The rapid rise of mobile devices has transformed how people interact, communicate, shop, and manage their lives, creating vast opportunities for businesses to engage customers in new ways. The global success of certain mobile applications—such as WhatsApp and Snapchat—has demonstrated the immense potential for brands to capitalize on the mobile app market. These apps have seen extraordinary growth, reaching billions of users worldwide, reshaping entire industries, and creating new ones.
But while the potential for revenue in the mobile app market is enormous—generating billions each year—not all apps profit equally. The vast pool of apps available means that competition is fierce, and to stand out, an app must offer value beyond mere novelty. It’s not enough to have a great idea; the app needs to enhance the user experience in a meaningful way that aligns with your business goals and brand values. Below are three key strategies for ensuring your app adds real value to your business.
1. Build an App That Extends Your Brand
An app should be more than just an extension of your digital presence; it should be a seamless extension of your brand experience. When users download and interact with your app, they are engaging with your brand’s story, values, and mission. Therefore, the app must be aligned with what makes your brand unique and what sets it apart from competitors.
Aligning the App with Your Brand’s Core Strengths
The goal of a branded app is to amplify the existing strengths of your business. Consider a food delivery company whose key differentiator is speedy delivery. In this case, the app needs to emphasize and extend that core value, making the process of ordering even more effortless and seamless. Features like one-click ordering, real-time delivery tracking, and predictive suggestions based on past orders would reinforce the brand’s focus on convenience and speed.
In this way, your app becomes an important touchpoint that reflects and enhances the customer’s overall brand experience. Rather than adding extra features just to have them, consider how the app can simplify, improve, and elevate the core value your business already offers.
Creating a Consistent and Integrated Brand Experience
Consistency is key to building brand loyalty, and the app is a powerful medium through which to create an integrated brand experience. Ensure that the design elements—such as colors, fonts, and images—align with your brand’s identity. The tone of the app’s messaging should reflect your brand voice, and the features should feel like a natural part of your overall service.
For instance, a fitness brand known for its community support and personalized coaching might create an app that offers workout plans, connects users with local events, and provides a social space for users to interact and share achievements. The app would mirror the brand’s focus on support, motivation, and community, providing a platform where these brand values can come to life.
Ultimately, an app that is tightly integrated with your brand’s unique selling points will not only satisfy existing customers but also attract new users who value those strengths.
2. Add Depth to the Customer’s Experience with Your App
One of the most effective ways to make an app valuable is to enhance the depth of the customer’s experience with your brand. Depth refers to the ability of the app to expand, enrich, and add new dimensions to the customer journey, providing additional layers of utility, entertainment, or information.
Creating an Experience that Goes Beyond Sales
An app that deepens customer engagement focuses on providing value that enhances the overall experience without necessarily pushing for immediate sales. Take the example of L’Oreal’s Makeup Genius app. By leveraging Augmented Reality (AR) technology, the app allows users to map their faces and virtually try on different makeup styles. The app’s ability to help users preview how products will look before making a purchase adds value to the user’s experience without requiring any upfront purchases.
This approach is successful because it builds brand trust by offering a no-strings-attached experience. Users receive value from the app whether they choose to buy a product or not, creating a positive impression of the brand and fostering a stronger emotional connection. By offering valuable tools or content through your app, you can establish your business as a helpful resource, making users more likely to trust and eventually buy from you.
Tapping into Mobile Device Features for Deeper Engagement
Mobile devices come equipped with a variety of features—such as cameras, GPS, accelerometers, and biometric sensors—that can be leveraged to create a more immersive and interactive experience. The Makeup Genius app effectively uses the camera to let users try on makeup, adding a layer of depth and practicality that enhances the overall experience.
Other examples of tapping into device features to create depth include:
- Retail apps that use geolocation to send in-store promotions or notify users of nearby store events.
- Travel apps that use GPS and augmented reality to provide users with real-time information about local attractions, restaurants, or historical sites as they explore new cities.
- Fitness apps that use step counters, heart rate monitors, and other sensors to provide users with detailed health metrics and personalized recommendations.
By leveraging the built-in capabilities of mobile devices, brands can create deeper, more valuable experiences that extend beyond the basics of browsing and buying.
3. Place Supplemental Value Above Sales
Many businesses approach app development with the primary aim of driving sales or achieving direct monetization. However, to build a strong and loyal customer base, the app’s primary role should be to supplement and enhance value for the customer rather than focusing solely on sales transactions.
Building Apps that Support the Main Product or Service
Instead of creating an app just to facilitate more purchases, think about how the app can enhance the use of your main product or service. By providing useful tools, features, and content that align with your customer’s needs, the app becomes a valuable asset in itself, contributing to the overall value proposition of your brand.
For example, automobile manufacturers often create apps designed to make car ownership more convenient and enjoyable. These apps may include features such as:
- Maintenance Tracking: Providing a schedule for car maintenance, tire rotations, oil changes, and allowing users to set reminders for upcoming service appointments.
- Remote Control Capabilities: Letting users lock/unlock their vehicles, start the engine, or adjust climate controls remotely through the app.
- Car Information Management: Storing and updating important car documents, such as registration and insurance information, in a digital format for easy access.
These features add supplemental value to the car itself, enhancing the ownership experience without directly pushing the customer to make additional purchases. By focusing on features that make the primary product more useful, accessible, and convenient, businesses can create apps that genuinely support their product offerings.
Fostering Long-Term Engagement Over Short-Term Gains
While direct sales and revenue are important, the long-term value of an app often comes from how it enhances the customer’s ongoing relationship with your brand. Apps that provide additional value, entertainment, utility, or knowledge create touchpoints that keep customers coming back, increasing brand recall and loyalty over time.
For instance, a home improvement brand could develop an app with features like DIY tutorials, a project planner, and access to a community of fellow DIY enthusiasts. These features do not directly push for sales but build a space where customers receive continued value, interact with the brand regularly, and develop a positive association that can lead to future purchases.
By emphasizing ongoing supplemental value rather than quick sales, brands can use their apps to build meaningful relationships, positioning themselves as trusted partners in their customers’ lives.
Conclusion: Creating Value-Driven Mobile App Experiences
In a competitive market, the success of a mobile app is not determined solely by downloads or immediate sales but by the value it brings to users and how effectively it aligns with the brand’s strengths and customer needs. Building an app that extends your brand, adds depth to the customer’s experience, and focuses on providing supplemental value will make the app a powerful tool for building loyalty, enhancing the overall brand experience, and fostering long-term business growth.
As you develop your app strategy, consider how you can transform your app into a vital extension of your brand that supports, engages, and delights your customers. By doing so, you’ll not only enhance your customer relationships but also position your app—and your business—for sustainable success in the ever-evolving mobile market.
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