Artificial Intelligence. Machine Learning. Predictive Data. These are all hot button words, but do you know what the differences are — and how you could be using them to improve your bottom line?

If you don’t, no worries. Join us for our webinar, “How Top Brands Use Machine Learning Data to Reduce Churn and Boost Engagement (And How You Can Too)” where our experts, Lisa Orr and Phil West, will explain the differences between AI, Machine Learning, Predictive Analytics and also show step-by-step how to use data and Urban Airship’s machine learning solutions.

Join the Webinar and You Will Learn How to:

• Protect your acquisition spend by identifying and re-engaging users who have the highest risk of churn

• Build a smarter messaging strategy by combining churn risk data with other customer data (like loyalty status or purchase history)

• Improve engagement rates by sending at the times individuals are most active

We’ll also share best practices and strategies from top brands who are using predictive data to reduce customer churn, improve engagement by 10% or more, and drive increased customer lifetime value.

Get Knowledge You Can Actually Use

Predictive analytics, paired with mobile marketing automation, increases our ability to have the right conversation at the right time with the right person in the right way. However, as you may have noticed, there’s a lot of hype around using AI in marketing. Never fear, this webinar is not about that. This webinar is about understanding what AI and data can do for your brand today.

Sign Up Today!

Don’t miss out – reserve your spot today!

Have questions? We got answers.

The post How to Use Machine Learning Data to Reduce Churn and Boost Engagement appeared first on Airship.

Web notifications have a lot going for them. From a user perspective, they’re easy to opt into (no need to share an email address or other personal information — one click or tap and you’re in)  and they provide a low-risk way of keeping up to date with deals, updates and news.

For marketers, they represent an “owned” channel to reach users directly, with no third party cost or interference. They’re quick to get up and running, and easy to manage.

And now, a new data analysis we’ve done of retailers using our web notification solution is showing some extremely exciting trends.

If you’re a retailer and you’re not already using web notifications, it’s time to revisit this channel. And once you see these stats, we think you’ll definitely want to — before the holiday season.  

(BTW, if you’re not familiar with what web notifications are, they are notifications users opt-in to receive via a desktop or mobile browser – learn more and get answers to web notification FAQs here.)

Ready to be wowed? Here’s a highlight reel from our data analysis:

Opt-Ins to Web Notifications Are Outpacing New App Downloads

• For some brands, the number of Android users who have opted into receive web notifications on their mobile browser is set to be a larger number than their entire Android app audience.

• And it’s certainly a larger number than Android app users who’ve opted in to receive push notifications from the app.  

• Our data shows that web notification opt-ins are not adversely affecting iOS and Android app push notifications opt-ins — making this a net new channel for acquiring and messaging customers.

By Adding Web Notifications, Retailers Have Grown The Total Number of Customers Opted In To Receive Notifications (Counting Both App and Web Notification Opt-Ins) by 2X

• Most retailers have a mature strategy around app messaging, but retailers who’ve added web notifications have been able to double the number of users they can message (aka their “addressable users”) by adding web notifications as a channel.

• For some retail brands, the number of users opted in to receive web notifications may soon be higher even than the number of users opted in to receive app push notifications. We have seen this trend in media, and expect it to continue in retail.

• That makes sense, because the number of users visiting a brand’s website is almost always going to be exponentially higher than the number of users who will download a brand’s app. In their 2017 U.S. Mobile App Report, comScore reports that mobile web audiences are 2.2x app audiences.

Direct Engagement With Web Notifications As High as 7%

• For several retailers, direct taps or clicks on a web notification are up to 40% higher than direct engagement with push notifications from their app.

• Direct open rates (a tap or click on the notifications) range between an extremely impressive 4-7%. (Comparatively, our data shows that the average direct open rate for app push notifications for retail for Q2 2018 is around 3%.)

50% of Web Notification Opt-Ins Are Happening on Android Devices

• Web notifications aren’t available on iOS mobile devices (they are available on Mac desktops). However, Android mobile users make up a significant percentage of most retailers’ customer base. Web notifications create a fantastic opportunity to reach Android users right on their mobile device.

• Of the total number of opted-in web notification users, roughly 50% are opting in on their Android’s mobile web browser (the rest are opting in on desktop browsers) which means brands have an additional mobile channel to reach customers — especially critical for reaching users who’ve opted out of app push notifications, or users who don’t have a brand’s app.

Ready to get started? Get in touch for a personalized demo today; we can help you get up and running now so you can leverage this channel during the holiday shopping season. It’s not a chance you want to miss out on.

And, while there are a lot of sophisticated use cases for web notifications (like automations – and we’re happy to help with those!) even the most basic use cases (sale alerts, etc) are showing incredible results. Let’s get you up and running!

Download our Web Notifications Inspiration Guide today to:
– See use cases you can adopt and implement
– Build smarter, more engaging campaigns
– Spark your thinking about web notification possibilities

Get your copy >>

The post Web Notifications ROI for Retailers Revealed appeared first on Airship.

While this isn’t something entirely new, more and more retailers are jumping into the fray, adding multiple levels of complexity for themselves in supply chain, replenishment, system integration and, last but not least, customer communication perspectives.

The good news is that even without an app, there’s a way to keep your customers informed in real-time as they head to your store for pickup. For a customer, today’s in-store pickup experience is still quite cumbersome — checking email to see if their order is ready for pickup, printing the order confirmation, having to physically bring that piece of paper to the store (not to mention the journey there).

All of this can be streamlined by using mobile wallet.

Streamline the Customer Experience

Mobile wallets allow customers to download their order confirmation detail onto their smartphone — all without downloading an app. To enable download, retailers simply add a button onto the confirmation email (button shown below), or include a link on the confirmation screen, or through an SMS/MMS text link. Wherever you can place a URL to communicate with your customers, you can distribute a mobile wallet pass. Mobile wallet order confirmations are stored in Apple Wallet or Android Pay, depending on their device, for easy access from their smartphone.

Above: Example of mobile wallet order confirmation pass

Increase Customer Satisfaction Through Personalization

One of the smartest use cases we’ve come across for in-store pickup is layering location-aware (geofences and/or beacons) communication onto the mobile wallet confirmation pass. Doing so allows retailers to automate notifications to the customer upon store arrival. For example, as a customer enters a geofence or beacon, a message can be sent to their lock screen alerting them that their order is ready for pickup. With a single swipe on the lock screen, they can readily show the sales associate the order confirmation and be in and out quickly — no need to fumble through their phone to dig up that order, no need to print the order confirmation and no need to remember to bring the print out confirmation with you.

Some brands are taking this to the next level by delivering welcome messages upon store entry. Sales associates can also be alerted that Mrs. Smith is on the premises for pickup. This level of engagement saves time, is seamless and leads to increased customer satisfaction.

Retailers See Benefits of Higher Mobile Engagement

Mobile is changing the retail landscape, and there are many use cases for how retailers can use it to their benefit. By streamlining one key method — mobile wallet — retailers can:

• Issue a wallet item with the order confirmation number, store location and other important information.

• Directly send a notification to a customer’s lock screen, alerting them their order is ready for pickup.

• Create geofences and beacons that tie to mobile wallet for a more personalized experience.

• Light up member’s lock screen with the order confirmation info when they enter the store.

• Alert sales associates that a customer has arrived at the store for pickup.

Smarter, faster experiences to reach the customer benefit — their merchandise! — will only increase customer satisfaction and future sales opportunities down the road.

Interested in making your omni-channel customer experience even better? Learn how to seize the mobile wallet opportunity, or get started today with a free trial.

The post In-Store Pickup: A Better Omnichannel Engagement With Mobile Wallet appeared first on Airship.

So how can brands get users engaged early and often in your app so they become loyal users?

First, focus on the initial open of the app. Many brands will take users through a tutorial of the app focusing on top features to ensure users understand the value of the app and how to use it.

We also recommend “educating before asking” in terms of encouraging users to opt in to push notifications and location services to ensure they understand how and why your brand will be using these services before you ask permission. Focus on the value for the user to maximize your opt in rates. Brands should be conscious of length as well – some users may grow tired of clicking through a multitude of screens and skip through the process without reading, leading to a missed opportunity for both user and brand to share value.

Brands are most successful when they leverage message center technology to welcome clients and share relevant content. Using a message center allows users to read this content on their terms, as it’s persistent and non-interruptive — a simple update in the app shows they have new content to read.

The value of the message center is that it’s available for all of your users to view, including those who may have opted out of receiving push notifications. By having a message ready and available when the user initially downloads the app it gives marketers another option to educate and welcome users to the app. Users can also go back and read older messages or refer back to a previous message at a later time. Typically we see new users going back into read messages multiple times.

Above: Neiman Marcus uses a Message Board to share the latest events and lookbooks with app users.

Once the user has exited the app, you’ll want to tailor your subsequent messaging based on both behavior and time since download. This is critical in bringing users back into the app for the second or third time and engaging them more long-term throughout the app lifecycle. To learn more best practices on getting users engaged in your app from the very beginning, check out our whitepaper “Onboarding New App Users.”

The post Creating a Winning Welcome Campaign appeared first on Airship.

We all know that the world is moving to mobile and if you haven’t embraced this, you are falling behind. A recent eMarketer survey found that 23.1% of mobile device users prefer to use mobile apps over mobile browsers, while only 19.6% preferred the latter.

Once you have built your app and are ready to submit to the app store, here are some strategies to build your app audience.

1. Show the User Benefit

When preparing to submit to the app stores, spend some time writing a compelling app description to ensure you highlight the value proposition for your customers — why should they download your app? Sharing the benefits a user will gain from using your app will encourage people to download your app.

2. Promote your app within the mobile web experience

Leveraging on iOS the ability to promote your app within the mobile web experience is a free way to promote your app. When users search for your brand on their iOS device via Safari (for example, when I search Homeaway) a link to your App Store listing will populate when you visit a brand’s mobile website.

Our clients have said this is often their number one acquisition channel for gaining new downloads and best of all, it’s free. These are users who are engaging with your brand on a mobile device so these should be your target customers to download the app.

3. Promote your app on your website

Focus on the value to the user and why you built the app to make sure users can clearly see the benefit for them. Alaska Airlines promotes its app at the bottom of its home page and when clicked, takes viewers to a dedicated page sharing the value of downloading the app as well as device-specific download links.

4. Leverage Your Other Channels

Cross-promoting your app across different channels, particularly email, encourages new users to download your app. Let your email users know that you have an app for download (and link to it in the email) and leverage SMS if possible to do the same thing. Again, focus on the value for the consumer.

Mobile wallet is another great channel to drive app downloads. It provides the ability for users to “add” your app directly from the pass on Apple Wallet, creating yet another way to promote your app.

5. Share Your App in Store

Leverage in-store displays, or share your app via advertisements, as well as make sure your employees have used the app and know about the great features you have developed. This is often overlooked, but that personal recommendation from an employee will go a long way in downloading the app.

Finally, keep an eye on your app rating — having a high rating will go a long way to converting new users once they search for you in their app store.

For more ideas on how to maximize your mobile engagement, read our “Winning in Mobile: 8 New Principles for Today’s Mobile Marketers” whitepaper.

The post Developing a Strategy to get Existing Customers on your App appeared first on Airship.

To find out the best send times for your brand, consider when people are normally opening your app. Commuting hours (if your audience isn’t driving) and lunch and break times might show the greatest engagement. Also note that while these trends tend to vary by day, they also tend to be consistent on the same day of each week.

Another way to select an optimal send time is through A/B testing—same message, different times.

Finally, consider the action you want your audience to take when you choose your send time: one of our customers found that pushes sent in the evenings, when customers had the most time to shop in response to the push, yielded the highest cart values and revenue.

This post is part of our ongoing best practices series.

The post What time of day is best to push? appeared first on Airship.