If you’re an eCommerce vendor, your shopping app is more important than ever.
That’s because mobile apps are the best performing channel in eCommerce right now. Case in point: ASOS Chairman Brian McBride recently announced that their app drives 50% more transactions than their website, with users buying more; staying longer; returning more often.
Meanwhile 29 of the UK’s top 50 eCommerce retail stores already have an app, and the remaining 21 are about to join them.
With that in mind, there’s no better time to take a look at what's happening in the world of mobile apps today. In this article, we’ll show you what you need to know by covering the 4 main reasons your eCommerce business needs an app.
We’ll start with…
Reason #1 - Better Mobile User Experiences
User experiences are the single most important factor in desktop and mobile-based purchasing decisions. For example, a one-second delay in page load times can result in a 7% loss in conversions.
This means that a page that takes over 7 seconds to load will lose you half (49%) of your potential business. And this is just load times! As you can imagine, there are many other ways in which UX (user experience) can make or break your business.
When it comes to eCommerce, this makes native apps a natural choice. These apps are different from mobile websites in two key ways.
First, they’re (partly) stored on a user’s device. Second, they’re developed for a specific operating system (like iOS or Android). These advantages mean native apps load faster, work more intuitively and offer extra features like push notifications. All of this improves consumers’ experiences, helping you win their business more effectively.
Just consider that research from Compuware shows that 85% of customers prefer apps over mobile sites because of reasons like…
Naturally, these benefits apply to native apps above all other kinds.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that all your customers want to use your app. It’s best to give them a choice; for example, by prompting them to download your app when they visit your mobile website through a smart app banner. That way, consumers can decide for themselves - and you can win by using both channels for your marketing
Reason #2 - Retailers Need Apps to Drive User Engagement
You can have a perfect website, app or social media page, but if users aren't engaging with it… If they're not actively opening it, consuming content and driving referrals… Your asset is doing nothing for your bottom line.
That's why it's important to know that apps are not only superior, but necessary for driving engagement in 2017 and beyond. This is mainly because consumers aren’t using their browsers these days. Only 10% of mobile uptime is spent surfing the internet. The remaining 90% of mobile device usage is driven by apps. Put simply, this means you can't have any real mobile engagement without an app.
This is especially relevant for eCommerce businesses. Retail apps get opened more than any other app type, at 17.5 launches a month. Marketing statistics can be misleading at times, but here, it’s clear that consumers love using (and returning to) mobile apps.
And they’re not just returning, either. Mobile app users make more repeat purchases too. With apps, users return 2x faster, spend 30% more and view 4x more products than they do on websites. This is confirmed in multiple studies - like the bol.com one where web app consumers beat the control group by 30% in terms of spending.
Of course, it helps that push notifications are opened up to 90% of the time, compared to 10-20% for e-mails (depending on industry). This means you can just about press a button and send most of your previous consumers running back to your store. Wonderful, right?
Next up, let's take a look at how the engagement and UX advantages of apps affect conversions: the factor that shapes your bottom line more than any other.
Reason #3 - Retailers Need Apps for a Better Conversion Rate
Engagement and excellent user experiences are wonderful… But let’s take a minute to discuss exactly how they affect your bottom line: the one thing that really matters.
Today, mobile devices drive 62% of all eCommerce traffic. That’s a massive opportunity… But when consumers use mobile websites, they end up leaving their carts up to 97% of the time. Horrid, right? If you don’t have an app, almost all your customers are going to leave your store without buying anything. How disappointing!
Getting an app fixes this by dropping cart abandonment down to 20%: a massive difference of nearly 5x. Together with the boost provided by better user experiences and superior engagement, this results in 189% more conversions than you get with a mobile website.
This is the kind of difference that can make or break a business - and it’s the bottom line for why retailers need eCommerce apps. And as a cherry on the proverbial cake, apps don’t just help you convert a lot more business. They also drive hordes of interested customers your way, making it real easy to benefit from high conversion rates.
Reason #4 - Retailers Need Apps to Rank Well with SEO
Modern search engines index app content alongside website content when determining your SERP position. This means that having an app, indexing it and syncing it with your site gives you a strong search engine boost.
If you do everything right, this can double your SEO and slingshot you up SERP and App Store rankings.
Results obtained through app indexing actually are prioritised above regular web results by both Apple and Google. Without an app, it will become almost impossible to be on page 1 of the mobile search results - and with an app, you’ve got double the chances to rank highly. Today, app indexing is available for both Android and iOS apps. Google recently announced that it will even index locked content inside apps, conferring even more SEO benefits to app owners and developers.
And there you have it - 4 key reasons retailers need and rely on apps today are:
The only reason not to have an app in 2017? None.
A lot of people don't know that you can turn a Magento online store into a native shopping app in just a few days or weeks without any big set-up costs. Once you’ve installed the plugin, the app is deeply integrated with your Magento backend and payment gateways.
Due to this integration all in-app orders, user id’s, payments and stock levels are synched 24/7, making app management super easy. This is why Magento chose to give its innovation award to JMango360: the #1 solution for shop owners who want a top-notch app quickly and for a fair price.
JMango-apps feature unlimited and rich push messaging, advanced app analytics, stored data for fast checkouts and customisable designs to match your brand’s look & feel perfectly.
You can request a demo here. During the demonstration you will see a sneak preview of what your app will look like and how easy app-management will be.
Would you like to find out more? Get in touch with us today and talk to one of our experts
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