Mobile Apps - Route To Next Gen Mobile Consumer Engagement

Mobile Apps
The Route to Next Gen Mobile Consumer Engagement

Mobile Apps – The Route to Next Gen Consumer Engagement

1

Introduction
1

Introduction

2

Brand Alignment

3

App Engagement Uncovered

4

Case Studies and Examples

5

Push Technology

6

The Next Generation

7

Conclusion

8

About Donky


2

Introduction
According to ABI Research the mobile app industry
is worth $27 billion, which proves that the market
has reached a level of maturity that demonstrates
that not having an app makes a business one of the
minority not the majority.

Many businesses are now rushing to create an app
to remain in the race, not willing to be the last over

the finish line. Executive teams across the globe are
pushing their teams to develop apps as fast as
possible, often without a clear mobile strategy or
plan in place. Unfortunately, this kind of behaviour
can easily cause more harm than good with research
by Harris Interactive showing that 90% of users had
their experience of a brand tarnished by a poorly
performing app; 75% described annoyance and 69%

frustration. Typically these feelings are driven by

Apps

are

becoming

more

and

more

of

a

requirement in consumers’ day to day lives, whether
it’s checking sports results, playing games, looking
at the weather or socialising; they are becoming
reliant on the ever present technology contained in
the device in their pockets.

slow or difficult to navigate apps, where customers
aren’t getting the information they want or expect

If an app is not capable of meeting this expectation,

at an acceptable speed.

it is likely to fall behind in the eyes of the user, and if
they visit the app again, it will be to uninstall it.

In a world where broadband, Wi-Fi and even 3G or
4G speeds are consistent and often lightning fast,

Users’ expectations of business’ online and mobile

the user is expecting every interaction they have

presences have been very high for a while now, and

with their device to occur at the same speed and

are forever on the up, alongside the expansion and

with the same quality.

development of technology. Brands need to focus
on how to identify and meet those expectations

across all their marketing channels.


3

Brand Alignment
A business’ app is the personification of their brand;
it represents them in the mobile space, just as a

• Surprise fans with birthday or special offers; go
over and above what is expected

shop or office does on the high street. Everything
from the interior décor down to the packaging or

• Staff training and product knowledge is incredibly

bag the customer leaves with reminds people of the

important

to

customer

experience,

when

brand and so increases not only brand awareness

customers visit, they need to trust the brand

but positive feelings among their consumer base

implicitly

and target market.
This sort of experience is key to creating a strong
When building an app, a brand should be delivering

fan base among the customers of the brand.

this same level of care and attention to the user as

Businesses everywhere are aware that fans are our

they would an in-store customer. They must think

most loyal supporters and are capable of doing far

about how they would usually engage their

more to market a brand than any advertising

customer base and increase loyalty, for example;

campaign could even hope for. By encouraging
sharing and discussion between

• Create a personal touch by starting direct
conversations with customers

consumers it is

possible to introduce a great way to construct a fan
base which will grow the business and its sales

organically.
• Build trust by rectifying mistakes in a timely
manner and taking clearly communicated steps
to prevent them occurring again
• Ask their opinion, regular customer surveys can
provide valuable feedback and suggestions as
well as making consumers feel more engaged

and needed


4

App Engagement
Uncovered
Amazingly, apps are reducing the use of even

• Show-rooming has become an almost staple part

mobile browsers. A recent Nielsen study showed

of our shopping experience; users are finding the

that 87% of U.S. consumers spent the majority of

best products and prices online or in app whilst

their time on a mobile app rather than a mobile

on the move.

browser – up from 81% last year and 73% two years
ago. So as more and more consumers want to

According to a new study from Localytics, 26% of all

spend time on their smartphones in-app, what are

apps downloaded are opened just once, and then

brands doing to deliver a rich and engaging app for

never used again. To ensure an app doesn’t fall into

them to use?

that group, it’s imperative that it services a defined
user need.

It seems not enough, as many are consistently
failing to recognise user behaviours and tailor their

In the last 12 months 51.64% of top app downloads

offering to match.

have been gaming apps followed at some distance
by productivity apps at 16.25%. Branded apps

The following app behaviours can be observed in

hardly features here at all, exposing their weakness

everyday life, in ourselves, friends, family or even

in not first understanding a user need before

strangers, but how often do marketers pay attention

developing their app.

to what is happening around them?
• Social apps allow us to stay up to date, not miss
the latest news, photo or story to share with
friends or family; interesting to note that 60% of
twitter users access it through their mobile.
• Gaming apps are addictive, creating a desperate
need within us to complete the next level or

compete with a friend; for example Angry Birds
now has nearly 2 billion downloads.


5

App Engagement
Uncovered
Businesses are often only creating what could be

Another noteworthy fact is that of the 29 apps

termed “outbound only” apps where users are

installed on the average device, 10 are used each

unable to engage with each other or the brand. The

month and 8 are paid apps; showing that given the

need for 2-way communications in every platform

right set of tools or engaging content, users are

has become patently obvious over the past decade,

happy to pay. For example, the latest craze of Candy

so why aren’t brands delivering this to their app

Crush Saga by King.com has users spending vast

users?

quantities of money on a seemingly pointless game,
just to beat the next level. Further demonstrating

Interestingly, the variation between devices in terms

the proposed analysis that users are addicted to

of types of app used is huge:

their phones, and all brands need to do is present
them with something useful enough to latch onto.


6

Case Studies &
Examples
Having discussed the importance and relevance of a

Although the app is currently iOS only and requires

mobile app for businesses, and how consumer

the user to be connected to the internet to access it,

engagement with apps is really reflected in most of

it shows a distinct growth spurt in terms of

their “outbound only” methodologies that don’t

producing an application on the basis of fulfilling a

reflect behaviours. It is important to note here, that

user requirement as opposed to ticking the

there are examples of businesses pushing the

proverbial box.

boundaries with their apps and creating new,
interactive and engaging app experiences to help

This interactive manual is a fantastic tool to allow

develop their brand personality in the eyes of the

users to lose their battered hard copies in favour of

consumer.

an entirely mobile alternative. However, the addition
of a forum style connection with Audi might allow

Below are just some of the examples that can be

users to ask questions and request information from

observed, of companies taking the next stage in

Audi; increase the 2-way interactions within the app.

terms of app development.

Audi Augmented Reality

Smart Starbucks
The coffee chain has combined several key mobile

The car manufacturer in partnership with Metaio has

marketing features into its app. It all began with the

created an interactive manual for their A1 and A3

store locator, which is still a large component of the

products, allowing users to browse the features and

program.

functions of the cars as well as details of over 300

smartphone as a loyalty card, making it easier to

different car parts. All the data for the app is pulled

manage balances and reload money. In some stores,

from the cloud, allowing it to be accessed at all

the mobile device can actually be used to pay for

times by the user.

purchases.


The

Starbucks

app

also

uses

the

7

Case Studies &
Examples
One of the highlights of this app is the ability to

Other features include photo, allowing users to take

create personalised drinks. It adds a game-like

pictures with the phone, and then upload them to

element that encourages shoppers to be creative

their Walgreens photo album and pick up the prints

and explore the full line of Starbucks products. For

within the hour, along with more prosaic features,

the health-minded, the app also includes nutritional

like a store finder and coupon information.

information about its food and beverages. It’s a
good example of how brands can make details

A great addition to such a 2-way and engaging app

about their merchandise accessible in a fun, new

would be a chat function, allowing users to

way.

communicate with the pharmacy to ask questions in
a controlled, secure environment – or arrange

By creating an element of gamification in their app,

appointments. Walgreens could also consider using

Starbucks has instantly enabled an additional

rich advertising to promote offers for photography

stream for users to further engage, they could

or coupons.

extend

this

by

creating

a

user

to

user

communication environment to allow consumers to
share their newly created drinks with one another.
Also the use of in-app rich advertising could

promote seasonal drinks or offer coupons for
frequent users.

Walgreens Pharmacy
Flurry chose the drug store chain's app for its "Refill

by Scan" feature, which lets customers order
prescription refills by scanning the barcode directly
off the pill bottle. Users can also receive push
notification reminders when prescriptions are ready
to be refilled.


8

Push Technology
Push notification systems on mobile operating

Small means a limit of 256 bytes which equates to

systems act as a method of notifying the handset an

128 characters, and although sending a message

installed application has data waiting for it from an

this small is perfectly acceptable, in the case of SMS

external system. It is referred to as push as the client

for example; often businesses might have more

establishes a connection into the push notification

information to share with their users.

servers and only has data pushed down to it when a
notification is pending, therefore avoiding costly
polling. In general data is pushed from external
system to the mobile operating systems push
servers and then down to the handset when
available.
For mobile marketers this means a way to push out
updates, offers, promotions or news to their app.
Not a new technology the service is available for all
major

smartphone

operating

systems

and

is

completely optional for the end user. It’s reasonably

simple to opt-in/out of any push notification from
within the app settings. This means that it provides
a

great

way

to

safely,

and

consensually

communicate with an engaged mobile audience
with outbound content.
However, push is not without its limitations, it allows
for a very short (small) message to be transmitted

containing only plain text.


9

Push Technology
Further to this, push notifications are not usually
stored in an inbox, once clicked or dismissed they
are gone and the user cannot retrieve them if
required. Providing this sort of feature within an app
can dramatically increase engagement and re-visits;
imagine

if

the

service

could

offer

2-way

communications.
By triggering push notifications based on interests,
location or time-zone (the simplest of targeting
tools) a business can reach its customers with
messages that are relevant and timely. When the
user clicks on the notification they are brought to
the app, where hopefully their attention will be held.
There is no facility for driving consumers to a
specific area of the app; they are just dropped on
Push is also an outbound only solution allowing an
app to transmit to the mobile but not allowing the
user to respond.
Another and usually unnoticed aspect of push
technology is that it completely lacks any reporting.
How are modern marketers managing without their
usual in depth analytics and information? From

the homepage as if they had launched it manually.
Although push is a very interesting tool for
increasing engagement and driving app usage it is
reasonably limited in terms of how much it actually
has to offer marketers and as a result, businesses
should be looking for more alternative technologies
to enthuse their customers.

every campaign deployed there should be a simple
expectation of reporting around how engaged our
audience is, and how connected they are with our
brand or offer.


10

The Next Generation
It has become clear during this whitepaper that

Furthermore, simply delivering that content without

apps are becoming more and more relevant in the

a specific targeted approach, personal to the user

wake of the smartphone revolution. Consumers

will not create the same experience that the user

don’t just like apps; they need them. They’re

would receive if they were to visit a brand in person.

entertainment, a news source and education. As

Companies branching out into mobile now must

people get busier, apps help them stay on top of

find a way to bring the targeted nature of other

things and keep them connected in a world that

direct marketing techniques (email, SMS) to their

moves as fast as they can tweet it.

apps.

Mobile app technology of the upcoming few years

It’s interesting to note at this stage that research by

must be capable of increased user interaction and

SAP shows that men and women have different

2-way engagement instead of a one way delivery of

expectations when it comes to apps. Women want

content.

simplicity and look for an easy-to-use interface that
takes them to the end result as painlessly as
possible. Men, on the other hand, are interested in
functionality and whether an app properly serves its


11

The Next Generation

purpose. It seems that in general consumers are

Businesses need to be able to tie all mobile (as well

looking for an app that makes them more

as other channel) communications together to

productive, so there would be limited value (if any at

create an omni-channel connection with their users.

all) in producing an app that does nothing for the

Once technology allows everyone to clearly tie the

user.

user of an app to a view on the desktop site or to a
purchase

in

store,

brands

will

be

able

to

As well as helping businesses deliver and receive

communicate effectively to their customers with one

content from the user, mobile technology of the

united voice. Avoiding a situation with some brands

future must be capable of linking back all that

at the moment, where customer experiences can be

activity to a central CRM or marketing database,

muddled by old data or duplication of contacts.

from which all consumer analytics are calculated.


12

Conclusion
This whitepaper has uncovered that the app

Simply delivering a nice looking app is no longer

industry is enormous; its value is constantly being

enough; businesses must meet these expectations

contested between the two biggest players, Apple

and in fact exceed them to please the user.

and Android. iOS continues to lead the market and
generates over two-thirds of the revenues for

Customer service is hugely important to the success

smartphone and tablet. This seems to expose that

of any business in any sector, and it is the most

although Android apps outnumber Apple apps, iOS

appreciated

users are much happier to part with money to enjoy

consumers want to be treated well and are willing to

their apps.

pay for it. Two thirds of consumers say that a

of

all

aspects

of

the

business;

positive customer experience caused them to spend
Smart marketers need to drive their efforts towards

more and eight out of ten would pay up to 25%

those iOS users and meet their needs in order to

more for a superior service (thedrum.com 2013).

drive revenue and m-commerce through their apps.
The current rush to develop an app to complete a

Although these statistics reference the in-store retail

task is not an effective way to deliver ground-

space, it is not a huge stretch to assume that those

breaking and engaging technology to the user, it is

people would also be happy to part with more

simply not going to meet their expectations and as

money to improve the experience they get in app.

has already been mentioned, do more harm than
good.

Current simple push technology is not enough to
excite users; it isn’t going to help businesses build

Users are expecting the same level of care and

interactions like they would in email or in-store

attention they would receive in store, they want

campaigns and that’s what needs to be achieved.

instant access and smooth, intuitive design and
navigation. Apps need to work as well as the best

There are many companies out there already

desktop sites, if not better; as they are smaller, more

working on creating apps that deliver the kind of

compact

interactivity the user is expecting, as covered earlier

technology.

and

using

a

more

sophisticated

in this paper.


13

Conclusion
Creating solutions that save people time and energy

More important however, is the fact that even those

and make interacting with the brand not only useful,

who are currently excelling, can be improved upon;

but fun!

there is always more to offer and brands that lead
the way must always be looking for the next-gen

Gamification like in the Starbucks app is a fantastic

technology to deliver rich, exciting, engaging and

way to engage users and keep a brand in the

targeted content to their users, through their app.

forefront of their minds; and more than that make
them fans.


14

About Donky
There is a clearly demonstrated missing link within
the mobile industry, where brands simply aren’t
willing or able to tie their in-app experience to that
of in-store. Donky is a new technology developed
for in-app engagement to help businesses increase
consumer engagement and interaction through
their apps, and as a result customer loyalty. It also
offers some particularly unique solutions to increase
app lifespan and make an app one of the 10 that are
downloaded and used every month (if not more).

Simple Push
Donky takes push a step further by using push
notifications as a simple way to notify the user and

2-way Push
Donky begins to demonstrate its power when this
service is used. The “duplex push network” as Donky
calls it, allows 2-way conversations to take place
between the user and the business, using push
channels as a wake up services as opposed to the
delivery system. This feature is actually based on an
OTT network.
Top Features
• Create conversations with users
• Enable an inbox for users to send and receive
from
• Attach images to messages

bring them back to the app where they can share,
engage and communicate to their hearts content.
By utilising Donky messaging, brands can create an
in-app environment to build engagement, loyalty
and trust with their users and ensure they continue
to use that app over anyone else’s.
Top Features
• Wake up the phone with a notification that must
be read
• Drive traffic back to an app to increase
engagement
• Deploy to iOS and Android phones


15

About Donky
Rich Messages

Social Chat

The next generation of push messaging; create

Enable app users to communicate with their

personal, rich and engaging content to deliver to

contacts over a dedicated OTT network through the

customers. No need to involve a technical team;

app. Drive increased engagement within the app

simply use Donky’s Campaign Builder to create

and encourage longer stays in-app by creating an

HTML app pages containing media such as images,

in-app eco-system where users can chat, share

videos and coupons.

content and socialise.

Top Features

Top Features

• Send rich content out to app users and use

• P2P in-app OTT network to allow users to

replies to engage them
• Create advertising or offers with HTML and
images
• Drop the prefabricated inbox straight in with
minimal development time

communicate with one another from within the
app
• User tracking and management to prevent fraud
and trolling
• Allow user to share and converse without ever
leaving the app


16

donky

17

Mobile Apps - Route To Next Gen Mobile Consumer Engagement

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