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Implement the top 15 mobile app marketing tactics for your Shopify store

An e-commerce mobile app is the best medium to drive sales for your Shopify store.

Since mobile apps have a higher conversion rate than mobile websites, generating sales from your app won’t be an issue. However, you will only get success when customers download and use it. That’s where e-commerce mobile app marketing comes in as a top priority for your Shopify store.

Whether you are turning your Shopify store into an app or it’s still in the pre-development planning stages, you need to start brainstorming marketing ideas for your Shopify app.

Unlike promoting a traditional product or service, marketing a mobile app for e-commerce is not the same. You need to take a unique approach to this route.

In this post, we will guide you about how to implement the best mobile app marketing tactics for your e-commerce app. Let’s have a look:

1. Build hype early

It will be too late if you wait until the launch day to promote your e-commerce mobile app. It is ideal to start promoting your Shopify app as early as possible.

The sooner you get exposure to your app, the more successful it will be in the future.

If you start promoting your app in the early stages of the development, it builds anticipation in the minds of your customers. That means, when the app launches, they will be ready to download it and start shopping immediately.

Although building an early hype is an old psychological marketing strategy, but works really well.

2. Leverage your website for app promotion

If you go through all of the effort to build a mobile app, try not to let those efforts go to waste. Else, you will be failing to promote it on your biggest platform, that is your website.

Try not to make the mistake of thinking that customers will go to a great extent to find your app. It is important to make the course of action as easy as possible for them.

You cannot just say that you have a mobile app on your website. You have to provide a direct link to download the app for both iOS and Android. Else, it reduces your chances of getting a download with each additional step.

3. Showcase your app in confirmation emails

Make the best use of your email list if you want to promote your app through distribution platforms that have great exposure to the market.

Conformation emails outperform every other type of marketing email. That is because these emails have higher open rates, click-through rates, and viewing time. Also, they generate the highest revenue per email sent.

Depending on the confirmation email, each app promotion should have a slightly different angle. For example, ‘use the app for faster ordering’ works for an order confirmation message. However, if you use something like ‘track shipping status directly in the app’ for both shipping and delivery emails, it will work great. This makes users download your e-commerce mobile app.

4. Offer an incentive for downloads

mobile app discounts

According to the stats, the average person has between 60 and 90 apps installed on their device. However, 77% of their time is spent on just three apps. Also, 75% of mobile apps are only used once and then and never used again.

Consumers are not going to download another app to clutter their phones unless they have a good reason. Therefore, you need to tell people how your mobile app that is built using Shopify mobile app builder will benefit them personally.

Monetary incentives help get more downloads. For example, you can offer something along the lines of 20% off on the first purchase, using the app.

If you want your Shopify mobile app to continue being used, consider adding some value to the customers’ life when you are marketing it.

5. Look for guest posting opportunities

A blog can increase the exposure for your brand and the app. However, publishing them only on your website limits the acquaintance of an audience that already knows who you are.

You can use your blog for mobile app marketing through guest blogging.

Guest blogging increases the exposure of your app to an entirely new audience. All you need is to find the right opportunities to use Google search strings as a resource. For example:

  • ‘Keyword’ + ‘write for us’
  • ‘Keyword’ + ‘guest blog’
  • ‘Keyword’ + ‘guest post guidelines’

Instead of promoting your app directly, you can simply include a download link embedded within the content.

6. Use influencer marketing to your advantage

Similar to guest blogging, influencer marketing also has many benefits. The only difference between the two is that you need to pay for an influencer to promote your app.

A recent study states that 28% of online marketing managers named influencer marketing the fastest-growing customer acquisition strategy. Also, 67% of brands say they plan to increase their influencer marketing budgets in the next 12 months.

The reason behind the efficacy of influencer marketing is the trust of consumers on these people.

If you want to exercise this strategy, you don’t need to work with professional athletes, singers, or famous actors to get success. Instead, you can partner with micro-influencers who have a strong reach within your niche. That would be much more cost-effective.

You could even accumulate influencer relationships by offering them free merchandise in exchange for a post about your e-commerce mobile app.

7. Use SEO best practices

Everything you see and read is completely driven by SEO (Search Engine Optimization). From a marketing campaign to mobile app e-commerce marketing promotions, everything needs to be developed with SEO in mind.

If you are using your website as a promotional tool for your Shopify app, it can work when people are actually visiting your website.

93% of all website experiences start with a search engine. Just take a moment to put yourself in the shoes of a prospective app user.

Utilizing SEO best practices to your app landing page and top-performing pages not only helps in promoting your new e-commerce mobile app but also helps in driving traffic to those pages. In turn, this traffic increase will ultimately boost your Shopify app downloads.

8. Create an in-app referral program

Building up an in-app referral program allows app users to invite their friends to download the app in the exchange of offers, discounts, and deals. The referred user gets some discount on their first purchase, and the customer who referred them gets an account credit once that transaction happens.

This mobile app marketing strategy gives your current users an incentive to invite as many people as possible.

Everyone trusts a referral. About 92% of consumers say they trust a recommendation that comes from someone they know.

Therefore, it’s a great way to get downloads from people who will buy something from your new Shopify mobile app.

9. Improve app discoverability with App Store Optimization

Along with SEO, you also need to focus on ASO (App Store Optimization) if you want to ensure that your app is easily discovered when a user searches for relevant keywords on the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

Depending on the availability of your app on iOS and Android, the best practices of ASO vary. If, for example, your Shopify mobile app is built for iOS users, and you are thinking of developing one for Android, you cannot assume that ASO tactics will work the same for Google Play Store, as well.

10. Run a contest, or giveaway promotion

Contests, giveaways, and other promotions are a great way to get people excited about downloading your Shopify mobile app. These tactics are one of the best app marketing ideas for e-commerce.

Offering people giveaways have many additional benefits. For example, ‘download, share and win’ promotion using social media channels, like Instagram. It is the best place to run a contest because the engagement rates are higher compared to regular posts.

Let’s understand how it works:

To participate, users need to download your app, share it on their profile, and tag your brand for a chance to win. You can even choose the parameters for the prize and how many winners you are going to select.

Always include a deadline in such promotions. This creates a sense of urgency among people that let them start participating immediately.

Moreover, it is free marketing for your e-commerce app and combines the advantages of offering incentives, influencer marketing, and referrals into one campaign.

11. Leverage free distribution platforms

Getting users to the app doesn’t need to cost a fortune. You just need to enhance your presence on social media channels. Have a profile set up on the following platform:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Twitter

Research your target audience to know about the platforms they are using the most. That way, you can prioritize your posts for social media marketing.

If you build a Shopify app that sells products intended for younger generations, you can even consider setting up accounts on Snapchat and TikTok.

12. Facebook ads

advertising

Free app marketing is ideal to choose from the many paid ones. However, there is nothing wrong if you want to go with paid ads if that falls within your budget.

If you have created an app and haven’t established your brand name, you will be limited in terms of social media, reach with a few hundred or a thousand followers.

The best way is to use Facebook ads that allow you to reach and target certain people. That’s because Facebook has specific ad campaign objectives for driving app installs. You can even get detailed reports to measure the results of your ads. This way, you will get to know if your campaigns are driving app downloads.

13. Geofencing PPC with Google ads

If, for instance, you have physical brick-and-mortar store locations along with the Shopify website and e-commerce app, geo-fencing with Google PPC is something you should consider.

Geofencing PPC is a Google Ads tool that allows you to target customers in a specific area. The area can be based on neighborhoods, zip codes, or areas near your store. That way, you can trigger an ad when a customer walks by your shop, into one of your stores, or visit a website in the Google advertising network.

14. Create a customer loyalty program

Integrating a loyalty reward program into your Shopify app encourage your existing customers to spend more money.

It becomes an indirect promotion of the app and its benefits. Understand how:

If customers want to receive rewards, they need to log in to their customer profile. This won’t be a hassle when they are shopping from a mobile app. Customers can easily track and receive benefits associated with the program. They will know precisely how many rewards they have earned for the month, year, or given time frame.

15. Encourage and promote app reviews

Reviews and ratings about your app can impact ASO.

Besides ASO, you should highlight the top app reviews on your website and social media platforms. It will make more impact on the users. That’s because such reviews and ratings motivate people to download and use your app.

Most people generally won’t go out of their way to write a review unless they had a good or poor experience. However, 90% of the users will fall somewhere in the middle.

You can provide incentives and send popups that will encourage people to write reviews for your Shopify app.

Market your Shopify app now!

Mobile app marketing for your e-commerce store is crucial to the success of your app. All you need is to come up with creative marketing ideas for your Shopify app. It is the best way to build your brand name and drive downloads.

Implementing 15 mobile app marketing tactics for your new Shopify e-commerce mobile app can get overwhelming. However, you don’t need to use all of them at once. Depending on the status of your app, you can pick one or more marketing strategies to start with.

If your Shopify app is still in development and needs a different marketing approach, you can contact us for tips, tricks, and e-commerce app tools you need to ensure your Shopify app is successful.

Moreover, if you want to build one,convert your Shopify Store into an app for Android and iOS users with a few simple drag and drop options in a code-free environment.

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