Enterprises are increasingly focusing on having their own branded apps as part of their mobile engagement campaigns. Obviously, a whole new array of technologies helped immensely making them grab the potential. Location-based technology integrated with product reviews and promotional offers gave them huge scope for reaching their target audience through mobile.

As far as the studies show, a majority of branded apps garnered mostly favorable response in spite of too many flaws in their apps. Consumers showed a positive response to most businesses with their own branded apps. On the other hand, businesses without their own mobile engagement apps are facing sloppy sales and customer retention.

So, businesses are likely to seek their mobile engagement presence with branded apps. But what kind of prospect is awaiting them? Some surprising statistics on app engagement can reveal some hard truths. Studies reveal that 22% of mobile engagement apps are used for only once. Naturally, you cannot target just download numbers. It is the day-in and day-out user engagement that would make your app successful. A business can only benefit from an app that users actually want to use.

Here we have discussed on 10 effective ways enterprise apps can boost mobile engagement.

1. Make quick first impression

Each day some prospective customers are being introduced to your app for the first time. Now, you have only seconds to make a strong impression with your interface. The first screen of the interface should have these three elements.

• The first screen must explain how the application works
• The interface must offer some motivation for the users to start interaction.
• If the users need to know anything or require help, provide them when they need it.

Without these elements the users are most likely to leave the app and find their solution elsewhere.

2. A welcome message is must

You must have a precise way of welcoming the user. There are many ways to do this like the blank slates, dummy data, tutorials, etc. While all these maybe effective, a welcome greeting message is must for each new sign-up. Without greeting them you cannot start conversations and in turn lose business conversions. It would be better if the message delivers warmth and have elements that make users interact. Asking a question, asking a suggestion, sharing a small statistic or just revealing a strange truth about apps, all these can be effective.

3. Provide genuine value.

All great apps invariably fall into any of the two categories, respectively as apps for genuine utility or apps for entertainment. You cannot provide the same information posted in your website. That would be utterly useless. The users should be given a strong reason to come back to the app for the sake of finding something unique or solving a problem.

4. Effective use of push notifications

Marketers will send push notifications to reach their target audience. The notifications may include text, image, and video or external links taking users to separate landing pages. Now these notifications can be effectively used with the use of latest localization technologies and user segmentation. Pushed notifications can be planned for different users and can be rightly timed as per location, user situation and preference. This focus on user contexts will give push messages better edge.

5. Expose your excellence gradually

All app offers a bevy of features that are not perceived instantly useful, but on the course of use their importance is revealed to the customers. These apparently non-useful features for first time users may include email notifications, integration of third party apps, some keyboard shortcuts, exporting features, etc.

Now, these are obviously deeper benefits that users gradually get introduced to and realize their importance. If such features are exposed to users before they even started using the apps, it will only add to their irritation. Unfortunately, many apps just do the same. Badly timed emails are a good example of how untimely opening up can make negative impact.

6. Create personalized experience

However robust are your features and app content and however great an UX you offer for your users, without personalized elements you cannot make the same tune audible for all ears. Even micro experiences corresponding to minor preference based and device specific UX elements can delight your audience and they can feel having something personally addressed to then in the app. Just a shopping list feature in a productivity app or a custom playlist feature in a music app can be good examples of personalized touches in app UX.

7. Include elements of gamification

People like numbers and they have a preference for ranking. This is why “top 10” lists are so popular on the web.  Such an approach refers to competition, the quintessential element of gamification principle. By using gamification layer within your app you can easily create a competitive environment and make users easily engage within apps. Something like rewarding users with points for few conversion-friendly activities that equally interest users are great ways to utilize gamification. Thus you can push them for sharing the app content on their social circles, opening the app often, etc.

8. Offer rewards of real world value

Obviously no rewards wins users favor like the real world rewards, whether it is a gift coupon or another app access for free or a travel ticket.  After integrating the gamification principle with your app you can further make the reward points lucrative by allowing them to encash certain value of accumulated points in real world gifts. This would make the competitive environment even more lucrative for the users.

9. Boost social sharing

It is now the social media that makes the biggest influence in shaping the buying decisions of people. People believe more on user reviews than traditional ads and promotional campaigns. Naturally, for new user acquisition or to create buzz around your app or for making your users engage in conversation concerning your app, you need to have a social media strategy to stay alive in discussions, sharing and interactions among users.

10. Localizing content

Finally, it is the force of localization that helps the brick and mortar store at the corner of the road reach wider mobile audience. Yes, with localized content and customer assistance you can easily win the confidence of your target audience and it is truer for mobile engagement apps belonging to small and medium enterprises. Whether the in-app features or in sending push notifications to your target customers, you need to address your audience in a timely and relevant manner and obviously as per their current location. 

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