So you’ve decided to equip your business with a mobile loyalty platform. A smart move for any business looking for a competitive advantage, increased foot traffic, and the ability to better engage/research their current customer base.
While it is in fact a “smart move” for some, those who misfire on execution with their mobile loyalty app are left dumbfounded. As a result, the importance of selecting the right solution for your business can’t be understated. Mobile loyalty solutions range from easy to hard, affordable to expensive, and most importantly, wildly successful to dreadfully awful. It’s an important decision.
So, faced with a number of different mobile loyalty app options, which do you choose? What makes one solution better than another, and how can you be sure you’re making the right move for your business?
Not to add any additional pressure, but the impact your mobile loyalty app has on both customers and daily operations could help your business thrive.
Here are some things to consider when it comes to choosing a mobile loyalty app for your business.
User Interface
With the number of available apps – and the impatience of the normal everyday user – businesses really have one chance to prove value with their app. A clunky, unintuitive first experience will leave any consumer with a bad taste in their mouth. For them, it’s disheartening and uninspiring, leading to automatic rejection of the app, and a negative image of your brand in general. Instead, users want something they can learn and use easily, while being able to remain continuously engaged with every use of the app.
Beauty vs. Usability
You’ve surely downloaded a great looking app before. Clean lines, beautiful design, and overall attractiveness. But what happens when the app just flat out fails to perform? Does its beauty make up for lack of usability? Of course not. When you’re looking at mobile loyalty solutions, make sure design doesn’t impede usage. Specifically, minimize the number of steps or clicks a user or employee has to take in order to process a loyalty transaction (e.g. awarding or redeeming points). You’ll be rewarded by continual use and optimal user buy-in.
Process
Your number one goal with your mobile loyalty app? Ease of use/limited disruption. The last thing you want is your app to be a hassle to implement. If store staff have to greatly disrupt their normal everyday processes to redeem loyalty points, time will be wasted, staff will be upset, customer will be upset. Likewise, such wasted time will carry to the customer, causing them to look at the app negatively; the hassle to complete a purchase with the app starts to outweigh the benefit received.
Data Collection
The good of data collection only goes as far as your ability to easily analyze and implement changes based on such data. So, carefully consider what happens when data is collected from consumers and transactions. Do systems automate the processing of info (e.g. sending emails or notifications on your behalf) or does the app require you to intervene – or heaven forbid – hire someone to manually reach out on its behalf? You’re busy…you don’t need yet another marketing system to administer. What you do need is to be able to analyze data through easily-understandable reports that speak to the health of your loyalty program. If it’s too complicated to understand in less than 30 seconds, your solution is far from being a solution.
And don’t forget to be on the lookout for red flags and warning signs. If you find that your loyalty app provider wants to advertise other products/services to your customers, or even worse, that they are directing your customers to the competition through such advertisements and pop-ups, halt all communication right then and there.
Here’s a good habit to get into. Before entering into any relationship with prospective app providers, ask them one simple question: “How do you make your money?” If you’re met with a murky answer that so much as tiptoes on the line of shadiness, walk away.
Support
Let’s face it, any app you’re considering at this point more or less looks like a viable solution. It isn’t until you put things to use that you really test the app’s ability to serve as your mobile loyalty platform. So, do your due diligence. Choose an app with a support staff that will train you on how to use it, while also providing advice in the event you have questions. Trust me, you will have questions.
And it’s not all about getting support on app performance…you need to make sure your provider has a transition process at their disposal for when you want to leave the system. (Yes, even good things must come to an eventual end.) New technologies, needs, and requirements will cause you to always rethink your current setup. Thus, you want a provider who offers support during your use of their app, while also making available a clear option for your transition into another platform or newer version when that day comes.
All in all, there are a number of things to consider when choosing a mobile loyalty app. ClubOvahi not only provides a solution, but we provide the training, support, and data efficiency necessary to make your customer loyalty program a success – and your store the preferred choice among a sea of circling competition. Contact us to find out more.
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