The days of design just for the sake of design seem to be long since gone when it comes to digital media.
Digital designers now days focus on human interaction. This change has designers looking at use rather than simply creating designs.
Usability is where advantage lies in today’s marketplace.
A UI | UX design company with top digital designers will bury themselves in the world of customers. They look at projects from the customer’s point of view and create user interfaces to meet their needs as intuitively as possible. These firms check ego at the door and concentrate on how things are used.
As Steve Jobs famously stated, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Looking forward, mobile and digital design will be grounded in a customer centric approach, focusing on use in a way to empower consumers. More and more businesses will see the success of those focusing on the user experience and follow their lead.
But keep in mind it isn’t just a design trend that is propelling customer centric design. Consumers are becoming progressively less patient, if web sites and mobile apps are not immediately easy to use, a customer will not take the time to learn how to use it and a sales opportunity may be lost. It is essential in the modern marketplace to provide tools that are easy to use.
Companies that have taken the plunge and focus on design have outperformed the S&P 500 by 219 percent between 2004 and 2014 (Design Management Institute). Clearly a focus on design pays off.
One of the hottest trends within the world of user experience design is Contextual UX.
Contextual UX allows a system to adaptive to the needs of a user. Contextual UX also allows for a system to integrate situational context. A great example of contextual UX are the ‘Recommendations for you” sections on Amazon.com or the sections called “Inspired by your browsing history”. Amazon is delivering content based on the individual needs of each user.
By balancing effective customer centric design with personalized content delivery the needs of the customer are addressed to increase interaction and improve the experience for each user.
Photo: Juhan Sonin (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1LyEomI
Customers abandon shopping carts with items in them for a wide variety of reasons.
What can a business do to draw them back and encourage them to proceed with check out for their purchase?
A well-timed push notification can be an effective way to remind your mobile apps visitors that they have forgotten items.
How do you grab users’ attention and brings them back?
By delivering well written content that takes into account the customers themselves at a proper time.
There are three key parts to get right with this strategy. Make sure you discuss these items with your iPhone application developer or Android application developer before starting your mobile application development project so they can plan ahead to best serve your needs.
Message
Your message needs to not only grab the user’s attention but also give them a reason to come back and re-engage with your mobile app.
Typically the two factors that make the push notifications effective are sound copy and personalization.
Consider the effect a message like “You left an item in your shopping cart” as compared to “Hi Jan, the Stone Band Ring you selected is still in your shopping cart. Would you like to checkout now?” Clearly one is more inviting and likely to encourage action.
Don’t forget to utilize A/B testing with multiple messages to see which message works best for your user base. While the first message you write may sound great it might not be the right message for your audience.
Personalization
Personalization involves so much more than just including a users name in a push notification. With data you can determine the interests and preferences customers have. Customers often choose to opt-in to data programs to allow businesses to deliver content that reflects their interests and a business should not ignore the ability to improve their app by using data.
Relevant messages get results and with data you can make sure you are sending push notifications that fall within the interests of users. Send pushes to customers who have items in their cart that fall within the usual types of items they purchase. If you have a customer that regularly buys books but has a post card in their shopping cart, this probably isn’t the best time to send them a push. First of all, this items falls outside of their usual purchase patterns and it is also a low value item. Developing a set of perimeters to send out push notifications based on customer preferences and appropriate scenarios.
Consider sending pushes to clients with multiple items in their cart or higher value items. You want to send out push notifications that seem significant and not like spam to users.
Timing
The timing of a push notification can have a huge effect on how it is received.
There is no hard and fast rule. Experiment with different time frames to determine what works best for your consumers. Send out your message too soon and you seem eager, but wait to long and the customer may have lost interest in the item. Try sending out a notification 24 hours after the cart was abandoned and experiment from there.
Push notifications sent at appropriate times will be most effective and easiest for customers to open, while apps send in the middle of the night with leave a bad impression. Timing is important as users are more likely to act on messages received at convenient times, such as at lunch time or after work.
Conclusion
When customers abandon items in the cart on your app don’t feel like that sale been lost. With an effective push notification strategy these customers can be encouraged back to complete their purchases.
Photo: Jorge Quinteros (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1TqLahK
Mobile has gone from the next big thing to businesses finding themselves in a position where if they are not mobile ready they run the risk of rapidly becoming irrelevant to the marketplace. You don’t need to do much more than walk down the sidewalk one day and spend some time dodging the people looking at their mobile phones to realize just how big mobile is right now.
If you want to connect with your customers, mobile is essential in the modern marketplace.
If you want to get the most out of your mobile application development makes sure you look at the latest trends before speaking with an iPhone application developer or Android application developer. Here are 5 mobile trends predominate in 2015:
Data is key
Data not only helps target ads and increase conversions but allows you to deliver personalized content that is relevant to your users to increase engagement. You have no doubt seen how Google and Facebook use data to try and deliver the most relevant ads possible. The same type of logic can be applied to the content on your application.
Mobile applications that do not take advantages of the opportunities presented by using data are essentially throwing darts in the dark and not delivering content to an established target. Content and ads that are delivered based on the interests of a particular user catch the interest of users and improve engagement.
Leverage location
Utilizing location in your mobile program is a must. Adding location data into your program will allow you to add context into your marketing program. Tracking location on a mobile device is simple so there is no reason not to be leveraging location data. Studies have shown mobile messaging and ads are most effective within 5 miles of a businesses location so make sure you take this into account when you start developing your mobile application.
Interactive ads improve engagement
With the mobile market maturing we are seeing interactive ads starting to stand out and increase user engagement and acquisition. There is a sense that interactive ads are fresh and new. Additionally interactive ads can give users a feeling of being in control, engaging the user on a personal level. Compared to static ads, interactive ads are shown to increase a drive in sales, which means this trend is likely to stick around.
Native ads continue to grow
If you haven’t heard the term, native advertising describes a trend where ads emulate the look and feel of the apps or mobile websites where they appear. These ads typically are displayed as blogs, videos and infographics that are designed to entertain and enlighten the viewers without expressly promoting a particular brand. Native ads usually discuss topics related to products or services the company is offering and provide valuable information to users.
Video ads are popular
As the size of phones increases and cell phone service improves we are seeing video ads getting more popular. Video is more engaging than text or image based ads. They let advertisers tell a compelling story to entice customers in a way that other ad formats cannot match. Additionally video is a hot trend in general in the mobile world so video ads fit within a media format that is rapidly increasing in popularity.
While these trends are hot across the industry as a whole, make sure you analyze you brand and apps to see how each of these can fit in and remember that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work with mobile. Find the opportunities in your trends that will for for you and your users.
Photo: Sharon & Nikki McCutcheon (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1AFxqtz