Mobile marketing is a serious business. Creating a mobile app is not enough nowadays; you also need to promote your app the right way. Below, I’ll discuss mobile marketing mistakes and tips to avoid them.
1. Disregarding the mobile experience during design
Mobile UX is an altogether different experience that many designers fail to understand, as they make a futile bid to shrink all the functionality of the desktop version into a small mobile screen. Mobile users will see right through such attempts and be put off.
A mobile app is an entirely different experience, and it should be treated differently considering the new opportunities it provides. One of the primary things to keep in mind during mobile app design is that the small screen of a mobile allows you to focus on what is truly important.
How to avoid this mistake: Focus your users’ attention on the few things that truly matter. When it comes to mobile app design, one of the best ways to do this is to trim down the functionality you had created for the desktop version to a few core tasks.
Surprisingly, studies have shown that users hardly notice the differences in a mobile-optimized design. In fact, with large buttons, visual appeal, and emphasis on just the core features on the main page, an app is truly fit for mobile.
2. Building an app without a proper marketing strategy
Building an app and submitting it in the app store isn’t enough. You cannot assume based on the number of downloads in the app store that your app will also get huge downloads just by being available there. This calls for a proactive and cutting-edge mobile app marketing strategy that will help you properly market and promote a new mobile app.
Check out this screenshot from the RE/MAX website. The footer has a dedicated space for sharing information about the availability of a RE/MAX app for iOS and Android.
In case your business already has a mobile app, it’ll be a wasted opportunity if you do not mention it on your landing page. Target customers visiting your website to let them know about the availability of an optimized mobile app.
How to avoid this mistake: With the world going mobile, most mobile customers would notice an app on your website’s landing page and download it for convenience and easy accessibility. Choose communication media like your website, email, and social media (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) to repeatedly share information about your app. Once you get your customers to download the app, make sure the happy ones leave reviews to influence potential customers. (Well, unhappy ones always do!)
Encourage customers to give reviews for your products/services; you may even consider in-app prompts that remind customers to leave reviews after completing a significant action like using a coupon, making a purchase, or realizing an achievement (like game levels).
3. Building a mobile website and calling it an app
With stiff competition and high expectations from customers, it is important that developers stay away from making a launcher for a mobile website and portraying it as an app. It’s foolish on their part to think that customers don’t know the difference.
Do not underestimate the knowledge of your users, because you’ll very soon find them rejecting your attempt at a camouflaged mobile website in the form of an app. They will surely abandon your offering and move on to an alternate native mobile application. In short, your customers aren’t concerned with the complexity of your development process; they’re purely focused on their own experience.
How to avoid this mistake: Mobile app developers are often focused on building a native app for multiple platforms, which can be overwhelming. Instead of engaging in too many platforms, I recommend that you focus and support one platform. You can actually use this as a learning experience to understand your target market and build a native mobile application that resonates with your customer base.
No comments:
Post a Comment