7 Best Practices to Increase Mobile App Engagement -

7 Best Practices to Increase Mobile App Engagement

Customer engagement with an app is probably the first and foremost thing you should think about before you launch an app. Let’s say, you launch an app, and all of a sudden there’s a great hype about it. There a lot of downloads, but soon you realize that your app is not being used anymore…
Ever wonder why there are certain apps which receive tons of attention, whereas others disappear as soon as they appear? Yes, it’s because the ones those see success are the ones where there is a lot of app engagement. App engagement primarily targets at keeping the customer interested in your app, so that he may be associated with it on a regular basis. It has been proved that 1 of 5 people in the world owns a smartphone, and in 2014 the top 500 merchants made their sales online, through apps!
Now do you understand why engagement of customers is important for your app? Also, by going through statistics, it is predicted that by the year 2017 there will be an increase in the Global Mobile App Revenue to 76.52 billion US dollars!

Even if you didn’t pay much attention to app engagement before this day, its okay. Better late than never! Here are seven ways on how to increase your mobile app engagement.

USE MULTI-CHANNEL MESSAGING

Following are the three ways on how you can achieve this.


In-App Messages

  • In-app messages are the messages a customer receives while he is using your app. You should make sure you’re having in app messages as well, to gain the attention of your customers. These messages can be present on top of the screen as banners or be on the whole screen as shown.

 

The in app messages for medium used apps improve engagement by about 26%, and in highly used apps they increase the engagement by about 44%.
Make sure if there’s a new deal, you should alert your users while they are already using your app for them to directly go and familiarize themselves with the most relative points of interest.

Push Notifications

Like in app messages are important to keep the people engaged whilst using the app, we also know that push notifications are important to keep the people engaged with the app on a regular basis. Push notifications catch the attention of a user, and it helps bring the users back on the app.
Stats prove that about 65% of the users come back to the application within 30 days if the push notifications are enabled. 50% of the users think push notifications are important, and while they have most notifications for social media and news off, they have 20% notifications for certain apps on. And you need to make sure you have engaging push notifications to be on the list of the 20% of apps who’s notifications are enabled.


Email

While push notifications and in app messages are pertinent, don’t forget the importance of email. We’ll remember Facebook sending us so many emails, but we need to send our customers emails which catch their attention. Which may seem important, and may not be a waste of their time.

Here is an example of a good email.

3

Use Deep Linking

Deep linking can have links to content within an app, and it can be shared just like the web. Within apps, they have power sharing links, ads, and emails and invites indeed keep the customer engaged with your mobile app. It provides improved retention, and better user experience!
As we explained in our blog post, “The most frustrating situation is when an app announces a giveaway and, for that, you just have to install that app or, if you already have the app, you just have to click a button to open the app. But, instead of a layout with the promised gift the user is sent to the homepage of the app with no clue for the prize. The answer for this issue is that the app must have deep linking and, after the click, it should open a page with instructions for user’s benefit. This is an essential feature for a long-term relationship between brands and customers.”

Use Social Sharing

Thanks to the social networks, it has allowed a wide number of people to share their products online and gain a large audience to go through their app when required. By let your users share their experiences inside your app, you let your app go viral! Of course, first, you need to give your users something worth to share.

Here is a good example: Nike+ Run Club app. Inside the app, you can share your run on social media platform.
You can also encourage your users to share their experiences by giving them rewards. Subway Surf does it well by creating a reward for buying boosts just by logging in Facebook.

Give Incent to Encourage Them to Come Back
People love incentives! Even if it is a game app or a sports app, incentives give a reason to keep users coming back. Think about the game apps like Criminal Case. They use especially push notifications to let you know your reward and come back to the app. You can also do this by using retargeting on social media, push notifications, and emails. Don’t forget that this also can increase your app downloads if you use properly.

Consider Advertising

Mobile app advertising can be also used for user engagement for mobile apps. There are amazing ad types that you can prefer to gain your users back. Here are some of them.
Retargeting: It helps you to remind yourself to your lovely user while they are using social media platforms like Facebook. By using deep linking here, you can direct them to inside your app without wasting his time. You can also consider Google to retarget your users.
Display Ads: They help you to show discounts, rewards, or simply how your app is amazing.
Search Ads: This is a Google service for Android apps to let you engage with users in moments of intent as they’re looking for what you offer on Google Search.

Use an App Tracking Tool

Only creating an app is not enough, you even need to track the engagement of the customers who download it. You need to see what happens after someone downloads your app, and perhaps direct them according to their interests. That is why it is necessary to keep yourself up with some in app tracking tool, and keep yourself aware of the activities of customers within your app. After choosing your app tracking tool, you need to determine the events you want to follow.

Update Your App When Needed

Once you’ve created your app, is it true that it’ll be on top of everyone’s list if it stays the same forever?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. Look into your app, is it working properly? You need to keep up with the engagement of people, and you need to update your app from time to time. Make sure your app updates are timely, and they must have new segments to keep the customers interested.
According to a new app-update study from BI Intelligence, more frequent updates tend to be associated with higher ratings from app users. It can be seen from the following stats:

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Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/app-update-strategy-and-statistics-2015-1

 

Final Thoughts

Hence, through the above-mentioned tips, it is obvious how important it is to keep your customers engaged with your app. If you create an app, make sure you are willing to invest in it to gain more profit out of it. Put push notifications which are personalized along with in-app messages and make sure you use incentives to encourage your users to come back! Use app advertising types and deep links. Don’t forget to keep a track on your app, and keep updating it by the customers. It will help you keep a good app, and you’ll be successful in keeping the attention of your customers engaged.


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