Is your mobile commerce application performing poorly? Customers and sales might not be the only thing you are losing out on! With an under-performing mobile website or application, you might be putting the brand image and customer loyalty of your business at stake!
Not convinced yet? Let me dish out some statistics on the table! A simple study states that 73% of users agree that the performance of an app is a key factor that decides a businesses’ brand image and customer loyalty!
How does a poor mobile commerce experience impact your brand?
1. A Smooth Ride is Important
The moment a user opens the mobile commerce app until the time she successfully completes a purchase in it, the whole process is reminiscent of a journey they take! eCommerce app developers should ensure that this journey is smooth, easy and convenient. Keep it simple with lesser options and complications but do provide them with all the basic features and help they would need.
What to do! – Do frequent test runs on the apps, identify the problem areas and alleviate them. Always think of it from the point of view of a customer or user. The app or website should be user-friendly and easy to use.
2. Performance is the Key
Performance of an app becomes the direct reflection of the brand itself. Poorly performing apps have dire consequences. Businesses would begin by losing sales but soon they would be losing their regular customers and their brand loyalty. An ill-performing app is a huge turn off for its users and might end up in creating a repulsive attitude towards your brand itself!
What to do! – Test the app at intense traffic levels and across all possible platforms. There should be proper communication between the developers and app operators. Crash reports should be sent and investigated upon regularly.
3. The Need to be Personal
The new age customers are expecting brands to create personalized apps and mobile websites which could give them a targeted experience. A study among 4500 respondents and 450 brands states that more than 35% of the customers are expecting personalized mobile commerce from their brands!
What to do! - Target your customers based on their transaction history and buying preferences.
4. Keeping up with the Updates
Those constant update notifications to your smartphone might be frustrating for the users but it is even more frustrating for businesses that run their apps. It happens to be life-threatening for mobile commerce app publishers as they find it hard to keep up with the frequent OS updates! If your app does not work after a fresh update for a long period of time, it has a definite negative impact on your brand reputation and customer loyalty!
What to do! – Assure the users that an updated app is just around the corner and do try and keep that promise! Have a dedicated app development team or service that could fix the issue and give an updated app as soon as possible.
5. Websites not Optimized for Mobile
If you aren’t friendly, forget making new friends! And if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, forget making new customers! It is said that 47% of the searches come from mobile devices and it is very important to have a mobile friendly website!
Also, Google’s new ranking algorithm gives more weightage to websites that are fully optimized specially for mobiles! I guess that gives you reason enough to take care of this as it is that Google search rankings that decide if your brand or business is visible.
What to do! – Invest time and money into developing a separate Mobile-friendly website too!
6. Payment Barriers
Checkout pages are where retailers earn your income and you should try and make sure that it poses no barriers or difficulties to the users. Unless the customers can make successful payments through the mobile commerce application or website, the transaction would never get completed! A one too many failed payment attempts could test the patience of your user and could even end up distancing them from your brand forever! A 2013 poll by Harris brings out the fact that a whopping 47% of the respondents stated that they would abandon a purchase after a payment failure through mobile and would not attempt to buy the product through any other platform. So, it simply means that you are losing sales.
What to do! – Ensure that your users have a checkout process that is smooth and reliable. Boost up your security measures and choose payment options that are convenient and easy for the customers. Also, give them enough alternatives to choose from.
7. Some Mistakes are Unavoidable – Your Response is What Matters
You could have the perfect preventive measures and utmost care regarding the proceedings, but mistakes could still happen! When it comes to running your mobile commerce, there are certain inherent mistakes, problems and issues that are unavoidable. Even your customers are aware of this and it doesn’t affect your brand loyalty. But what could in fact affect your brand loyalty is if you have a passive response to the issue. It is important that you have a definite reaction to these and make it up to your users as soon as possible.
A survey states that 75% of the respondents agreed that they would stay loyal to the brand in spite an issue, if a proper personal apology or offer is dished out by the brand.
What to do! – Send them a personal apology message and if possible try to make it up to them by offering them some special offers or discounts as a token of appreciation from you.
Conclusion
For retailers, mobile commerce is a great way to do business and increase their revenue and sales. But, it could turn out to be a bane for them if they don’t take care of the above facets!
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