How to Personalize Your App Experience and Drive More Sales
When e-readers disrupted the publishing industry, many consumers swore they would stay loyal to the old-fashioned paper book. Technology made inroads however, and the number of people who own e-readers is still growing.
Retail has followed a similar course.
Online shopping has revolutionized the industry, and mobile is a key reason why. Still, people crave human connection. They want the personal experience of shopping at brick-and-mortar stores when they shop online. The best way to meet this demand is with a personalized app that can help deliver a true omnichannel experience.
Take the Human Touch Beyond the Physical Store
The best way to differentiate your brand is to deliver exceptional customer experiences. To do this, you need to learn about your customers. Start by building a comprehensive database for each of your personas. These customer profiles should draw on data sets that address five questions:
1. Who? Think demographics here. Age, location, gender and income form the basis of a profile. Request access to users’ social media accounts so you can find out their interests and sharing habits. Public domain information often provides useful clues to a person’s lifestyle.
2. What? Pay attention to how customers interact with your brand through your app, and analyze transactional data such as purchase behaviors. You want a clear picture of their browsing and buying preferences so you know the best ways to target them.
For example, movie theaters stay relevant in the age of Netflix and HBO NOW by tracking which movies customers see and then tailoring future promotions based on those interests. Theaters use apps to share show times and enhance customers’ movie-going experiences.
3. When? Data that reveals when customers use your app or website (and for how long) is extremely valuable. You can test whether timed push notifications make them more or less likely to open the app. Without this data, you’ll end up sending messages at the wrong time and risk losing customers.
