Seamless customer experiences never go out of style; yet, sometimes, mobile and digital experiences still clash. U.K.-based fashion app Grabble stitched the two experiences together by investing in mobile deep linking.
Installing a new mind-set
As a fashion app, Grabble curates clothes from various brands and enables users to directly purchase within the app. Emma Cox, head of product for Grabble, says that the brand promotes its app through content, including social media posts and blog partnerships. But she wanted to create a more seamless experience that would prevent new users from dropping off when traveling from the content to the app store.
“There’s millions of [apps], and it’s so competitive,” she says. “These days you have to provide a great user experience and a relevant user experience, or you’ve lost the user. And you never have more attention from your customers than when they’re first downloading your app, and they’re using it for the first time.”
To help overcome this drop-off hurdle, Grabble’s marketers implemented mobile deep linking solution provider Yozio last December.
Linking the two worlds together
According to Yozio, deep linking allows marketers to link a mobile webpage, email, or social media post to a brand’s app screen. And using Yozio Superlinks, marketers can link directly to a particular piece of content within the app, versus a standard home screen. Marketers can also use deferred deep linking to transfer new users who haven’t downloaded the app yet to the app store before redirecting them to the designated app screen.
For example, let’s say that Grabble’s marketers want a fashion blogger to curate a collection for its app. To promote the partnership, that blogger may write about her collection on her own website and then include a customized Yozio Superlink. If mobile readers already have the app, then they’ll be directed straight to the collection screen where they can purchase the curated clothes. But if they haven’t downloaded it, then the link will direct them to the app store. Once they download the app, they’ll be whisked to the screen featuring the blogger’s collection.
Dane Holewinski, Yozio’s cofounder and chief operating officer, says that Yozio’s technology helps solve three of the main problems marketers face: acquiring high-quality users to download the app, ensuring that those users revisit the app, and driving them to convert. “Just acquiring a user, getting them to install your app, is not actually the point,” he notes.
He also says promoting the app through organic channels, as Grabble has done, tends to drive more valuable users, compared to those acquired through paid media.
“These are users who already understand who your brand is, have already interacted with the brand in some way, and have learned about that brand in some way that wasn’t ad-based,” he says.
Downloading great results
Since implementing Yozio’s platform, Cox has seen a “huge” increase in app downloads. Plus, the technology has given her insight into which channels are generating app engagement and downloads. For instance, she says email partnerships (where brands promote the app to their subscriber base) work well in driving downloads.
“It’s basically a brand that they already trust telling them, ‘This is another great brand that you might like,’” she says.
However, Cox knows persuading users to download the app is only half of the battle; getting them to revisit the app is an entirely different feat. “It’s our biggest challenge always,” she says. To keep users engaged, Grabble’s marketers send push notifications and emails. The brand’s team is also considering introducing a referral system to drive word of mouth.
“That word of mouth or recommendation from a friend…that’s the most important thing, we believe, in getting users to sign up,” she says.
Of course, a marketer’s work is never truly done.
“As an app, it’s always about delivering that great experience,” Cox says. “So we’re always looking for how can we simplify, [and] how can we deliver a delightful experience? That’s number one for us.”
