Improved Customer Engagement

It is only a slight exaggeration to say that our phones are surgically attached to us.  For a lot of people, it is the first thing they check in the morning and the last thing they look at before going to bed.  It is literally with us everywhere all the time and, if you have an app, that means your customers can buy from you from anywhere and at anytime.

The convenience of making a purchase or booking a table anywhere without having to call (and listen to dreadful music whilst on hold)cannot be understated.  Your customer can order a takeaway from you whilst they are walking from their office to the car and pick it up on their way home, rather than coming home firing up their laptop and then dragging themselves off the sofa to pick it up!

Another use we will see more off as we return to normal will  be table ordering.  How much nicer would it be to order a round of drinks from your phone and have them delivered to  your table rather than queuing at the bar for 15 minutes and struggling back to the table with a round of drinks?

Not only does this result in a better experience for the customer but it also frees up your staff to focus on the customers that need attention.

Customer Loyalty

A better customer experience will result in higher levels of customer loyalty.  This can be further enhanced by offering a loyalty scheme.  Many small businesses already offer a loyalty scheme using printed stamp cards.  This can easily be incorporated into an App.

Many people have multiple loyalty cards and these can easily be misplaced or forgotten.  Something that we rarely do with our phones.  What’s more, the customer doesn’t have to remember to use their virtual loyalty card it can be automatically applied.

Loyalty cards combined with an anywhere, anytime easy to use app will increase the rate that your customers purchases from you, increasing sales.

Push Notifications

A Push notification is an automated message sent by an application to a user even when the application is not open. 

People in the UK now check their smartphones, on average, every 12 minutes of the waking day. 

So rather than having to wait for your customers to come to you, you can have a message in their hand that they will check at least 5 times per hour!

But there is lot more you can do with Push Notifications.  You can geofence a location, maybe your establishment (or maybe a competitors) and have a message that pings up on the home screen of their phone when they enter or leave a location with an offer to entice them to your premises!

You can also schedule notifications to be sent at regular times.  This could be to promote trade during traditionally quiet times, or a reminder of a regular event, offer or service you provide.



Conclusion

 Mobile Apps are a great way to engage with your customers and improve their experience.  Apps have been shown to increase customer loyalty, increase the average sale value and frequency that customers can buy from you.  So your customers will spend more with you more often!

Throughout the past year we have all become even more reliant on Apps, using them in ways we never thought of previously, booking a table in our local pub, ordering drinks from our table, ordering drinks and food from our table.  Not only are these going to be requirements going forward for social distancing but will also be demanded by customers due to their convenience.

Apps are not just for companies like Amazon and Weatherspoons.  Technology has evolved to make them much more affordable for small businesses.  Allowing them to compete like for like with those giants.

At Overt Digital Media we build apps for small businesses and have seen how they have not only been a lifeline for those businesses allowing them to keep trading throughout lockdowns and tier restrictions but also dramatically improved sales.

With no upfront costs for our apps, just a simple all inclusive monthly fee mobile Apps have never been more affordable for small businesses.

Get in touch to discuss how an app can help you recover faster in 2021!