With everyone jumping on the app train, it’s no surprise that as of last quarter, 91% of the top 100 brands have a presence in at least one of the major app stores -- or that there are more than 300,000 mobile apps on the market, with more than 30 million downloaded last year. But does launching an app and having downloads really equal success?

“What is the goal of your app?”

If asked “What’s the goal of your app?” do you have a clear, measurable response? What specific behaviors do you want your app to drive? For some companies, it’s monetization by driving in-app purchases or in-store traffic. For others, it’s driving self-care or gathering input and reviews. When you are trusted enough to be downloaded on a personal device, you have a unique opportunity -- which means you need a goal. 

Understanding what drives behaviors 

Once you have your goal defined, ask yourself whether your app is delivering a user experience that influences behaviors aligned to this goal. It’s a matter of understanding -- not guessing-- what drives those behaviors or desired actions. Most companies are using customer data and analytics to some extent, but few are able to automatically determine how best to engage with users and the right time and place for doing this. 

Your app is a two-way street. You provide information, entertainment, or services and the customer provides data in the form of interaction. The way to make the most of your app is to apply analytics to the data culled from interaction with the app, and then use it to influence or “nudge” certain behaviors. 

From downloads to engagement

With capabilities around advanced analytics that incorporate machine learning technology to identify the right context for engaging with a customer, companies not only drive app downloads, but also app usage:

  *Telecom provider: Keep prepaid customers topped up by encouraging the precise behavior that causes them to spend. Don’t just send top up incentives when the prepaid balance reaches a threshold -- predict the rate at which your subscriber will reach expiry and analyze how they consume data, then proactively engage with your customer to stimulate usage.  

 *Pharmaceutical company:  Study context to determine how and when to encourage diabetes patients to input blood sugar levels, identify patterns, and manage supply levels. Identify optimal care, then use the app to nudge the patient to follow the best plan and continue to enter information; even rewarding compliance with retailer discounts on supplies.

*Bank:  Increase transfers to savings accounts by understanding the contexts associated with that behavior.  When a customer makes a one-time deposit into a checking account, for example, or their balance reaches a certain level, take action by delivering the right information or alert at the right time. By understanding when customers are making internal transfers, you can identify how and when to prompt the desired action. 

Although applying analytics to a wealth of behavioral data may sound daunting, context-aware computing technologies are allowing companies to automate this process and leverage the unique opportunity that the mobile channel presents –- engaging their users in new ways. Smart, cloud-based solutions gather, analyze, and even act on the massive amounts of data available to mobile players. This means going far beyond understanding someone’s demographics to determine how best to engage with them through a mobile device, but recognizing the best time and place for proactively doing so.    

Putting your app to work

Think about your mobile presence, think about your customers, and think about how your app can deliver the results you want; whether customer monetization, customer trust, customer loyalty or customer advocacy.  If you have an app, then you have data. The question is -– what are you doing with it? Now it’s time to apply modern analytics to the data for the benefit of you and your customers.