Responsible AI: The  Crucial Input-Output Equation
Speakers were in broad agreement that AI is not a job-replacer but a task-automator. Lilac Ilan, Head of Global Telco at NVIDIA, emphasized the importance of data accuracy over sheer volume, stressing that the effectiveness of AI hinges on the intended purpose. Don McGuire, CMO of Qualcomm, shared insights into their dual chatbot strategy, one for internal use, which has been trained on the company’s internal data only, and a second for external use, which has been trained on public data. Depending on the type of query, one may be more relevant than the other. 

Adding to the importance of data accuracy, organizations must avoid feeding sensitive data into AI models to ensure private information remains private. There needs to be a stringent, secure and controlled environment for handling AI input, according to Joachim Jonkers, Director of Product and AI at Sinch. Companies like Qualcomm are already putting AI vetting committees in place to help ensure the AI meets all company requirements before being deployed widely. Airship’s Chief Legal & Administrative Officer, Virginia Llewellyn, agrees with this approach: “Frameworks for responsible use of AI will be an imperative for businesses of all kinds, and cross-functional teams spanning legal, product and infosec will put marketers in the best position to harness the best of AI and avoid the pitfalls.” 

Embracing The Hybrid Human-Machine Future
Examples everywhere are emerging of teams embracing AI in workflows to free up human resources for more strategic and creative endeavors. From customer support and coding to atomizing content for broad-scale experimentation, human efficiency increases without diminishing the importance of face-to-face collaboration and human vetting of inputs and outputs.

According to Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder of WPP and S4 Capital, who talked through the key areas of AI impact on brands, there is a significant benefit associated with the knowledge transfer brought by AI: it enables a company’s information to be decentralized, leading to more internal collaboration and equality within the organization, as well as improved productivity and decision-making. 

Unleashing Hyper-Personalization with AI
AI, especially Gen AI, emerged as a powerhouse for hyper-personalization — the ability to scale content with precision based on first- and zero-party data. This is why companies like Netflix can create billions of versions of creative assets specific to their customers with a high level of accuracy. Tsvika Besor, Senior AI Product Manager at Monday.com, also addressed the importance of leveraging AI to personalize content throughout the customer lifecycle and across various channels. 

This need for AI and hyper-personalization is driven by the rising quality and efficiency expectations from customers, according to Deborah Battaglia, SVP Customer Experience at Assurant. She also addressed the rise in customer satisfaction due to better customer support provided by Assurant agents aided by AI. 

It’s Time to Thoughtfully Mobilize AI Initiatives
It’s only been 18 months since ChatGPT was launched, but the telco industry has overwhelmingly embraced it. However, according to GSMA’s Head of Data Acquisition Rhadika Gupta, the industry has the habit of swiftly moving between trends (metaverse, anyone?). There seems to be a big push towards using AI, but the quality of delivery is not there yet. She called for a more thoughtful and strategic approach to AI in the coming year, emphasizing the need for quality in AI delivery.

MWC 2024 underscored the pivotal role of AI, particularly GenAI, in shaping the future across various industries. It’s clear AI is here to stay. But the journey it will take is still one to be improved and shaped by all of us along the way. Having the right levels of internal corporate processes in place and teams broadly committed to driving continuous experimentation and optimization will help ensure AI adoption accelerates competitive advantage rather than facilitating mediocrity or exposing the business to undue risks.

The post Key Takeaways from Mobile World Congress 2024 appeared first on Airship.

Between keynote sessions and poolside cabana conversations, Skyloft suite gatherings and pool parties, MAU brought together industry leaders to network and discuss the latest mobile app trends and challenges over three days at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. 

Airship was once again an event sponsor. We had the opportunity to announce our latest consumer research detailing what motivates consumers to continue to use mobile apps, how they discover them and when and why they delete them. 

How cost-of-living crisis affects mobile apps
According to Airship research, rewards and targeted offers grew more than other app opt-in motivators over the last year — likely a result of the cost-of-living crisis. At MAU, Michaela Jacobsberg-Reiss, Director of Product Marketing at data.ai, referenced the crisis and consequent reduction in available disposable income. Jacobsberg-Reiss reported an increase in app downloads among fast fashion, vintage and secondhand retail apps, enough to bring these types of apps into the year’s top 10 of shopping app downloads. 

According to Keely Jeppson, VP Marketing at Fetch, a coupon and rewards retail aggregator, this trend in consumers searching for deals is here to stay. However, deals and promotions will only encourage higher purchases if they’re targeted. For example, a special five-day coffee purchase deal may encourage someone who would normally purchase coffee three days per week, but for anyone who purchases coffee every day, it would be irrelevant. The brand would provide better value to that second customer if they would offer a deal to encourage a second purchase with the coffee instead. Influence Mobile’s VP of User Acquisition, Brett Patterson, also highlighted the cost-of-living crisis as an influencing factor for the mobile app industry during the year ahead. He highlighted the importance of mobile apps focusing on their retention strategy to avoid the toll that the crisis might take on brands in general. 

Mobile app acquisition remains a priority
Airship’s consumer research also found that searching and browsing app stores continues to be the top way people discover new apps to download. Search engines are the second most important method, followed by word of mouth.These findings seemed to align with the views of app owners at MAU. For example, for metaverse gaming app Upland, paid marketing isn’t strong enough to drive acquisition results . Lindsay Anne Aamodt, Upland’s Head of Marketing, said App Store Optimization is a very important part of their acquisition strategy, and Upland works closely with Airship Gummicube to support ASO. It also works with non-traditional acquisition channels, such as crypto and other communities, to support word of mouth promotions. 

The importance of funnel optimization
Another area of focus for mobile experts at the MAU was the importance of optimizing the app funnel to drive increased growth. Aamodt said Upland focused on optimizing their app onboarding and user experience across the funnel after they realized they were losing too many users down-funnel. They also looked at driving continuous improvements across their user lifecycle with social media communications, email marketing and data science, which consistently feeds back information about drop offs so they can improve their marketing channel accordingly. 

Dana Melamede, User Acquisition Team Lead at game developer Playtika, discussed the importance of leveraging generative AI for content creation for both acquisition and retention. She suggested that companies should adapt to make the best use of these tools so they can support their content marketing overall. 

Her view aligns with Airship’s consumer research. The third most common reason consumers delete apps is that they “never used them” — in other words, after download from the app stores, the app was never opened. Therefore, funnel optimization needs to begin with quick, clear and consistent reinforcement of the app’s value proposition, and creating more and better content across re-engagement channels to counteract this trend.

Airship at MAU

The Airship team returned from MAU energized from meeting with so many of our partners, clients and other leaders in the mobile marketing industry. What happens in Vegas shouldn’t stay there. We encourage you to meet with our team to learn how Airship can support you in creating greater customer value now — inside and outside the appTM. If you would like to receive the full consumer survey report with the data mentioned above and much more, please sign up here to be among the first to receive it.

The post MAU Vegas 2023: Event Roundup  appeared first on Airship.

Sustainability takes focus

Sustainability was a hot topic at MWC 2023 given the urgent need for environmentally-friendly technology to help reduce carbon footprints and produce less electronic waste. Mobile applications have a role to play in promoting sustainability, both through the features they offer and the causes they advance, as well as the ways they are built to ensure energy-efficiency  and low data consumption. 

Apps such as OLIO and Too Good To Go are good examples as they enable users to share unused food or other household items with others — food waste is the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. BlablaCar encourages carpooling and Vinted allows users to sell their second hand items. Listen to the Elevate22 panel discussion with OLIO to hear how this mobile app is taking a stand on sustainability. 

Security is job one

With an increasing number of data breaches and cyber attacks, security has become a top priority for the industry at large and it should be addressed by the network, the device and the mobile apps themselves. Mobile apps often require access to sensitive data such as location, contacts and payment information. This makes them an attractive target for hackers and cybercriminals, so mobile app developers must ensure the right security measures are in place to safeguard customer data. This spans the data that is collected, to how and where it is transferred and stored, as well as partners and SDKs that may access app data or contribute to its collection. 

We encourage you to read this article by Airship’s Associate General Counsel Andra Robinson that offers five practical best practices to data privacy that improve customer experience in a mobile-first world. 

AI is here to stay

Artificial intelligence (AI) was probably one of the most often mentioned topics throughout the event with reference to its benefits in terms of creativity and productivity across a variety of applications from education to healthcare, and, according to Iconiq’s CEO, Lauren Kunze, “businesses ignoring the technology (AI) will risk missing the boat like those who dismissed mobile in early 2000’s.” 

For mobile app developers AI can help personalize mobile app experiences based on user preferences, behaviors, and usage patterns as well as support better security by enabling face recognition for example. AI-powered apps also leverage user data to individualize content, product, and service recommendations, which will increase upsell and cross-sell opportunities, and boost overall engagement. 

Generative AI technology and immersive virtual reality (VR) technology were other key topics of discussion across the 4 days of MWC 2023, particularly in regards to  building the metaverse. 

Immersive Technologies Build Experiences

The metaverse may have been the key topic for MWC 2022, but keynotes and discussions did not shy away from it this year. A variety of speakers addressed metaverse benefits as promoting collaboration and allowing people to completely redefine themselves. XEODesign President & Founder, Nicole Lazzaro explained how the metaverse “simply merges the digital and physical worlds to provide people with shared experiences and tools to collaborate, build and play.” Despite all its benefits though, the metaverse is still not widely used. According to Su Le, CDO and CSO at TONOMUS, what’s holding the metaverse back isn’t the connectivity or any of the technology. It’s the availability of good content readily accessible to support every day use. That, and its affordability will be game changers in driving adoption. 

Airship’s SVP of Technology Mike Herrick recently shared a differing perspective in our our 2023 Insights & Predictions for Mobile Apps:

“In 2023, brands will shift from what’s next to what’s now, sidelining the metaverse for what drives value today: the pane of glass already in everyone’s hands. The value and efficiency gained from mobile apps will be a magnitude greater in the real world than in the virtual one for years to come. Annual innovations and entrenched ecosystems of Apple and Google will continue to expand what’s possible, with AR and AI leading the way.”

For mobile apps, the use of augmented reality (AR) and VR as part of the metaverse or their own virtual experiences can increase user engagement and loyalty as customers gain a much more immersive and interactive 360-degree experience with the brand than ever before. As examples, travel companies can allow their future guests to experience their destination or hotel room options before making a decision on the one to book; fashion retailers can allow customers to browse through their clothes collection as if they were in a shop and virtually try them on; and real estate agencies can offer many more house viewings in a fraction of the time it would take them to travel between properties. The path is clear that mobile app developers implementing augmented reality and virtual reality can get a competitive edge over competitors, though testing and refining these experiences will be key.

Mobile World Congress 2023 was a valuable showcase of the latest technology advancements and customer needs that will shape strategies for years to come. From Airship’s perspective, we’re already testing the integration of Generative AI within our platform’s user interface to make it easier for businesses to create, test and optimize app content and will soon roll out this feature to all customers. 

Please reach out and let us know how we can help you improve your customers’ mobile app experiences and generate greater value now.

The post Takeaways from MWC 2023 for Mobile App Publishers appeared first on Airship.

Brands everywhere are recognizing that engaging customers on mobile is key to providing next-level service for stronger and more valuable customer relationships. That’s why thousands of leading brands across the globe rely on Airship to spark closer connections with their customers through highly contextual and relevant interactions. 

We’re excited about this expansion because it better reflects Airship’s global position as a trusted customer engagement and mobile messaging partner to so many great brands. No matter which language you’re reading this, we hope that our website, blog and resource center will continue to provide you with the helpful information and resources you need to improve your marketing strategies and mobile experiences. 

Now that Airship is available in more languages, we will be sunsetting Accengage.com. We acquired Accengage in 2019, and since then both Airship and Accengage teams have been working hard to ensure a smooth transition into the Airship brand. Starting June 3, the Accengage public-facing website will cease to exist and all visitors will be redirected to this dedicated page within the Airship website. If you are a current Accengage customer, no worries, you will receive an email with more details and the dedicated page has everything you need. 

We have more updates in store for the future (stay tuned!) so make sure to follow Airship on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date.

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The post Airship.com Is Now Available in English, French and German appeared first on Airship.

The past year has changed the way consumers interact with brands across the world. With customers engaging on mobile and digital channels more than ever before, brands had to quickly adapt to new expectations and customer engagement strategies while accelerating their digital footprint.

Airship spoke with marketing, strategy and operations leaders within the telecom and technology industries in Southeast Asia during Elevate 2020 to find out how they have handled the pandemic, and improved their digital footprint.

HKBN Adapts to Growing Digital Adoption

“There has been a fundamental shift in how we engage and interact with customers, particularly leaning towards our digital and mobile channels, as we saw three times more users leveraging our app over the last year,” said Samuel Hui, chief transformation officer at the HKBN Group, one of the largest and fastest growing telecom providers in Asia.

“Digital technology has been there for many years, but what hasn’t been there is the user adoption, neither from the consumer side or the employee side.”

The pandemic enabled HKBN employees to think differently and start leveraging the digital channels as a way to both deliver on customer service and drive sales.

Luckily for HKBN it had upgraded its app from a simple management application to a full customer engagement platform by leveraging Airship technology, integrated with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, just before the pandemic. 

So, it was just a matter of implementing a good strategy that would ensure users would come to their mobile app more often, and use it for purposes beyond accessing their account information.

One of its first initiatives involved working with several B2C retail partners to offer discounts and other promotions to HKBN customers.

Then, as it defined a goal to triple the number of mobile app users within the next two years, it started working towards it by driving communications that would encourage the main account holder to share information and offers to family members and friends. This way, HKBN was increasing its mobile app reach across the entire household and not just the main account holder. 

This strategy has already produced success – its monthly active app users grew from 200,000 to 400,000 within the past year.

GetPlus Connects Offline Retailers to App Users

In Indonesia, the market has been mobile-first for a while, but purchases across certain retail brands have taken a hit, as verified by Adrian Hoon, founder and COO of loyalty app GetPlus. 

GetPlus enables its members to benefit from discounts and offers from a variety of retailers when purchased within the app.

GetPlus had to adapt quickly and fast track its product development roadmap to allow members to upload receipts from purchases through offline merchants that weren’t yet integrated with the app, such as grocery shopping. 

As members scan their single grocery shopping receipt, the app automatically identifies the consumer brands purchased and assigns multiple points to the member’s account. This way, GetPlus is both supporting members with loyalty benefits, and consumer brands with more data insights about their customers such as demographic data or purchase habits.

This is particularly valuable to CPG brands because such information can help them drive more meaningful engagement with consumers.

GetPlus also focused on member engagement within the mobile app by leveraging real-time first-party data collection in order to understand consumer preferences and define the personas that form its membership base. 

With that, GetPlus has been able to deliver personalised communications across a variety of channels such as SMS, email, in-app messaging and push notifications to encourage members to use the app. 

With the support from Airship’s technology, GetPlus can deliver its messaging across these multiple channels at scale, and also test, fine-tune and continuously refine its approach to deliver value to its members and merchant partners.

Yes Focuses on Building Relationships to Beat the Competition

For Derek Tan, senior head of sales, marketing and digital strategy for the Malaysia telecommunications company Yes, this pandemic has driven the need to stand out from competitors in two particular ways: to enhance app capabilities to allow for consumers to access more functions within the app, and to improve its level of personalization. 

Being the youngest telecom provider in Malaysia, it really wanted to stand out from its competition by building meaningful engagement with its audience.

“The key theme this year has really been building a lot of intimate relationships with our target audience, breaking them down into sub segments, understanding motivations, and building personalised journeys and conversations. I think our mobile app presence and footprint helped us a lot to deliver on that goal,” Tan said.

When asked about how it builds on user retention, Tan said that Yes has been experimenting and testing different communication approaches throughout the year to help build its customer loyalty based on customer data preferences. 

By continuously working towards a culture of experimentation, it has been able to better visualize customer journeys across the entire life cycle, while ensuring its campaigns drive the best possible results.

Are You Equipped for the New Normal Digital Transformation?

As we approach the first full year of the pandemic, there have been many lessons learned, but our interviewees all agreed that digital transformation is here to stay even in a post-pandemic world.

As a result, the brands that will surface as the most successful are the ones that have the right technology in place to enable them to continuously learn about their customers; engage with them across multiple channels in a personalised way; and continuously aim towards optimisation. 

To learn how you can drive specific tactics and strategies that will help you also improve your app usage, download the 45 ways to boost App Engagement & Retention ebook for free.

The post How Mobile App Engagement Has Evolved Across Southeast Asia appeared first on Airship.

The infographic below shares highlights of this latest data study. Of particular interest: average direct open rates from notifications are now higher in Europe than anywhere else in the world. 

Download the report with data specific to Europe here — and get in touch anytime if you’d like to discuss the report with one of our experts.

The post [Infographic] How the Pandemic Is Influencing Mobile User Engagement in Europe appeared first on Airship.