Having an app in your business tool arsenal will give you that extra edge to connect with your audience. But, how can it help your business in a practical way?
We talked to Doggy Dan to learn how they did it.
These days, everyone wants an app to boost their audience’s meaningful involvement with their brand. But, how do you go about working with a developer to get exactly what you’re looking for without the exorbitant prices?
Doggy Dan sells dog training solutions, including online self-study courses and dog-training products (eg. whistles, harnesses, etc) to a global audience. Their goal: to help people love their dogs more.
They knew that they wanted to deeply connect with their consumers on a daily basis.
And, there were two key issues they wanted to solve:
- Overly Widespread Information. Their solution: An App
Essentially, their audience had to go to their website and sift through all of the content for the specific tools they were looking for. This long-winded process created the potential for their users to leave the website as well as the browsing app on their phone and turn to YouTube for helpful videos instead.
Who among us would, in the moment where they were frustrated with their dog, have the patience to go through so many steps?
Not many, surely.
Doggy Dan needed a way to centralise all of the information and the help they offered – an app was perfect, particularly for multimedia.
- Low Retention Rates. Their Solution: A Membership Section
People might come to Doggy Dan once or twice for that strongly maintained continued engagement with the app. But, Doggy Dan knew they had to make it much easier for people to become members and to log in.
By incorporating a simple membership section into their app, they soothed the pain of going to a website, logging in (hopefully without forgetting the password!) and then searching for the relevant material.
Now, it’s just two taps and you could then move on to what was really important – training your dog and growing with them!
Related article: How the Merrymaker Sisters Created and Launched a #1 App on iTunes
Struggles in the Launch
This isn’t to say that Doggy Dan has had an easy time of getting this far, however.
The first iteration of the app failed because they made a common mistake – thinking they just needed a mobile version of their browser-based membership.
It’s critical to remember that if your audience wanted a website, they’d go to a website.There is an assumption of increased functionality and ease of navigation inherent in using an app. If people don’t get it, they won’t be happy.
This was particularly problematic for Doggy Dan since they couldn’t connect their app to their website, meaning there were just two versions of the same stuff floating around. Plus, people couldn’t always access both – a customer support and logistical nightmare!
Related article: 10 Customer Support Tricks to Make You a Pro!
Jarrod to the Rescue!
Jarrod, offered some very useful mentoring when he suggested that Doggy Dan change their approach to building a brand.
Instead of just mirroring the website, he proposed the use of the website and also drawing in content from podcast and Youtube channels as well, so that the consumers could access a variety of information and tools without exiting the one app.
The light bulbs went off!
According to Doggy Dan, the most valuable part about working with Jarrod and The App Match was having the pain taken out of technical work.
Where previously it had been up to Doggy Dan to build their own tech systems and infrastructure, now they could hand off a lot of the interim tasks in building to someone who specialised in it.
In the end, they got a shiny, finished product and meanwhile they could focus on and refine what they knew how to do best. The specialisation of tasks at its finest!
Related article: How to Bring an App to Life with the App Match
Now: Connecting Meaningfully with People
How exactly does their app help them to truly connect with their audience?
According to Doggy Dan, the simple fact of being on a mobile device works wonders – every time there’s a problem with your dog, it’s easy to get access to a solution. And that, essentially, is what makes online businesses thrive.
Plus, having push notifications meant they could alert their members to new features and updates immediately. Although they’re still testing it, the team at Doggy Dan is keen to see the explosion of activity every time they launch something new, thanks to the push notifications functionality.
Plus, apps make it much easier to run competitions and promotions, which in turn grow the audience of your app, your brand, and your business.
Related article: How I Grew My Audience by Launching a 99c Mobile App
Doggy Dan’s Key Tips for Entrepreneurs
- Build an app!
An app is a powerful tool because it helps you…
- Deliver more value
- Create a better connection with your customers
- Create a stronger brand
- Increase your profits
- Reach more people
- Partner with an experienced mentor!
Mentors are extremely valuable sources of insight because they…
- Have deeper knowledge and experience in your field
- Help you get to market quicker
- Help you to continuously learn
- Offer practical advice to keep you growing
- Promote your app well!
It’s not enough to just build your app – you need to get the word out about it through…
- App Store Optimisation
- A well-designed website which prominently features links to download the app
- Paid and organic traffic on social media
- Public relations basics, eg. press releases, blogs, interviews
And, with these tips, you’re ready to be on your app-building, business-succeeding way!
Want to do this with your business? Let’s chat about how we can help you achieve this!