It’s a challenge many organizations struggle with. After spending considerable time and effort developing and launching new product, user uptake is disappointing. Worse still, in many cases that isn’t because there’s something wrong with what has been created, or that it doesn’t match user’s requirements. It’s simply that those same users find it hard to discover your new features.
The result is often a classic double-bind. The organization wants to keep innovating, but if it is hard to demonstrate ROI on existing projects then it becomes hard to justify the effort. At the same time, if users fail to enjoy the full range and value within a particular service, they become more likely to churn or be seduced by competitors (often by features that already exist in the the service they are leaving!) That is why helping customers find relevant new product features and offerings is such an important challenge when it comes to digital success.
The Mobile Angle
On mobile, that challenge is tougher than ever. The screen is small, so real estate is at a premium and it is harder to justify ‘one more menu item’. Users are focused on completing tasks, so stepping in to point them towards a new feature or product may not be appreciated. And it is just hard to attract attention on mobile.
But of course all that has to be balanced with the fact that mobile is very much where consumers and brands interact. So avoiding the issue really isn’t an issue. Fortunately, promoting new product doesn’t have to be an exercise in futility and frustration.
Enter The In-App Campaign…
The single smartest way to inform users about new product is via the in-app message. But as you might have guessed, it is a little more complex than that. Anyone, or at least almost anyone, can deliver a simple message when the app is opened - but that is precisely when these campaigns are most likely to be dismissed rapidly. Remember, users open the app because they want to get something done, and you don’t want to get in the way,
Smart in-app campaigns can help mobile users find new features - and deliver great ROI on mobile product development
A more thoughtful and effective approach means considering the following:
- Content. Take the time to carefully consider exactly how you promote new product and features. In some cases you can tailor messages dependent on audiences (see below), but you’ll also want to experiment with differing ways to pitch your new features. All content should, of course, maintain and promote your brand identity.
- Audience. There are two key considerations here. Firstly, you will definitely want to remove any individuals who have already used the feature, or are unlikely to be interested, from your campaign. That is relatively straightforward. Secondly, you may wish to consider creating multiple audiences for multiple message types. For example,a publisher launching a new mobile-only video service might consider building audiences based on user behavior and showing sport-based messages to users frequently engaging with sports content
- Timing. Consider carefully when the right time to communicate will be. As noted above, don’t prevent users completing common tasks. Instead wait until the following moment (such as just after a booking is completed, or a user has transferred money) and then let them know. Even better, advertise your product when it may be particularly useful, or the absence of it may be felt. If you have added an ability to save searches in a travel app, for example, let people know about it immediately following a particular search.
- Testing. Remember, it’s easy to design and deploy multiple campaigns from a cloud-based marketing platform, and there’s no need to code anything directly into the app. That being the case, it is possible to test content and campaigns in order to optimize further and keep improving based on real user data.
...and The Testing Of Native Content
Mention of testing brings us to one final recommendation. New features and product can often be best publicised via prominent positioning in mobile navigation and menu structures, or simply by showing them prominently on the mobile app home page.
Again, by using cloud-based mobile marketing tech it is possible to edit those aspects of the native mobile experience on the fly, and establish which variants perform best when it comes to driving up user discovery and usage of the feature in question (whilst of course delivering no negative impact on all those other mobile metrics you care about!)
We’ve seen simple changes increase traffic to new product and features by upwards of 1,000% - a huge benefit for any organization that wants to ensure all their users get the most value from the product.
