7 Ideas to Optimize Your Retail Mobile App

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift toward digital shopping by roughly five years. And for many consumers, shopping online and on their favorite retail mobile apps has emerged as the safest way to shop. However, even before the pandemic, shoppers were shifting rapidly toward digital touchpoints.  

Driven by these events and trends, mobile app use, spending and downloads hit all-time highs last year. But, just because you have a mobile app doesn’t mean your customers are going to use it. In a recent webinar, experts from Airship explained that to break through with your mobile app, you need to constantly test, experiment and optimize the app experience.

Here are seven tips for retailers.

Engage All Your App Channels

Whether you’re engaging a new or super-loyal customer, you can drive action, opt-ins and engagement with personalized messages across all of your app channels. Retailers like GameStop have seen great success using push, message center, in-app messaging and even mobile wallet to deliver a rich experience that leads app users to action and adoption.

Iterate Your Opt In Ask 

To deliver a truly personalized experience, you need your customers to opt in to notifications and location services. But if they decline, when should you ask again? The only way to know is to test! For retail apps, try prompting users again after they’ve viewed an item. For example, encourage customers to opt in to notifications so that they can get notified when their favorite items go on sale.

Get Ahead of Churn 

Churn may be a fact of life for retailers, but efforts that deliver even a small improvement in retention can have a huge impact on your bottom line. In fact, studies have shown that a 5% increase in customer retention can increase company revenue by 25-95%! With next generation solutions like Airship Journeys, you can leverage AI to predict which app users are at high risk of churn and re-engage with push notifications, in-app messaging and more  — before it’s too late!

Perfect Your Personalization

Today’s always-on consumers expect a personalized experience. But not all personalization is up to the task. A culture of experimentation in which you regularly A/B test your in-app personalization strategies is key to continuous optimization. Test your personalization algorithms based on customer location, current events, date, season, and customer behavior to find out which messages move the needle.

Entice with Rewards 

Customers love rewards and incentives, and those who participate in loyalty programs tend to be some of the most valuable customers. Give them more reasons to engage, and stay engaged, by leveraging a loyalty program within your mobile app. Trigger a personalized Live Chat conversation in your app or via SMS to educate customers about the benefits of your loyalty program. You can also leverage the power of Mobile Wallet, which makes managing mobile loyalty programs easier for customers and brands. 

Leverage Location

Use location services to speak directly to customers from your app with contextual and personalized messages, like local news, tips or alerts based on their location. Set a geofence to trigger targeted offers and information when a customer is near a brick and mortar store. Plus, you can use location services to elevate the Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPIS) experience. Airship’s integration with Radar empowers retailers to use events and live ETAs to trigger push messages and in-store systems so customers and in-store staff get the information they need for a seamless, convenient pickup.

Offer Flexible Payment

Improve CX and drive more conversions through your app with flexible payment options that make payment easier for your on-the-go customers. There’s no shortage of solutions — from mobile payment systems like Google Pay and apps like Paypal to buy-now-pay-later services such as Afterpay and social media payment solutions such as Facebook pay. Choose whichever options make the most sense for your business model and customers. Just don’t get left behind, as contactless payments are increasingly in demand.

With these tips and tricks, you’re on your way to an ongoing retail mobile app optimization strategy that increases ROI and keeps your customers engaged with your app for the long run. For more inspiring app optimization ideas and case studies, check out the webinar, 50 Ideas to Optimize Your Mobile App, or download our ebook, 45 Ways to Boost App Engagement and Retention. 

Let’s connect

We can help with your mobile app strategy.

Contact us today!