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6 Ways Mobile Apps Can Improve The Customer Experience
Smartphones have been around for over a decade and they’re getting smarter and smarter. You can now do almost anything and everything via a mobile device, which opens the door to many business capabilities. Apps can be created to give customers valuable benefits that improve their overall experience with your company.
You probably know this already – but were you aware of just how many ways mobile apps are used to improve the customer experience? We will go through some of the best ideas in this post – some of which you’ll already know while others may take you by surprise. Every business will benefit from a mobile app of some description, so let’s see how you can use yours:
Convenient Mobile Shopping
First of all, we’ll get the obvious idea out of the way. Mobile apps can be created to give customers a convenient shopping experience. Instead of making them visit a mobile website, they can download an app and shop from within it. The benefits of this approach are incredibly diverse. Customers will enjoy the following via mobile shopping apps:
- Easier checkouts with all their bank details in one place
- A more fluid browsing experience
- No need to constantly search for things on Google
- Products can easily be saved for later and accessed again
- Order tracking via the app
- Direct access to customer support through the app
On top of these benefits, you also benefit from a marketing perspective. Apps can be used to deliver push notifications to your customers, instantly directing them to your products with one click of a button. You should also consider introducing app-specific discounts – like a code for all orders placed via your mobile app. It will encourage more downloads and lead to more conversions.
Overall, the customer experience is improved because you’re making it easier for them to shop for and buy products. They also get built-in discounts or maybe even products that you exclusively sell via the app!
In-Depth Customer Service
We spoke about customer service and how shopping apps can implement it, but you can also create a mobile app that’s entirely dedicated to this specific thing.
Encourage customers to download your customer service app when they make a purchase or sign up for services. From here, the app will be full of resources and a vast knowledge base to help with every problem you’ve ever come across. When new problems arise, you add the solutions to the app. It’s a genius and convenient way for customers to solve minor and major problems without having to wait around for ages.
Also, you can include 24/7 live chat support via the app too. Have chatbots standing by to deal with common questions or outsource the customer service to a team that can always provide human agents to chat away with people. The bottom line is that the customer experience improves because you’re bringing a new dimension to your customer service game. It certainly beats only offering email support, which can take days or weeks to solve people's problems.
Apps For Workers
Mobile apps don’t have to be for customers to improve their experience with your company – they can also be designed for workers. You could use a field service app to give to your employees as they go and visit customer’s homes. This app provides the worker with all the customer’s details, so they’re fully prepared for what’s waiting. More than that, it can be equipped with various payment software. After completing a job, workers can use the app as a mobile payment terminal, so customers simply tap and pay instead of having to deal with invoices and all that annoying paperwork.
You can already imagine many businesses where an app like this is viable. Basically any company that revolves around sending out field technicians or consultants can utilize it to their advantage. You offer a more streamlined service to customers, improving their satisfaction.
However, businesses can use apps for workers in other ways too! A retail store can use apps to locate where products are, helping customers find what they need. If you’ve ever been to an Apple Store, you’ll know they use apps to take payments, so there’s no need for customers to spend ages in long lines waiting to pay. A restaurant worker can use apps to take orders and send them to the kitchen, reducing the chances of incorrect orders being made – which boosts customer satisfaction and stops them from wasting money and resources.
As you can see from these three completely different examples, creating or using apps that your employees use will help in multiple ways. It makes your employees’ jobs easier while dramatically improving the customer experience.
Loyalty Apps
Moving back to the idea of apps customers use, why don’t you make a loyalty app? Every business owner should be aware of the advantages of loyalty rewards for customers. As a quick recap, offering loyalty perks can help you:
- Retain more customers
- Gain more new customers
- Increase customer purchases
- Convert more leads into sales
When people feel rewarded for spending money, they will keep on spending money – it’s that simple! Loyalty apps can help you run a loyalty program in various ways. The most common instance is using an app with a QR code. It’s used by retail stores, coffee shops, restaurants, etc. When a customer makes a purchase, they can scan the code and get points, stars, or whatever you want to call it. The more points they generate, the more rewards they can get.
It is possible to implement loyalty rewards in a mobile shopping app too. But, this idea is solely for companies that either don’t want a shopping app or don’t need one. If you do a lot of face-to-face business with customers, getting them to download an app with a loyalty QR code is a wonderful idea. It gives them a better experience because they feel as though every penny they spend goes towards something. They’ll know that the more they spend, the more they will be rewarded in the future.
Account Management Apps
We’ve called them “account management apps” but this is a very broad term for lots of apps that do a similar thing. In essence, your mobile app will be used to display information for customers. They can manage different things about their account or a purchase they’ve made. This concept suits service-based businesses that rely on customers purchasing subscriptions or paying for you to provide them with something.
An account management app gives the customer full control over everything. They can see how much they’re paying, upgrade to a new plan, downgrade to a cheaper plan, see a breakdown of their recent bills, tweak different elements of their account, and so on. They get a much better experience because they feel more involved. Customers are able to see where their money is going and can easily cancel subscriptions or make upgrades without needing to phone anyone up or go back and forth via email.
A great example of this is cell phone contract providers. They all provide apps that let people manage their accounts and see things like how much data is left, how many minutes they can still use, what features they can add to their accounts, and how much they spent in the last month. If your business involves providing customers with something they can change or need to keep track of, then this type of app is a must.
Payment Apps
This is sort of a spin-off version of an account management app, but the aim is to provide one main function: for customers to make payments. They download your app and use it to pay for whatever it is you’re selling. Again, it’s mainly aimed at service-based or subscription businesses, but the idea is that you can send notifications through the app as payment reminders.
Instead of needing to remember when to pay, customers simply log into the app, click a button, and the payment is sent through. It’s a very specific type of app that not every business will utilize – but if you do need regular monthly payments, it’s worth looking into. Particularly if you don’t want to create a full account management app.
We could also talk about payment apps from a POS perspective – though we touched upon that when mentioning apps for workers. A business can use a mobile app as a point of sale, so you can accept more payments without being tied to one payment terminal. It’s a fantastic way of speeding up the payment process in many scenarios.
The six ideas above show you how diverse mobile applications can be. If your business isn’t already using or creating a mobile app, then you need to get started. Look at the different options and consider what type of app will work best for your company. No matter which one you choose, it’s guaranteed to enhance the customer experience. You’ll be left with happier customers, meaning more are likely to return or recommend you to others!
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