App commerce wins when it comes to engagement
Mobile commerce now accounts for 36% of UK online retail sales so it’s more important than ever for retailers to be thinking mobile-first to remain relevant to consumers.
Consumers are naturally magnetised to the most engaging experience on their preferred device. Criteo found that apps are eating mobile for breakfast with 55% of mobile retail transactions taking place in app compared to just 45% via mobile browser. It’s vital to offer the most engaging experience possible on mobile, which is where apps win.
Apps: Built for engagement
The sole reason apps were created was to offer an interactive, dynamic and engaging experience to users. This isn’t to say a mobile website isn’t needed too, but an app provides a completely different experience. Consumers want to engage with your brand in the same way that they engage with their other favourite brands such as Instagram and CityMapper.
The slick, fast and engaging experience apps provide can become addictive which would explain why the average user spends 2 hours and 25 minutes browsing in apps compared to a mere 26 minutes browsing the mobile web a day. They’re also more 67% more likely to return for the app experience, which is 2x that of mobile web and desktop, according to research across our own clients.
Apps enable you to use smartphone functionality that you wouldn’t be able to apply on the mobile website, such as Apple Pay, where the user can pay with just a fingerprint. From a UX perspective, you can apply more mobile friendly ways to navigate around your merchandise. For example, using actions that shoppers are used to taking on their phones such as tapping, dragging and swiping.
Speed is key to keep your user engaged
Websites are notoriously slow to load, with reports of average desktop websites loading in 13.6 seconds and average mobile site loading times from 6.5 – 6.9 seconds. That’s 3.4-3.9 seconds longer than some consumers are willing to wait for mobile sites to load. 79% say they would be less likely to purchase from a site again after being dissatisfied with site performance. It’s even suggested that every second of web latency is equivalent to a 7% loss of conversion. This problem is eliminated in apps.
Apps built on a technology platform are very light and faster as content is stored in the cloud. The problem with ‘fat apps’ built by agencies is that they hold so much content on the users device. This slows down the experience which causes frustration.
Not only are apps faster because they store data locally on the device, but they provide a better and more engaging experience for the end user than mobile web and desktop, and ultimately convert more than mobile web. We’ve seen that the revenue per user generated by the apps on our platform in June was over 5x that of mobile web in our latest quarterly platform statistics. This has grown by 10% compared to Q1 2017.
Outstanding retail apps offer extra engaging in-app functionality
In a recent research study, we found that the most successful of 324 retail apps go above and beyond simple transactional functionality.
In-app features such as shoppable lookbooks, product videos and GIFs change the way your user behaves resulting in deeper engagement, higher conversion, and ultimately more loyal customers. An experience that mobile websites simply cannot replicate.
Download our latest ebook explaining how an app can help you improve your overall Customer Experience. Discover how to improve personalisation, engagement and loyalty with case studies and expert opinions.
Reported by Natasha McGowan
