Brand communicators are aware of the benefits of omnichannel strategies, which allows them to reach a wider audience of customers and prospects by targeting various sub-sectors where they live. And with the increasing influence and impact of brand apps on purchasing behavior, new research from customer engagement platform OneSignal illustrates how omnichannel approaches—various messaging channels, content, and engagement strategies—are successfully used by brand app marketers, which will be key to achieving their overarching goals in 2024.
The firm’s new annual State of Customer Engagement report comes at a time when user behavior and the app industry continue to evolve amid rapid technological transformation. With the collective number of apps now available, and consumer retention spans continuing to shrink, benchmarking app success is a growing challenge for companies competing in the mobile landscape.
Key findings include the following:
Multichannel engagement is necessary for success
Companies that leverage more than one messaging channel to engage users increase average engagement by 35.8 percent. The researchers also found that apps that use an automated multichannel messaging automation workflow see 13.6% higher average 30-day retention rates.
Effective onboarding messages are critical to driving retention
The data reveals apps that implement onboarding messages have 24 percent higher install-to-purchase conversion rates. Those that leverage more than one channel to send them have higher 1-day, 7-day, and 30-day retention rates.
Email is having a resurgence as a revenue driver
Apps that use email as part of their omnichannel engagement strategy report the highest install-to-purchase conversion rates. When used with push notifications, email can help balance brevity and depth in ongoing messaging strategy. Simply put, it’s not something mobile apps can ignore in their growth plans.
Apple’s Live Activities are an effective engagement tool
Apps using Live Activities have 23.7 percent higher average 30-day retention rates, solidifying the value of using the lock screen’s real estate for providing real-time updates.
Personalized notifications are a must for optimal app engagement
Notifications that use personalized content have a 344 percent higher engagement rate than notifications that don’t. Additionally, apps that use localization, such as adapting messaging for language, time zone, and cultural differences, have a 160 percent higher engagement rate than notifications that don’t.
The research findings help marketers and brands find more clarity in evaluating their engagement solutions. As diversification in communication becomes more crucial and data-driven marketing becomes even more vital to success, the report provides a roadmap for achieving omnichannel success in both these areas.
“Through our work in helping companies navigate omnichannel challenges, we’re finding that providing value, relevance, and utility to customers from a messaging and engagement standpoint are now equal non-negotiables and that companies can’t sacrifice if they want to succeed,” said Josh Wetzel, chief revenue officer at OneSignal, in a news release. “The insights we’ve compiled in this report serve as a barometer for companies seeking clarity in the dynamic mobile landscape and provide essential guidance to help them achieve their goals.”
Download the full report here.
The insights in the report were derived from data informed by over a million businesses that use OneSignal in addition to a survey of thousands of customers across different app categories, countries, and growth stages based on their definitions of success and how they leveraged OneSignal’s solutions to achieve it.
