3 Silly Ways to Wreck Your Mobile App Customer Loyalty

We've talked about the tell-tale signs that your mobile app is scaring off clients, but what about managing your mobile app customer loyalty?

You might have a decent user base, but do you know if any of these people are all that engaged? Does your barber shop mobile app simply sit on everyone's phone without anyone paying much attention to it?

Scaring people away is one thing, but turning your existing customers and users into loyal followers takes a whole new strategy. We've all heard of the loyalty programs offered by brick-and-mortar shops, and even many ecommerce stores are starting to implement these systems to improve customer retention.

What about mobile apps though? Well, the mobile app is truly a way to build up your customer loyalty, using it as an extension of your current brick-and-mortar or ecommerce business. Even if you create an informational app, your user loyalty depends on the app activity and how interesting your content seems.

We can talk about how to improve your mobile app customer loyalty all day, but what about those huge things that can completely wreck customer loyalty and turn your app into a digital paperweight? (AKA an app that just sits on user home screens and never gets opened.)

Mistakes are part of business, but some of them need to be avoided at all costs in the mobile world, so let's take a look at the three silliest ways to wreck your mobile app customer loyalty.

Ignoring The Fact That Your Users Are Trying to Engage You On The Mobile App

Why is this a problem in your mobile app customer loyalty?

It happens far too often where a company or individual designs a mobile app and simply forgets about engaging customers.

They make it all fancy and nice, include the logo, and post consistent updates like blog posts and social media links. They send out wonderful push notifications to bring users into a store or to purchase through the mobile app.

The problem with this is that it's a one-way street. You are offering a mobile app that sits in the pockets of every single one of your users. It's an extremely personal medium, meaning your customers see it as a shortcut to your support teams or to your upper management.

In short, they want to interact with you and ask you questions. No one likes sitting on the phone or sending emails to companies, because they know it's a pain in the butt. However, a mobile app gives them a chance to post a quick comment while waiting on a train or to like one of your Facebook posts while eating lunch.

If you refuse to acknowledge these interactions, you lose your mobile app customer loyalty.

What's the solution?

It's often difficult to find the perfect time to see if anyone is interacting with your mobile app. You have other things to work on throughout the week, so you may not notice a message from a client through the mobile app.

It's similar to social media, where so many small businesses forget to respond to comments or thank people for their support.

The solution comes with planning. First, you must acknowledge that your mobile app is a true customer connection machine, where people will inevitably try to talk to you.

Then setup a schedule for when you are going to respond to your customers through the mobile app. Make it every week so you don’t have to worry about it on a daily basis. If you designate a particular day every week this task should only take a few minutes and it won't distract you from day-to-day activities.

Thinking That Digital Has a Small Place in Your Business Strategy -Mobile App Customer Loyalty

Why is this a problem for your Mobile App Customer Loyalty?

Small business owners have bad habits when it comes to connecting with customers through digital means. They see their old marketing tactics as the way to go and refuse to pivot in order to engage in a typically faster and cheaper fashion.

Your marketing flyers and snail mail coupons may have worked twenty years ago, but today is the digital age, and mobile apps must become a huge part of your marketing strategy.

What's the solution to fix your Mobile App Customer Loyalty?

Look at one of the older marketing tactics you use. Try to choose one that is the least effective for your business. Consider swapping out all the time you spend on that particular task and spend it working on a mobile app.

Transfer the budget over as well. Work on this transition for a few months and track how well your customer engagement and revenues improve. Also, document how much time and money it takes compared to the older marketing technique.

If the mobile app proves more effective, keep it going. The only way you can find out is to put real effort and time behind it, like you would for one of your more traditional marketing routes.

Skipping the Opportunity to Invest in Your Customers

Why is this a problem?

Your mobile app isn't just a fun little module for your customers to download and play around with. Most customers could care a less what your About page says, and you can bet they only look at your photo galleries and contact information once or twice.

The real value comes in when you reward your customers. People don't like working with companies, but they will put up with it if you give them incentives. If you run a mobile app and never send out push notifications with cool deals and promotions; what's the point?

Your customers will never remain loyal.

What's the solution?

Constantly devise ways to offer rewards for your customers. Fix this into your strategy, but don't go overboard so that you end up killing your company.

Devise a plan for rewards and specials, then cross check it with your financials to see how many customers need to redeem the coupons (or whatever you offer) in order to break even.

It's time for you to take a step up and really understand where your mobile app stands in terms of customer loyalty. Is your app just something people forgot about on their phones? Is it sitting in limbo just waiting to get deleted or completely disregarded when the people get new phones?

Share your thoughts in the comments section below if you have any other tips for people interested in improving their mobile app customer loyalty.

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