Mobile engagement is becoming more important than ever.
According to Forrester’s latest Mobile Engagement Automation report, there are more than 30 billion consumer “moments” (and more increasingly, micro-moments) across the U.S. every day. That means there are more opportunities for marketers to connect with consumers – and more risk of getting lost in the noise if it isn’t done right.
“Today, there is this convergence of this digital and physical world, and there’s this network of devices that co-exist around individuals, and mobile is in the forefront of that,” Marissa Aydlett, SVP of Marketing at Braze (formerly Appboy) said. “…All experiences are mobile experiences.”
The team at Braze knows a thing or two about mobile engagement. The “born mobile” platform received the highest ranking from Forrester in the MEA Leader category, with nods for their ease of use, speed, analytics and AI capabilities.
“The only way marketers should be thinking is across this cohesive, cross-channel environment, rather than a campaign-specific, single-channel methodology,” Aydlett said.
But where do you start? We asked Aydlett to share some tips for creating optimal user experiences through mobile engagement:
Align your cross-channel marketing team
The first step towards creating strong mobile experiences starts from within. A cross-departmental understanding of goals and execution is paramout to creating an experience that is fluid and relevant for the consumer – especially when it comes to engaging through multiple touchpoints across diverse channels.
“You need your email and your content team, your mobile team, and your digital team to be working in synergy to create an effective experience that a consumer actually wants to receive,” Aydlett said. “Otherwise, you’re just sending a bunch of messages around that don’t connect – and that’s a bad customer experience.”
First impressions matter on mobile
The way a brand presents itself to consumers can set expectations for the entire buyer journey. Strong initial interactions can also set the stage for higher retention rates throughout the entire cycle.
“It’s so important to be thinking about those first impressions just as you do in real life,” Aydlett said. “How you engage in the beginning is critical.”
In these first interactions, demonstrate brand value and allow consumers to opt in easily. With the help of technology, marketers can pinpoint user behaviors to provide a more personalized experience that adheres to their engagement preferences.
“It’s really about personalizing those experiences down to the individual and their actual behaviors and interactions with your brand,” Aydlett said. “And you can do that at scale if you have the technology because you’re allowing yourself to use all the tools you have at your disposal to be more creative with your messaging.”
The habit of engagement
Once brand value and communication is initiated, establish a cadence that teaches consumers how and when they’ll be communicating with an organization.
“You need to be building this really amazing user experience no matter what channel they’re engaging with that teaches them where to find and discover things with your brand,” Aydlett said.
For example, perhaps a consumer knows they’ll receive your newsletters at a set time every week, or they’ll receive a push notification when new offers or app updates are available. When customers become comfortable with cadence, regular brand interactions are more likely to become part of their day-to-day.
Get granular (audience segmentation)
By using big data, connecting with consumers becomes a more dynamic experience, blending content, UX and delivery that resonates on a more meaningful level.
Audience segmentation can help marketing teams pinpoint user behavior and identify which consumers will benefit most from different campaigns and those campaigns should be delivered — whether it be through in-app messaging, chatbots, email campaigns, social media or other digital marketing initiatives.
“You can be super creative from a content perspective, from a design perspective, from a delivery perspective – and you can marry that creativity with technology as your infrastructure backbone,” Aydlett said.
Experiment to enhance
Finding the right strategy doesn’t happen overnight. And as consumer habits change (which they often do) it’s important for marketing teams to test, measure and tweak their processes to keep up with the needs of consumers.
“You can be testing a variety of different variants,” Aydlett said. “What’s the right message, what’s your control, and how do you optimize for that right message and continue to be able to be creative?”
In the end, crafting an optimal user experience comes down to one core principle:
“It’s making the conversation more authentic, and creating better experiences,” Aydlett said.
