In-store and Mobile Shopping – Getting the Balance Right for Local Businesses

In-store and Mobile Shopping – Getting the Balance Right for Local Businesses

The last 4-5 years have been rather eventful for marketers. Mobile commerce, app marketing, omni-channel presence…there’s been a lot keeping marketers, retailers and service providers busy. Now that the waters have been tested, strategies evaluated, marketing blueprints analyzed and overall customers’ gizmo and technology thrill settled, the market seems to have a clearer vision of what works and what doesn’t (well, more or less).
The one thing that has undoubtedly emerged as a clear trend is that no one-channel, or no one-approach can suffice for a company. It has to be a fine mix of different channels at different touch points, each with its discreet level of customer engagement, well coordinated and well aligned with the central marketing strategy.

In-Store or Online?
Although there can be no absolute answer to this question, the likely answer lies in the company’s overall strategy. Here are a few points that can be considered:

• How large is your scale of business?
• What is your target segment?
• What are your customers mostly engaged in?

If you are a retail chain, restaurant chain or basically a large set-up with multiple stores across the country, then your customers mostly expect you to have a strong on-line presence, mobile platform and great in-store service. In this case each channel should be a full fledged sales and customer service point meticulously integrated with the central database that is enriched at every touch point.
But if you are more like a local business catering to the local market, then your in-store experience should be the point of focus. But this does not mean that the other channels do not hold any significance. Rather, an online presence and a mobile app would strengthen your business and also ensure that the cycle of contact is not broken.
To take a use case, there’s a bakery that specializes in cakes. Say a customer saw their listing in the yellow pages, logged on to the Internet to check out their website. Now if the bakery does not have online presence, bam, the link’s broken. The customer just moved on. Now in another scenario if the bakery does have a good, informative website, has social media presence where a prospective customer can go and check reviews, testimonials etc. and can see real people connect with the brand. This prospect has better chances of converting into a sale. And just in case the bakery has an app that sends notifications about special promotions, updates you about weekend specials or even better, tells you what’s freshly baked when you are in the vicinity, you probably would be overwhelmed as a customer.
There are various permutations and combinations that can be worked out depending on the needs of an individual business. Need help with finding your perfect marketing balance for your local business? Reach us out at info@xymob.com.

App Marketing – The New Paradigm

App Marketing – The New Paradigm

The app market keeps changing, and fast. There are rapid new developments in this highly evolving market and at times it’s hard catching up. So for all you proactive marketers out there, here’s a quick glance at the latest app marketing trends that can help you take on the market.

Personalization
Personalization is not new but it has gone to a whole different level when it comes to app marketing. The content has to relate to each user with their specific likings and preferences. Technology has a big role to play in this. Machine learning or intuitive feature of an app should be able to learn from historic usage pattern of the user. Based on this learning the app must be able to provide personalized content to the user. For instance, if a user shops through the app on on sale days, there’s a fair chance that the user will relate to discount and sale promotions.

Predictive Marketing
It is not just about likes and presences, but based on a user’s usage pattern, marketers must also be able to predict when and for what would the user be more likely to convert. Predictive marketing is about engaging the user to an extent where predicting her behavior becomes easy; your app knows your obvious choice! Campaigns, discounts and all offers can be crafted to the user’s exact same needs predicting that she will convert into a customer.

Social Media
Love it, hate it but you cannot ignore it. Social media has become a huge influence on people. A good campaign goes viral and so does a bad word. Brands need to tread that rope tightly. But if you get it right, social media marketing can change the fate of your brand overnight. Social media marketing can have an overwhelming experience for brands.

Retention
The good old-school rule of 80-20 is settling in. Marketers are settling in with the fact that it makes more business and strategic sense to retain active and enthusiastic users, further engage them, than to put in a whole lot of time and resources into acquiring new users.

That said, there are a lot of things that still remain the same for app marketing. App engagement still remains pre-dominantly the most important factor. Other than that push-notifications, in-app messages, emails, coupons, offers all still remain important ingredients that need to be measured right for a delicious strategy.

Weird Cool Apps

Weird Cool Apps

While a lot of apps may be helping you out with important stuff, making your life convenient or entertaining you, here’s something new. Here’s a list of the most unimaginable, funny weird apps that can totally surprise you (some even pleasantly!).

Cuddlr
Cuddlr is a social networking site that uses GPS to track other eager people in your vicinity you can cuddle with. There’s a social network for cuddlers? Really?

Pimple Popper
It’s more gross than weird. The name pretty much says it, pop that sick pimple out. If you press the head of the pimple it would bleed. Ewwwww!

Spirit Story Box: Ghost Hunting Tool
Your personal little version of Ghost Busters. Well, not really. The app translates ghost language and lets you know what ghosts around you are saying (if you believe there are ghost around you, that is).

RunPee
This is such a boon for movie buffs. Remember the times you are totally engrossed in a movie and your full bladder starts bothering you. Last thing you want to do is get up in an intense scene, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. This awesome app prompts you the best time to go to pee in the middle of a movie and also fills you in on what you’ve missed while you were gone.

GymShamer
How many times have you promised yourself of starting gym or exercise routine? Well, not anymore. GymShamer doesn’t motivate you to exercise, it actually humiliates you in public if you don’t.

iNap@Work
This noble app lets you take a nap at work without getting caught. The app will produce work sounds including mouse click, keypad sound, paper shuffling, throat clearing and more. You think you can fool your boss with this?

Melon Meter
Remember the disappointment you face when you get that melon home and after cutting it discover it’s unripe? Well, no more. Melon Meter asks you to put your smartphone next to the melon, thump on it until prompted to stop. Melon Meter will find the right melon for you.

App Can help Increase In-store Traffic

App Can help Increase In-store Traffic

Many retailers would see Apps or e-commerce websites as a threat to the in-store business. But the latest research by Ipsos MediaCT and Sterling Brands for Google proves otherwise.

The research suggests that smart phones help people research and lookout for the products they like, connect with the brand and make wise buying choices ultimately resulting in increased in-store sales. People look out for choices available on line but still like to go to the store, look and feel the product before buying it.

According to the research over 68% of people responded that they were more comfortable purchasing in-store when they did research online before actually buying the product. 71% people said that they expect sales and customer service people to know accurate and give out product information more quickly because of smartphones. 46% people visit the retail website of shopping app before purchasing the merchandise.

So clearly different customer channels do not compete but actually complement each other. Customers now look for holistic experiences rather than fragmented encounters.

Here’s how local retailers can benefit from the omni-channel strategy:

1. Create an app and promote it in local inventory ads. Design localized offers, recommend products and find reasons to get in touch with the customer.
2. Instead of using a toll free number and email id, use a local phone number, store open hours and the local location. It generates more trust.
3. Along with the app have a website that promotes your app.

Instead of being intimidated by big retail chains and their shopping apps, local retailers and businesses can actually encash on the mobile and app market and increase their sales, both online and in-store. Omni-channel is the future, the earlier you accept it, the easier your transition will be.

App User Testing Made Simple

App User Testing Made Simple

Launching your new app or a new version of your existing app takes a great deal of work, meeting deadlines, pre-launch publicity, marketing, coordination, communication and so more. Just before you launch your app it is essential to conduct App User Testing to ensure the app’s all ready to woo the user. Slightest lag in User Testing can actually induce app ‘uninstalls’ which can be more fatal than ‘fewer installations’.

App User Test is not the ‘quality check’ that your technical department does with programmers or staff testing out different functions of the app. Developers often see the app from a certain angle. The promptness of the design is assumed, functionality is assumed to be simple, and the whole UX is simulated. App User Test is when real users or a random group of common people get the real feel of usability, functionality, UX and design of your app. Here is where you get the actual answer of whether your app meets its purpose, raison d’etre. User App Testing helps the user get an objective view of the usability and functionality of the app at an early stage, which can help solve so many issues even before they crop up.

Even though App User Test is imperative, you don’t necessarily need to burn your budget to get high tech labs, testing agencies, paid user groups etc. Given below are some tips to get your App User Test done in an amazingly simple and budget friendly manner.

1. Use your contacts – Get in touch with your contacts, both personal and professional. Ask them to download the app and give their feedback. You can also design a feedback form. Provide an incentive for every feedback offered.
3. Test across devices – If your app is going to be launched across platforms, Android, iOS, Windows, make sure you get feedback on all platforms and devices like cell phone, tab, laptop etc.
4. Launch a Social Media campaign – Create a Facebook page where you could ask users to provide feedback on the app. Make the campaign so compelling that it goes viral, users actually share it on social media. This will also help marketing a great deal.
5. Ask random people on the streets – Ask people for quick opinions or feedback about the app. At the end of the exercise you’d be overwhelmed with the precise points and exact suggestions that come to you. And actually speaking a lot of the users would be forming their opinions in quick glances only.

There are many interesting ways you can get real feedback from the real users. Think of some? Share with us in the comments below.

App Marketing

App Marketing – Quick Tips For Quick Results

If we read expert advise for app marketing, most would strongly suggest that app marketing should be integrated with the holistic marketing plan and there should be a consolidated marketing strategy that should not alienate one customer touch point from the other. This is the ideal way it should be done too. But there are two problems here. First, with an app in place, CEOs start expecting fast results and second, an app per se is in itself a whole new product that needs to be sold to the user.

While tampering with the consolidated marketing strategy might not be the sensible option, here are some quick tips that would help you popularize your app without making any changes in the company’s marketing strategy.

Promote your app on the mobile website: Show the carrot. Tell users the benefits of installing the app. Give compelling reasons.

ASO: ASO is to apps what SEO is to websites. Google Play Store and Apple Store have specific criterion on the basis of which they feature apps in a certain order. Although this is a comprehensive study in itself, but you could quickly look up the criteria for your app category. It’s a combination of user ratings, tags, screen shots, app title, download data etc., find out what works best for your category.

Get your app reviewed on top app review sites: The app review sites not only command user attention but also get your app some useful ASO links.

Advertise/Broadcast your link on Social Media: Study suggests that users are more likely to respond to social media ads than to ads on the web. Make sure the social media ads are interesting, humorous and compelling. Such ads have a chance to go viral that can be perhaps the best publicity your app can get.

Get a video explaining the functionality of your app: A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a thousand pictures. Get a video on the functionality of the app and post it across the web on video blogs, YouTube, social media, your company website and every where you can think of marketing your product.

This is just the hint of what you can do. There are a whole lot of interesting ways to market your app. If this blog has spurred some interesting ideas on app marketing, please do share them with us in the comments below.

Social Media Marketing

Getting It Right

Planned marketing campaigns are a passé. New dimensions are being added to the highly dynamic marketplace and marketing strategy needs to be equally dynamic. The best marketing campaigns are the ones that are formed real time in response to user’s digital behavior.

The market is user driven. Unlike the traditional market place users don’t just buy stuff, they recommend it or criticize it, to their friends, on the Internet, to thousands of them, and to the world on the social media. It like handing over a loud speaker to each person, such that they can express their views to the world and giving them the space where they can be heard too.

“Hey, try out this app, it’s great”, or “I was so turned down by their collection, all hype, not worth it”. People are sharing this stuff. It’s a lot more valuable than just an opinion. In the respective social circles this opinion would determine the fate of the company; these opinions influence thousands in one go. This is changing the sales volumes and marketing dynamics for companies, especially in the direct-to-consumer segment. Companies need to shift their focus from traditional marketing to social media marketing. Even more marketing strategies and promotion campaigns now need to be fluid; need to be formed real-time in response to customer behavior.

It’s a little more complex than what you might think. Social media marketing involves a whole lot of analysis of users’ digital behavior, their social circle, preferences, likes and any personal detail that digital media can make available. To make this simple, here are some quick tips to help you set up your social media campaign.

1. Chalk down the profile of potential customers. This might require creating a certain set of profiles, one or two would be like narrowing it too thin.
2. Study social media profiles (FB, Twitter, LinkedIn…) of the potential customers. What do they do? What are their interests, likings and preferences?
3. Design online and offline campaigns based on the findings of your study.
4. Create social media presence. Upload content that suits the likings of your potential customers.
5. Do acknowledge a comment, like, dislike or criticism put by a customer on the social media. Here is where most companies fail. Having a real person answer to all comments, likes, dislikes or criticisms put by a customer on social media adds credibility to the company, which works wonders in the Internet world.

Social media marketing needs to be handed delicately. Mistakes done on the Internet are never forgotten or forgiven. They are engraved on the digital screens and leave an impression every time someone looks for reviews.