Implementation Strategies to Increase Return on Investment

In order to increase return on investment, marketers are focusing more on channels they can trust, and applications are at the forefront of this trend. More businesses are now turning to advanced implementation strategies because they yield better business results, such as increasing customer loyalty and lifetime value.

How can you ensure that your brand makes a difference in this period when consumers' expectations for multi-channel experiences are increasing and more applications are becoming available?

At Google, we've had the privilege of working with hundreds of advertisers who are using apps to accelerate business growth. Through years of experience we have learned what works well. Here are three areas to prioritize when formulating or redesigning your app strategy to delight consumers and drive profitable growth.

1. Increase ROI with seamless omnichannel experiences

Consumers today use apps to do things that previously couldn't be done without owning a laptop, making a phone call, or even driving across town. Do you remember the days when you waited in line at the bank? Today, many financial institutions offer applications that bring the bank branch to the customer's pocket. Many new banks are choosing to completely abandon physical branches and make their applications the focal point of customer experience.

Customers are increasingly turning to apps as a valuable shopping aid that they can use in-store. 78% of smartphone-owning customers say they have used a retailer's app when shopping in-store in the last 12 months.

Where does this behavior come from? Apps packed with features such as offering inventory and price checks, enabling quick coupon searches, and even giving users the convenience of automatically sorting items on their shopping lists so they can navigate store aisles efficiently can provide unique value to customers that will enhance their in-store experience. Therefore, as consumer expectations increase and the difference between online and offline experiences becomes more blurred, marketers need to adapt to the process by eliminating internal organizational differences.

We have achieved outstanding results with App Connect. Return on investment increased by 75%.

Marketers are also leveraging new technological solutions to create better experiences across brand touchpoints. For example, Web to App Connect helps direct customers who have installed your application to the most relevant content within the application after clicking your ad. Thus, both customer experience improves and campaign performance increases. Web to App Connect provides an average of 2x higher conversion rates for in-app clicks compared to clicks directed to mobile websites.

Online fashion retailer Boohoo is a strong example of how Web to App Connect can increase revenues. Like many companies, Boohoo's mobile app users have higher conversion rates than other customers. However, the brand's customary digital advertising campaign, which adopted the practice of directing all users to the website, was resulting in a less-than-perfect experience for app users.

To remedy this situation, the team used Web to App Connect to offer a seamless experience that directs customers directly to interesting content in the mobile application and increases conversions. Nicola Black, Boohoo's Senior Manager of Paid Media, explains: "We've delivered outstanding results. Return on investment has increased by 75%."

2. Increase both loyalty and profits with existing and new customers

When a user downloads a particular brand's app and places it on their home screen, that brand has a rare opportunity to establish a direct, one-on-one relationship with the customer. Retailers are taking advantage of this opportunity by offering extra convenience to app users with features such as in-store navigation, faster payment and special discounts.

We see that this approach works. Retail brands that design app journeys that increase brand loyalty have a 32% higher Net Promoter Score than retailers that don't follow the same path. The majority of retailers are also deriving increasing business value from app users. A whopping 87% of retailers agree that app users are more engaged and have higher lifetime value than non-app customers. Moreover, 83% of retailers think that app users tend to shop more than non-app users.

With there being an app for almost everything these days, it's crucial to let customers know that your app is available. One of the best ways to inform customers about this is to leverage the power of promotion using app campaigns in Google Ads. App campaigns powered by Google AI allow you to use your own creatives and targets to promote your app across Google's largest properties in just one paid campaign.

These campaigns are very effective at reaching new customers quickly and at scale, and can even help you improve organic performance. According to Data.ai, 45% of Amazon's app activity comes from paid installs. In this case, it is possible to say that Amazon's app strategy played an important role in the 17 percentage point increase in the company's e-commerce share between 2016 and 2021.

However, it is also worth remembering the following points: Getting users to download your application does not guarantee that they will use your application. With only a 37% push notification activation rate among consumers who download apps from different categories, it can be difficult to keep the majority of app users informed about discounts, features, and other news.

Fortunately, it is possible to overcome this problem. One of the ways to achieve this is to have a re-engagement strategy that you can also reach through app campaigns. By leveraging this approach, you can re-engage specific customers. For example, you can show an ad promoting a new offer within the app to users who made a purchase immediately after downloading your app, but then stopped using the app.

3. Augment first-party data for long-term success

With reduced access to cookies, advertising IDs, and other personal identifiers, the future of marketing requires a strong foundation of first-party data collected with consent. Effectively measuring conversions and reaching consumers with relevant ads will become a basic necessity.

Apps are a valuable tool that sets you up for success by creating an engaging value exchange with customers.

Apps are a valuable tool that sets you up for success by creating an engaging value exchange with customers. A strong example of this is an application that offers users a seamless and efficient shopping experience.

The masses, especially young consumers, have come to expect to encounter as few problems as possible when making purchases. In a recent study conducted globally, Generation Z (45%) and Generation Y (48%) are more likely to say that a retailer's ability to save account and payment information plays an important role in their decision to shop regularly from that retailer, compared to Generation X (36%) and Boomers. (28%). Considering that Generation Z constitutes approximately 30% of the world's population, we can say that this generation is rapidly turning into the new power of shopping. Brands have to appeal to the special habits and preferences of this generation in order to adapt to developments.

However, a strategy is required to collect this information. When customers feel that their data is under their control, they have confidence in entrusting their data to the brand in question. In a survey of app developers about effectively collecting first-party data, we found that it's important to follow three common best practices.

First, you must be transparent with users about how their information will be used in your app. Second, you must provide users with a better experience when sharing information with you through your app. Finally, in exchange for the value you provide users, you should encourage them to create an account and log in within the app.

As consumers begin to spend more time with apps, successful marketers will find new opportunities to build direct relationships between their brands and customers. Thus, those who prioritize superior quality application journeys and application solutions will be positioned to delight consumers and increase the return on investment of their businesses in the coming years.