Is mobile app marketing effective in increasing sales?

Marketers are harnessing the power of mobile apps to increase sales and widen customer database. Most of them believe the mobile app budgets will increase in the coming years to achieve this purpose.

Mobile apps continue to play a big part in internet retailing sector. In a survey conducted by App Annie, it revealed that 65% of the polled app publishers expect growth in the coming years.

According to Internet Retailing, acquiring new users is the top reason why budgets for marketing apps are expected to increase. Getting more revenues placed second while improving customer engagement placed third in the poll.

So what makes mobile app appealing and still relevant in marketing after all these years? Connectivity and convenience. It is not surprising that a lot of brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. are closing down because of dwindling foot traffic in malls. Customers are now doing their shopping online at the convenience of their own homes. The goal of mobile app marketers is to cater to these customers by producing user-friendly apps.

Next year, mobile retail sales around the world are expected to reach $700 billion annually, which makes it more logical to retain mobile apps and increase budgets for them. In 2013, “Cyber Monday” in the U.S., or the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday, recorded mobile retail worth $400 million. Additionally, 40% of customers purchase through a mobile app and not on the brand’s website.

Enhanced customer experience can be achieved through seamless connectivity. Due to the big data that a mobile app has, businesses can tap them to offer their promotions. Buildfire notes that brands can introduce loyalty program to boost sales and encourage spending among clients.

Mobile apps offer convenience to customers as they do their daily activities online. (Source)

Customers do not only use their mobile phones to shop, they also use it to do other daily chores such as banking. As a result, there is an opportunity for B2B collaborations. Jacob Bacon of GradTrain has this to say on how mobile app increased their revenue growth in a Forbes interview: “For GradTrain, most of the revenues come from the B2B side. We forge affiliations and partnerships with universities and other service providers that are interested in international students.”

Since mobile apps can track their client’s activities online, brands can now offer geo-targeted push notifications and geo-targeted advertising. By locating where a client is at any given moment, brands can display sales promotions nearby.

Today, 83% of people in the U.S. always carry with them their mobile phones whenever they leave home. With the advancement of technology such as internet connectivity in various places and emergence of mobile devices, it would be silly for brands not to tap into the huge potential of mobile app marketing to reach out to their target customers.