Step onto any subway car, go into any café, and walk down any street. One thing you’re guaranteed to witness is a smartphone being used. With all of us glued to our screens, going mobile is a crucial marketing strategy for any brand. Furthermore, mobile apps can transform a static enterprise into one teeming with innovation.
By 2020, the enterprise mobile app market is expected to grow to $63 billion. An IBM report claims that more than 80% of organizations recognize the impact of mobile transformation on internal and external stakeholders and have created dedicated teams to work on solutions. While the case for launching your business app is strong, there are both good and bad ways to go about it. In this article, we’re examining how major brands have successfully used apps to unlock new possibilities, improve customer service, and epitomize the notion of enterprise innovation.
1. Starbucks
Starbucks, the most popular coffee chain in the world, also has one of the most popular mobile apps of all time. Starbucks knows that its mobile users are task-oriented. Therefore, the app’s simple layout displays only core functions that allow users to purchase gift cards, locate stores, make a payment, and view the menu.
Furthermore, as we discussed in our previous article on mobile engagement strategies, the Starbucks app built an incredibly lucrative rewards system with immediate “stars” for each purchase, free drink offers, free refills, and drink upgrades. Improving customer service and strengthening brand loyalty, the Starbucks rewards program has resulted in a tremendous increase in profits. As of last year, Starbucks rewards members represented an impressive 18% of Starbucks 75 million customers and drove 36% of sales.
The seamless integration of mobile payment and loyalty is a key ingredient of what makes the Starbucks loyalty program excel. Sean Claessen of Bond Brand Loyalty told Marketing Magazine: “They’ve built utility right into the loyalty program…They are part and parcel of the same interaction, and I think that has been a huge key to their success.”
2. Shell
Global oil and gas giant, Shell, is another brand with a highly successful mobile app. Using the multi-purpose Shell app, users gain access to a variety of unique and innovative features. Like Starbucks, Shell allows its mobile customers to receive special offers through its built-in loyalty card. Prior to the app’s inception, approximately 20 million Shell loyalty members failed to use their loyalty card because they forgot it or left it at home. Serving as a useful tool for vehicle owners to cash in on loyalty points, the Shell app both strengthens brand loyalty and allows Shell to save money on physical loyalty cards.
The Shell app’s Fill Up & Go feature is another innovative solution that allows customers to use PayPal, Apple Pay, or Android Pay to easily pay for gas by scanning a QR code at the pump. Aside from speeding up the refueling experience, Fill Up & Go also collects and keeps track of receipts, helping users manage their expenses. In addition, the Shell Drive feature records and analyzes customers’ journeys with a custom-built framework that uses a smartphone’s GPS signal and accelerometer to retrieve driving behavior data. This system allows motorists to track and monitor how their driving behavior contributes to fuel consumption.
Furthermore, the app uses gamification to allow vehicle owners to compare their performance with other Shell Drivers, earn badges, collect points, and participate in challenges with a chance to win prizes. Boasting a variety of engaging and exciting tools, the Shell app has been downloaded more than 3.5 million times. Profits aside, going mobile has also benefited Shell by allowing the brand to harness useful user data and target customers through beacon and geo-location based services.
3. Domino’s Pizza
Like Starbucks, Domino’s Pizza has one of the most popular apps in the food and beverage industry—and for good reason. The highly effective app is so successful that more than 60% of company orders are executed on digital platforms, rather than by phone. The CEO of Domino’s, Patrick Doyle, once told USA Today: “Domino’s has become something closer to a tech company that sells pizza.”
A normal pizza-ordering scenario involves making a phone call, placing an order, and waiting in anticipation for the delivery person to arrive at the door. The Domino’s app makes life easier for hungry pizza lovers by allowing users to follow the preparation and delivery of their food with a GPS order tracker. By monitoring speed and driving techniques, the tracker has also helped to reduce road incidents by 50%. Domino’s also benefits from the tracker since it provides valuable data on delivery times, traffic, and delivery routes.
Fun gamification features have allowed the Domino’s app to become highly successful by allowing Domino’s to project a brand image that is creative, fun, and innovative. A pizza slot machine feature generates unique orders for indecisive customers. The Pizza Mogul game also allows users to create and name their own ideas for pizzas and gain monetary rewards. When it comes to tech, Domino’s has done it right. While the company was in a slump 10 years ago, Domino’s explosive growth demonstrates the importance of going mobile.
4. Nike
The Nike + Run app by sports footwear and apparel manufacturing giant, Nike, is a fitness training app that helps users plan, measure, and track their running routines. Rather than functioning as a digital marketplace, the Nike app strives to build communities around sports and fitness. By acquiring millions of digital users, Nike has strengthened its brand image and boosted revenues 70% since 2006.
The Nike app measures a user’s running speed, distance, coverage, run time, calorie burn, and more. Allowing users to share their running goals on Facebook and Twitter, the app taps into our universal desire to connect with others and share our achievements. Furthermore, the app prompts users to challenge friends to a race or goal with leaderboards, which contributes to the app’s “stickiness” and gives users a reason to keep using the app.
Additionally, the Nike app is compatible with all generations of Apple Watches. Users are able to scroll down on the main screen to select a goal or start an Audio Guided Run with one of Nike’s coaches and athletes. By pairing the Nike app with wearable technology, Nike is capitalizing on a creative market and taking user engagement to the next level.
5. Sephora
One of the driving forces behind Sephora’s success has been a strategic dedication to embedding the mobile experience into every step of the customer journey—before the shopping trip, in-store, and after. Mary Beth Laughton, SVP of digital at Sephora, said at an Internet Retailer Conference in Chicago: “Mobile really does become the glue for our clients between their interactions with Sephora.”
The Sephora app draws users into stores by providing users with exclusive access to previews and promotions. The app also serves as an in-store companion, allowing customers to book reservations at the Beauty Studio, scan any item, and utilize their Beauty Insider rewards card.
Furthermore, Sephora understands the importance of AR in beauty product shopping, with the Sephora app touting an innovative feature called Sephora Visual Artist. Developed in partnership with AR company, Modiface, Sephora Visual Artist uses facial recognition technology to allow users to virtually try on various makeup products. So far, customers have tried on 200 million shades during more than 8.5 million visits to the Sephora Virtual Artist feature.
Sephora’s focus on personalization and experiences are among the many reasons it is the number one specialty beauty retailer in the world. According to Deborah Neff, Sephora’s VP of Marketing in Canada: “Digital innovation is a major priority for Sephora at the global level.”
Overall, the world is rewarding digital-minded, customer-first, technology-driven brands. Working with our Toronto app developers to create a mobile channel for your business can provide a positive influence on a brand’s bottom line by creating a new way to engage customers with relevant offers and enable brands to collect data from customers to facilitate improved strategic decision-making.
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