The Role of Mobile E-commerce in Building Stronger Customer Relationships

As an e-commerce business, interacting with your digital assets and online presence are the only way customers can form a connection with your brand. It’s not like they can walk into your store and say hello.

But how do you win them over virtually? That’s the million- (sometimes even billion-) dollar question for ecommerce companies.

And the answer is simple—adopt a mobile-first approach. By leveraging mobile-friendly features and technologies, as well as piggybacking on your customers’ well-establish affinity for mobile devices, you can create a lasting connection with your customers.

Ready to start building stronger customer relationships? Let’s dive in.

What Is Mobile Ecommerce?

Before we get to the main event, let’s start with a quick recap of what mobile e-commerce is—and why you should care.

In its simplest form, mobile e-commerce (or m-commerce) is the process of buying and selling goods or services over a mobile device. These transactions can either happen via an ecommerce-enabled app or a mobile-friendly website (also known as responsive design).

So, why should you care?

Well, the global m-commerce market is currently exploding. Experts estimate that the m-commerce market will see a CAGR of 27% over the next five to six years. For reference, the ecommerce market as a whole is expected to see a CAGR of 11.51% over that same period—impressive, but it pales in comparison to m-commerce growth.

All this to say, m-commerce is opening up a world of opportunities (and revenue) for ecommerce companies. And it’s up to you to take advantage of them.

How Mobile E-commerce Can Help Strengthen Customer Relationships

Mobile ecommerce (like any kind of commerce) is all about creating better experiences for your customers. Luckily, mobile has a number of advantages that make it perfectly suited for building relationships and deepening your connection to customers.

Here are a few of the key benefits:

People Prefer Mobile Apps

Apps are probably the biggest advantage that m-commerce has over ecommerce when it comes to strengthening customer relationships.

Why?

That’s a complicated question to answer, but the first piece of the puzzle is simple—around 85% of people prefer shopping on apps. Studies show that people find shopping on mobile apps more convenient (55%), faster (48%), and easier (40%) than shopping on mobile websites—even well-designed ones.

By investing time (and money) in an app, you’re giving your customers something that they clearly value—which is a great first step in deepening customer relationships.

Apps Enable a Higher Degree of Personalization

Personalization is in, and customers expect to receive custom experiences from the brands they shop with. When done correctly, personalization can lead to better customer service, increased loyalty and retention rates, and—you guessed it—stronger customer relationships.

But how does mobile fit into the equation?

Well, thanks to their small form factor, mobile devices are uniquely suited for offering personalized experiences. In fact, most apps have access to a wide range of data points about their users (location info, device type/OS version, app usage stats). This information can then be leveraged by businesses to create highly-tailored experiences that will appeal directly to their users’ needs.

Plus, most consumers are willing to tap “allow” when you ask for permission to access their data during app setup. That means you can leverage personalization without running into any privacy roadblocks.

Apps Put Customers Within reach 24/7

The ability to communicate directly with customers is one of the biggest draws of m-commerce.

With an app, you can reach out to your customers on a near-constant basis. That means you can:

• Push notifications and updates to let customers know what’s new or noteworthy
• Send personalized messages that show customers how much they mean to you
• Offer discounts and promotions to encourage repeat purchases and loyalty

These are all great ways to strengthen customer relationships—and, considering that the average US adult spends almost 3 hours and 15 minutes per day using mobile apps, it could be argued that there’s no better way to connect with them.

Mobile Devices Enable Geofencing

Geofencing is a powerful tool for e-commerce companies that want to build better customer relationships. By leveraging the GPS or location services on customers’ mobile devices, businesses can set up “geo-fences” around physical locations and send out timely notifications when customers enter those areas.

These notifications can be used to alert customers about special offers, discounts, and other promotions—all of which help strengthen your relationship with them.

At the same time, geofencing also helps businesses understand how their customers are interacting with physical spaces (like stores) as well as digital ones. And that gives you valuable insight that you can use to refine your product, marketing, and customer service strategies.

5 Tips for Building Strong Customer Relationships on Mobile

To finish things up, we thought it would be helpful to leave you with five tips for building strong customer relationships on mobile:

1. Make sure your app is user-friendly, intuitive, and free of bugs. This is a big one—and something we take pretty seriously here at Webfactory. If you don’t have a great app, it doesn’t matter how strong your relationship with customers is—they won’t stick around.
2. Make it personal. People love it when you remember their preferences and interests. Use their browsing and purchase history to give them personalized recommendations, and offer them exclusive deals and promos based on their likes and dislikes. Make them feel like they’re your only customer.
3. Be there for them when they need you. Customer service is key, especially on mobile. Offer live chat support, have an easy-to-find FAQ section, and respond quickly and helpfully to any questions or issues they have. They’ll appreciate it, and they’ll keep coming back.
4. Show them the love. Loyalty is a two-way street. Give your customers a reason to stick with you by offering them discounts, early access to new products, and points for purchases they make through your mobile app or site. Make them feel special, and they’ll become fans for life.
5. Ask for their opinion. Your customers are the experts on what they like and what they don’t. Ask for their feedback through surveys, ratings, and reviews, and respond to what they have to say. Show them that you value their input, and use it to make your mobile experience even better.

So, What’s the Takeaway?

M-commerce offers a unique opportunity to build and strengthen customer relationships—and it’s one that businesses of all sizes can take advantage of. With an app, you can reach out to customers 24/7, offer personalized discounts and offers, use geofencing for better customer engagement, and provide helpful customer service.

Done right, m-commerce will help you turn customers into lifelong fans of your brand. And at Web Factory, that’s what we’re all about.

If you’re ready to start building better customer relationships with mobile, you know who to call. 

Contact us today and let’s get started!