4 Mobile App Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

As technology has advanced rapidly over the last few years, the way we access and consume information has also seen a radical overhaul. With Google celebrating its 18th birthday earlier this month it’s difficult for most people to remember a time before the internet, search engines and digital technology. One of the biggest shifts in information consumption has been the widespread adoption of mobile being the preferred platform for accessing and absorbing information. Thinking about your own personal habits, do you frequently find yourself using your mobile to check news, sports and weather information for example? Mobile has rapidly replaced the desktop as the number one device for the majority of people globally.

With that being said, mobile is a great way for individuals and businesses to connect with each other. However, many mobile marketing experts still make fundamental errors when marketing mobile apps that can lead to poor results in the long term. A key aspect that many marketers and businesses fail to realise is that mobile is a very, very personal medium. With so many apps, games and messages vying for the attention of the average mobile user, standing out from the competition is imperative to make mobile app marketing strategies effective. The focus of today’s blog is to highlight 5 mobile app marketing mistakes to avoid to ensure a successful marketing strategy.

One of the biggest mistakes that businesses as well as marketers make when it comes to mobile is not differentiating between desktop and mobile. The majority of mobile experiences are smaller versions of a business’s desktop site, with the same functionality on a smaller mobile screen. Replicating the content of a website page for page is often a mistake that many people make as they incorrectly assume that is what mobile users want. In reality, mobile apps offer a great way for businesses to offer a more engaging and streamlined experience for users. For example, mobile apps give the opportunity to introduce powerful native features such as utilising the camera feature to scan QR codes or using the GPS functionality to locate points of interest on a map.

Many mobile app developers and businesses create mobile apps without a clear marketing plan in place. Just having a mobile app in the app stores is not a guaranteed way to generate downloads and traction for a mobile app. Not paying attention to the importance of the mobile app title, description and keywords can have a negative impact in terms of how a mobile app is ranked within the app stores.

Another common mistake is not focusing on customer reviews for a mobile app from loyal, happy customers. Social proof is a big part of the success for any marketing strategy because increasingly users are looking at each other to validate their purchase or download decisions. By not incentivising or actively encouraging users to leave a review, many mobile apps are losing out on new potential customers.

A common theme around any mobile app ecosystem centres around retention and keeping users constantly engaged. Recent studies have shown that up to 90% of people that downloaded your app have left with 6 months. A successful mobile app will have a high retention rate because it offers long term value to the user. A great way to achieve this is to incorporate loyalty programs that track the users’ journey and gives a reason to constantly engage with the mobile app. The mistake that many mobile app marketers make is they assume once the mobile app has been downloaded it will occupy space on the users home screen for life. With so many competing apps and games on the average mobile device, it is critical that your mobile app stands out from the crowd and gives users a reason to constantly open and engage.

Having a mobile app downloaded onto a mobile user’s device is a very personal thing. When you take a step back and reflect, a mobile app user is now carrying a business in their pocket around the clock. As a result, it provides a great way for businesses to engage with customers and provide information that is tailored to the user.

However, most mobile apps created focus too heavily on one way communication that comes from the app owner to the end customer in the form of push messages for example. However, mobile app users want the experience tailored to them and to have the opportunity to have two way communications through the app. By focusing on contact/suggestion forms within the app or simple chat messaging facilities, a mobile app user will feel more valued as a customer without feeling the need to leave negative reviews within app stores. Any mobile app that engages customers and provides a gateway to share experiences and feedback within the app will go a long way to achieving higher satisfaction amongst users.

As we have seen throughout this blog, there are a number of common mobile app marketing mistakes that many people are making which limit the success and effectiveness of mobile apps. To find out how Eazi-Apps can help your business create the right mobile app for you, contact us today.