areas. Between each of these media categorizations are spaces where activities like PR exist (e.g. between Earned and Paid) or where content on your website (Owned) feeds banner ad placements (Paid).
We will use these letters; P , O , and E , to represent the media categories throughout this eBook to help you and your team contemplate and decide which of the following best practices are right for marketing your app.
Let The App Out of The Bag
First and foremost you must ask these pertinent questions:
• Who is it for and why are you building it?
• Does this mobile app meet a need?
• Does it solve a problem?
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
It is important to understand the business significance of adding a mobile app and strategize around your goals. Your brand’s decision to launch an app should be more than an effort to keep up with your competition or add a shiny new initiative to your repertoire. Apps are now a consumer expectation, with current stakes and standards high. Offering your customers a mobile app is synonymous with offering them convenience. Your mobile application should indicate appreciation for your most loyal brand fans in the form of expediency and personalization.
Implementation of a mobile app strategy – when done correctly -‐ increases sales across all channels and proves return on investment within the first year of an app’s launch. They create a seamless shopping experience for a brand’s biggest spenders.
GPShopper’s cofounder and EVP, Maya Mikhailov, affirms, “An app is for your most loyal customer — it’s not for everyone. It’s maybe for 20 percent of your customers — but it’s those 20 to 30 percent that
are driving 80 percent of sales.”
Mikhailov emphasizes, “When executed successfully, an app reinforces the brand’s lifestyle proposition and gives users incentives to purchase and connect on a more personal level.”
Mihailov cites internal data revealing the average app customer has a 15 to 20 percent higher average cart value than the mobile Web user. Additionally, "they have engagement rates 10 times greater than the web user and spend about 20 minutes per month in an app, versus a couple of minutes per month on a mobile website."
It’s Not You. It’s Me.
Tell me how your app benefits me, not you. More often than we realize, marketers communicate features rather than benefits. There is a time and place for features and specs, but when you’re launching your app and trying to generate awareness and entice people to download it, remember, it’s not about you. It’s about them. Communicate the customer benefits. Does your app solve a problem they have? Does your app meet a need?
Need an example? Look no further than Apple’s
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
FaceTime. When Apple launched FaceTime with the iPhone4, they didn’t talk about how many frames per second the video used, or how many megapixels the front-‐facing camera had. Instead, they visually told a story about a first-‐time grandfather seeing his new baby granddaughter, using FaceTime. The benefit to the end-‐user was clear: Be there. Don’t miss life’s important moments.
It is a best practice to identify your customers’ needs and to communicate how your app meets them.
ASO is the New SEO
O|E
App Store Optimization is a great way for you to be found by customers who have not previously visited your site. ASO can bring your app to the top of the app store search much like SEO can position your website on the first page of a Google search. Assuming you are launching both Android and iPhone mobile apps, you must optimize your app in both the Google Play Store and the Apple iOS store. Here are some tips:
1. Decide on a title that is concise and explains what your app accomplishes.
2. Really take advantage of the 4,000 character description by using pertinent keywords.
3. Brand recognition is important, so using your brand logo as your app icon can help drive downloads and reviews.
4. Be sure to properly categorize your app by positioning it in its most relevant space such as “games”, “lifestyle” or “shopping.”
5. Offer screen shots of your interface, maybe even a demo to entice people seeking a user experience compatible with their lifestyle and standards. This can also increase downloads and reviews because your audience will know exactly what to expect, eliminating negative reviews or disappointing feedback.
6. Positive app reviews act as testimonials, not only increasing app store rankings* but also adding an element of trust to the user browsing process. App users are more likely to download an app with a high average rating. Concentrate on taking negative feedback seriously and make improvements based on the voice of your customer when during your next app version updates.
Fun fact: Amazon, Groupon, Walgreens & Target were ranked top mobile commerce apps in 2014.
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
Back To The Social Board
P|O|E
Before you dip into your marketing budget there are a slew of opportunities you can seize by leveraging what you already own. You have worked long and hard on your social media following. This is a community you contribute to each day, all day. What a wonderful platform to spread the message of your mobile app to an audience whose attention you have already earned and continue to foster day to day. You can start by:
• Announcing the launch of your app to your social followers by including a link to download the app on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, & Google+ pages.
• Host Social Contests by encouraging people to tweet and share content on their social networks promoting your app. Reward them by selecting a random person each week to win a Promo Code.
Sephora is an example of a retailer who has hosted successful social contests. With 6 million likes on its Facebook page, Sephora celebrated its 15-‐year anniversary with a ‘Sweet 15 Sweepstakes’. Customers had the opportunity to win a 5-‐day, all-‐inclusive trip to Costa Rica just by filling out an entry form on its Facebook page.
• Pinterest is perhaps the most effective platform for retail marketing. In addition to posting new products and styles, use screen shots of your mobile app to populate your boards. Don’t forget to include satisfied customers or hold even a contest.
• Vine is another powerful outlet for promoting your mobile app. Millenials*, in particular prefer consuming video over any other form of content. Pair 6-‐second videos with top trending hashtags related to your app’s content for a series of Vines that customers will find informative and useful.
You might also consider creating a Product Video showcasing your brand’s personality. Dollar Shave Club did just that with their now-‐viral video featuring a sword, a life-‐
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
sized teddy bear and fast-‐talking wise guy who literally talks you out of buying those “vibrating razors that include a flashlight.” The video has received over 18 million views on YouTube.
Fun fact: The largest group of smartphone owners is millenials, and market research indicates that this same demographic is quickly becoming the leading force in the consumer market, poised soon to be the biggest spending generation in history.
• Hashtag Campaigns are a more guerilla style to approaching social media marketing. A great example is Taco Bell’s #onlyinthapp campaign where they blacked out their Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube accounts prompting fans to download the app directly, using the hashtag #onlyintheapp. With over 10 million likes on Facebook and an Instagram following of over 4.8 million, the hashtag #onlyintheapp was mentioned 426 times within in one hour of the announcement, according to Topsy.
Another example of an effective hashtag campaign is Snickers’ recent addition to its “You’re Not You When You Are Hungry” campaign, which has evolved into a more creative interactive campaign “Who are you when you are hungry.” Consumers are now invited to share their hungry alter egos. The brand has shifted from consumption to creation by turning the initial campaign over to the customers to share their “hangry” stories in the form of an uploaded photo or video as well as a mobile optimized campaign meme generator, snickersmeme.com, utilizing the hashtag #EatASNICKERS. 10 finalists will be chosen and consumers will be able
to vote for their favorite. The winner receives $50,000 and takes over the YouTube homepage for a day.
Caught Between Two Emails
O|E
Send your customers and subscribers an Initial App Launch Announcement with feature highlights and previews of app-‐exclusive offers. Don’t forget to include a link to download your app that routes users to the appropriate app store through device detection.
This is often the single-‐most effective tactic of an app launch promotion. After all, what better way to capture your target audience than directly reaching out to the customers who have showed an interest in your brand by opting into receiving your marketing messaging?
You have a database of people who have sought you out for previous offers or as a thought leader in your space. Leverage this collection of opted-‐in emails to launch email announcements about your mobile app. Your customers are powerful brand ambassadors when they trust in your brand or company.
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
Start a few weeks before your app launch; include screenshots of innovative features that will excite your audience. Give them exciting content to communicate to family, friends and coworkers. Position your Mobile app as something special and the news of its launch as privileged information. Create buzz. Everyone wants to know about the newest offerings, the latest functionality, and the hottest innovators. This is buzz-‐worthy and sticky.
After an initial launch announcement, many retailers drop the ball. Be sure to go a step further and follow up every 8-‐15 weeks. Set email workflows. Repurpose content with the intention of touting your app’s benefits. Include banners, graphics and visual promotions in your other customer outreach.
Make sure your customer always knows there are multiple ways to connect with your brand. For example, when a customer signs up for your email program encourage them to download the app. Or if your customer is unsubscribing from your email program you should encourage them to download the app. Be sure to provide reminders and incentives to download and engage, such as The North Face’s “Never Stop Exploring” photo contest where the most creative, epic photo receives a $100 e-‐gift card.
From Website to Mobile Website
|O|
Look at your website as if it’s a media property you were looking to buy an ad placement on. What are the questions you would ask yourself about that site?
What do the metrics tell you? Find the most highly-‐trafficked pages of your website where the content of the pages relates to your app. Place your call-‐to-‐action on the page that makes the most sense for your mobile application. For example, the Etsy app will be applicable to all artists and thus should be on the homepage. But if you look at automotive industry apps, they are more specialized such as apps specific to a series (i.e. BMW M series app), as opposed to the BMW magazine app. Because there are different objectives for theses apps, you must place it in the most relevant spot.
Use your website to promote the download of your mobile app. You can highlight the launch in a banner on your homepage. Add a landing page showcasing the mobile offerings. Build a teaser website and
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
collect the email addresses of people who want to know when the app launches.
Add a banner image to your mobile site with an advertisement for your app and a button to download it. It's essential to direct people to your app instead of remaining on your mobile website. App usage is the only way to retrieve important information about users and run effective and targeted app marketing. Seamless Web and IMDB are perfect examples.
Head Over Heels For Ads & PR
P|E
Your pockets don’t need to be as deep as Coca-‐Cola’s or Verizon’s in order to effectively market your mobile application. With modest budgets, an intelligently targeted ad buy can drive awareness and downloads.
A 2010 Network Advertising Initiative study on the effectiveness of targeted advertising found that targeted ads, on average, generated 2.7x more revenue per ad when compared to non-‐targeted.
Going a step further, mobile advertising that is targeted based on a consumer’s location can be even more effective, particularly with customers who have a high level of interest in the type of services or products you offer. An October 2014 MIT Sloan Management Review study, conducted in partnership with a mobile service provider whose app sells movie tickets, found that among the highly-‐interested segment of the audience interested in a movie, those exposed to location-‐based mobile ad targeting were 37x to take immediate action (i.e. – purchase a ticket) versus those who were not exposed to the ads. In this study, “high-‐interest” consumers were those who had previously joined the company’s “Movie Fans” club.
The best practice here is to target and segment your audience beginning with those who are already aware and interested, followed by those who are aware of your company, and lastly by those who “look” like your customers if you want to use demo-‐ and psychographic data points to model your target audience.
From a Public and Media Relations perspective, it again begins with understanding your target audience and identifying those influential consumers who can advocate for you as a brand or product ambassador. It continues with creating a list of websites and publications your target audience frequents and working with the bloggers and journalists to create, or include content about your app.
Lastly, the blurred line that exists between paid promotion and PR; native ads. Websites like the NY Times, Vox, and others are accepting native ads working closely with brands to develop interesting “content ads” that do well to drive awareness and results.
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
Drink the Kool-‐Aid
O
Take into consideration your company’s employees. Think about how many outgoing emails each of these valuable brand representatives send in any given day. If every employee includes a hyperlinked promotion of your app to and mention of your company’s app in their email signature, the scope is phenomenal and the audience remains a willing recipient. There is a high percentage of business relationships that are fostered by daily email exchanges: meeting invites, gathering quotes, vender relationships-‐ Simply placing a link to download your company’s mobile app or news of its launch in countdown style is a wonderful and free opportunity to reach an extensive audience that is both business and personal. Taking this a step further, include a mention of your mobile app in your voicemail messages as well.
Have your store associates mention the app at the checkout counter. Provide a QR code on every printed receipt, and a link to your app on every online order confirmation.
A Picture Paints A Thousand Words
P
Television advertising is another way to go. Since this tends to be a pricey endeavor this trend is popular among larger companies. Amazon aired their Mobile Shopping app commercial and ESPN unleashed their Watch ESPN application. Since 40% of smartphone and tablet users use their device while watching television daily, according to research from Nielsen, this is an optimal time to target this audience.
The Best of Both Worlds
P|O|E
There are numerous ways a customer can interact with a brand from browsing to sharing, or locating and purchasing. Customers want more interactivity. Incorporating mobile into your marketing strategy across different channels makes for a seamless user experience resulting in heightened brand loyalty and an increase in sales. Targeting is beneficial to providing offers that are compatible with your customers. Always include content that is beneficial to each customer to personalize and enhance his or her
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
experience. A cross-‐channel marketing push to promote your mobile app following the launch across all available channels. An example would be to encourage credit card usage to online users with items added to cart or offer mobile discount to users who purchased in-‐store.
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, creating a mobile application does not guarantee its success. When launching and marketing your app, we cannot stress how important it is to know your customer. This information becomes the foundation of your marketing plan. Your mobile app should ultimately exist to deliver a more convenient and personalized experience to your most loyal customers. And in turn, your marketing plan needs to be as well-‐planned and harmonious in order to reach this audience.
Know your purpose. Know your customers. Take action.
About GPShopper
GPShopper is the leading integrated mobile platform with retail clients including bebe, Best Buy Charlotte Russe, Estee Lauder, Express, PacSun, Shoe Carnival, The North Face and ULTA. Our solutions empower retailers to garner customer engagement and loyalty by bridging the digital and physical shopping experience with the use of mobile technologies.
GPShopper’s apps and mobile platform have been recognized as best-‐in-‐class by retail and technology leaders, winning awards from the National Retail Foundation (NRF), Direct Marketing Association (DMA), eTail, AT&T and Intel for excellence in mobile innovation. Forbes named GPShopper one of Ten Companies Disrupting Their Industries with Technology in 2014.
43 % of consumers are more likely to purchase when mobile messages are part of a marketing experience that unfolds across different channels over time.
Responsys
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WWW.GPSHOPPER.COM A RETAILER’S GUIDE TO MARKETING YOUR MOBILE APP
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