How to Develop an Adoption Strategy for Your No-Code Mobile App

Adoption process and marketing funnel overview

Do you want to upgrade your online store? How about increasing your conversion rates with a no-code eCommerce app.

Before getting into the actual do’s, it’s important to know that this guide is not for everyone interested in developing an adoption strategy for an eCommerce app, nor for every eCommerce owner.

💡 Want to build a mobile app for your Shopify store without coding? Book a free demo today.

We’re addressing this guide to:

• Marketers who want to sell more while maintaining a favorable relationship with the client. To do this, they need a successful app adoption strategy — one that is inbound.
• eCommerce app owners who are not familiar with coding, but still want to create a customer-friendly app.

In this guide you will find out:

• how to build an app adoption process using the Marketing Funnel Strategy
• how to drive adoption to your eCommerce app
• how to ensure eCommerce app adoption success

💡 [CONTENT UPGRADE] If you’re just starting to plan your adoption strategy, then I recommend you read this first.

A Three-step marketing funnel strategy

Awareness, consideration, conversion and loyalty – these are at the core of the Digital Marketing Funnel strategy and are the key points for developing your No Code mobile app strategy.

It’s called a funnel because the number of customers will decrease as they progress through the journey.

Many people will interact with your brand, but only a few of them will actually reach the point of loyalty. Losing customers along the way is a natural process.

This strategy won’t be affected by market change or technology development and it gives the customer the opportunity to evaluate a product before purchasing it, without the pressure of aggressive selling methods.

We can take Uber as an example. The international ride sharing brand started as a highly-targeted business, performing its activity only in Silicon Valley. A study by Molocoads proves that Uber successfully went through all the stages of the Marketing Funnel. As shown in the study, the brand started by bringing awareness to its services through events and free trials offered to tech influencers.

Then, during the consideration stage, Uber became a trustworthy source by maintaining an open communication with its clients or by giving free-trials to first-time customers.

Moreover, in the conversion stage, their app interface played an important role at this point. Driver reviews and details are available; you can share your location with anyone for safety reasons, add stops or split a ride if you’re travelling with a friend.

This study is only one example of this strategy’s effectiveness. So, now that we’ve pointed out its main purpose, this is what you can do to step up your No Code mobile app adoption strategy game:

1. Create awareness of your app on social media and email marketing
2. Provide quality with the onboarding experience
3. Give your potential customers a good RTB (Reason-to-believe)

Each point refers to a different stage of the customer journey. In this guide we will get into a detailed analysis of each point, from ways to raise awareness, to giving your customer a reason to keep buying or using your product.

By focusing on each step of the Digital Marketing Funnel, you will:

• Avoid confusing traffic with actual conversion rates: Ask yourself: Do you want to increase sales? Drive traffic to your app? Maybe you want to achieve brand loyalty by engaging your current customers more. A little brainstorming will help you figure out your main goals, so you’ll have a clear view on the strategies you have to implement.
• Understand that every customer is in a different stage: while one customer interacts with your No Code eCommerce app for the first time, another one completes the purchase process. Every step should have a set of inbound methods, which will help you build a stronger relationship with your client.
• Avoid marketing stagnation: this is a tricky one. Many times marketers succeed in driving a lot of traffic to their app. However, somehow, the customer journey ends between the consideration and conversion stage. Something along the way determined the client to leave the app. That something can be anything from loading time to different expectations, but if this happens often, it means there’s something that’s not working with the adoption strategy.

Step one: Test the waters on other platforms

Your adoption strategy starts way before the customer first interacts with your app. It’s about how you determine the client to become interested in what you have to offer.

Know your target persona. You can think of personalized ads that allow you to promote your products on certain platforms according to where your clients are.

Update your Social Media accounts. If your socials aren’t up to date, now it’s your time to do that. Plan the content you want to share and show that you care by always providing quality. You can get creative with your content and start engaging your followers more through interactive stories and posts. If your ecommerce store already has a sizable social media following, then you need to make sure to leverage that and do social posts where you talk about the mobile app.

According to a study by Social Insider, the kind of content you post on your socials should be related to your profile size. That being said, videos have become extremely popular among middle-sized accounts, while small or large profiles record more engagements from carousel-type posts.

Quality is also shown in the way you manage your Social Media accounts. It’s important to actively listen to what your customers have to say, in order to build a strong adoption strategy.

Always be aware of how many people interact with your brand. Instagram and Facebook business tools allow you to have a look at your insights. The good news is, these tools are pretty detailed. You can see many important demographic details about your customers like age, gender, the country where they check your account from.

All this information can help you with personalized ads.

You should also look out for:

• number of profile visits
• number of people that interacted with your account through likes and comments
• number of people who clicked on your external links.

Organize a webinar. This is a great inbound method where you can openly talk about a topic related to your business. It’s a great opportunity to show expertise and to promote your app. Allow people to ask questions.

Use Email Marketing. Announce people who subscribed to your newsletter that you’ll be launching an eCommerce app. In order to make sure people actually open your email and click on external links, you can use a CTA that is related to your business and your USP. You can also customize your emails by using the recipient’s name in the CTA.

Try Vajro’s “Download Widgets''. This service promotes your mobile app every time a potential customer visits your website. Your eCommerce website visitors will automatically be prompted to download your app.

[BONUS MATERIAL] If you're interested in discovering more methods to promote your incoming No Code eCommerce app, you can check this out.

Step two: Provide quality with the onboarding experience

You know what they say: The first impression always matters. The onboarding experience represents the first thing your customer encounters after downloading your eCommerce app.

Think about your app as a real person. Psychology tricks assure us that a genuine smile, confidence and a positive attitude are the key traits for a great first impression.

When it comes to a mobile app, we can safely say that the main components are loading time, a friendly interface and open communication.

Loading time

Loading time is more important than you think. With every second that it takes for your No Code eCommerce app to load pages, conversion rates are decreasing significantly, and so does consumer satisfaction. The ideal waiting time is considered between 0 and 3 seconds. That’s why app optimization is crucial.

With loading time, less is more.

Don’t overcrowd your mobile app with data it can’t support; this includes pictures, videos or animations with higher resolution than necessarily. Add features that are suitable with your target audience. We’ll talk in detail about customer-friendly integrations shortly.

Be aware of pop-ups and ads that might interfere with your loading time.

Backlinko’s study shows us that web pages take almost 88 percent longer to load on mobile, compared to desktop, and page weight is a direct factor to this. That means, it can take even 27 seconds to fully load a page on mobile.

Fortunately, having an app makes things much easier. According to Vajro, if correctly optimized, apps have the benefit of immediate load time, unlike websites where you can lose around 40 percent of browsers just from poorly-managed loading time.

Friendly interface

Using the app should be easy to use for the client. Lack of time is a real issue in today’s world, so your customer won’t lose any of it trying to figure out an app.

One important thing you have to keep in mind when customizing your eCommerce app is optimization. That means, some elements might be visible only on web, and not on mobile, or, even worse, the customer might be forced to scroll in different directions to see a full page. These issues have a high impact on user experience and might determine the client to leave the app immediately.

This study made by Statista shows us customer retention rate on day one of downloading an app vs on day 30. As you can see, when it comes to Shopping/eCommerce apps, by day 30, there was a low retention rate, of only 5.6 percent.

Predictability is key in this situation. People need to get what they expect regarding the app features. They need to know where a button takes them, not guess.

Add typical icons everyone recognizes. We all know that the trash can symbol means ”delete”, the gear icon gets you to the settings menu and the cart icon opens the list of items you want to buy.

You should organize your No Code mobile app into clear separate sections. Your app should have a “home” page that could present a short description of your business, your most popular or recent products, or it should direct the customer to different pages of your app.

In this picture, you can see the interface of Ranch and Famous Boutique, a shopping app developed with the help of Vajro. As you can see, the Home menu presents the main product categories, so customers can go directly to what they need. It’s important to guide clients to what they are looking for so they won’t have to deal with unnecessary clicks.

Communication

Open communication plays a significant role when it comes to building trust and user experience. Trustworthiness, expertise and attention to details are prime traits customers are looking for.

So, how do you make sure you include all these elements in your app strategy?

Include a page where people have the chance to write about your product and their experience with your business.

Good reviews and testimonials work wonders when it comes to building trust. Not only can they easily convince potential clients to buy your product, but will also show that you care and that you are aware of the importance of constantly delivering quality.

Luckily, there are so many possibilities when it comes to testimonials. You can use a quote from delighted customers or even include a case study that describes one user’s experience with your product in-depth.

Nowadays, visual materials have become really popular and video testimonials can have a great impact on conversion rates. According to a study by Wyzowl, 87 percent of marketers consider that including videos in their strategy offers a positive ROI. Moreover, 94 percent of marketers believe that videos provide a better understanding of their products or services.

However, make sure you don’t overcrowd your app, as it can have a negative impact on your loading time. If you think videos would become viral across your target audience, choose short materials and reserve them only for some sections, like testimonials or the “About” page.

Talk about past clients and projects to show expertise.

You can take Vajro’s client, Juicy Chemistry, as an example. On their website we can find a special page dedicated to customer stories, where former clients have the opportunity to share their reviews about the products they bought and talk about their experience with the company.

And not only that. We can see that influencers, actors, journalists, directors of different companies chose their products, which can determine potential clients to convert as well. By mentioning the function of the people they have collaborated with, Juicy Chemistry further proves expertise.

Moreover, pay attention to the questions you get. If some of them are repetitive, you should consider adding a FAQ section.

Step three: Give your customers a good RTB (Reason-to-believe)

You managed to promote your No Code eCommerce app, you’ve had a great traffic rate. The issue is, it’s not enough to have a lot of viewers. You have to give them a reason to transform from potential customers to happy clients.

In today’s world, there are so many choices and opportunities and when you are a business owner and marketer, that’s not great news.

During the conversion stage, customers are constantly torn between this and that, always evaluating their options. They are constantly influenced by internal (preferences, needs) or external factors (financial power, marketing campaigns, social groups). That means, giving them a good reason to choose your product is perhaps one of the hardest steps.

First of all, you need to know your customer’s needs.

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy, there are the basic needs, the psychological needs and the self-fulfillment needs. That being said, if the basic needs are not fulfilled, there’s no way someone could focus on self-actualization. Knowing where your target persona stands is a must, as your customers should benefit from using your product.

If you want to learn more about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs you can check this article out.

Second of all, you need to be aware of the tools you can use to influence a potential customer.

As you can see, Saleforce’s data points out that prospects are much more likely to buy from a brand that actually listens, with 78 percent of salespeople stating that listening has an important impact on adoption rates. Demonstrating ROI was mentioned by 56 percent of marketers but it was not among the first tools.

In order to discover what RTB might work for your app strategy, let’s talk about the main reasons why app visitors don’t complete the customer journey.

They don’t trust the app

One of the main issues is security and it all comes down to app optimization. Make sure your app doesn’t ask for personal details like location or access to camera without a clear reason.

If the app doesn’t seem trustful, no one would dare give important information, such as card details.

The lack of payment flexibility is one of the main reasons why potential customers abandon their purchase. That means, your app should have various payment methods. You can have a debit/credit card option, but also a digital payment method (like PayPal), or payment on delivery.

They don’t know if the product is worth the money

People are scared of the outcomes for the choices they make, especially when it comes to a new product. And money is an important factor. It’s a marketer’s job to make sure fear is not an issue.

You can solve this problem with different app integrations, like reviews or by showing expertise through past collaboration, OR you can have a trial option for some products.

There are many ways to organize a trial campaign. You can have in-store trials, suitable for products like FMCG or retail industry.

You can also organize promotional trials, where your customers can get a discount for their first purchase, or a “guaranteed money-back” option, if they are not satisfied with their option.

Or, you can take Cheerios as an example and collaborate with a bigger business that could offer free samples of your product along with their orders.  During a limited period of time, Amazon Prime members received a family-size box of Honey Nut Cheerios if their purchase was at least 40$. According to contagious.com, during that time, Cheerios became no.1 in the cereal category, and as a grocery item.

You’re trying too much

You need to change your strategy if this sounds like you — stressing customers out with calls, constant emails, and annoying pop-ups on the app. .

People should buy your product because they like it, not because they are pressured by aggressive selling techniques.

Another issue is that sometimes marketers spend so much time focusing on brand and product image that they forget that people can’t even understand what their product is doing.

For example, brands come up with riddle-like slogans that sometimes make no sense. And when it comes to a new business, this is definitely not a good idea. It’s important to keep your tagline short and simple. This way you make sure your target audience is fully aware of how your product could help them.

💡 [CONTENT UPGRADE] This article from Hubspot presents 26 catchy slogans and taglines, and the reason for their success.

Or you’re not putting enough effort

Sometimes, your customers might refuse to buy your product because they don’t understand its value. This is true especially with more expensive products like jewelry, watches, or cars, where the decision-making process takes longer.

According to Forrester, 68 percent of buyers want to find all the information they need online in order to continue with the purchasing, and 60 percent don’t think interacting with a sales representative should be the primary information source.

You can, however, organize a meeting or a call with the client where you can openly answer their questions. That way, you have the opportunity to show expertise and you can also make clear why your product is worth it.

But pay attention! If your potential customer didn’t find enough information and you’re discussing details in a meeting, their expectations regarding quality will be much higher.

Now it’s your time to try it

Having a high traffic rate or increasing conversions on your No Code eCommerce app isn’t about luck. It all comes down to a strong adoption strategy that starts with the Digital Marketing Funnel.

As we’ve described through this guide, the difference between web and mobile is clear, so using the right strategies, customized for your eCommerce app is crucial.

Do you want to:

• customize your app according to your adoption strategy, without spending a lot of time, money, and energy?
• focus more on improving your eCommerce app and worry less on how you are going to do that?
• have access to features exclusively designed for every customer, like personalized push notifications and personalized recommendations?

If you said ‘yes’ to the questions above but you don’t think that’s possible, Vajro will prove you wrong. It provides a variety of Integrations Services, pre-built themes that are customizable, drag and drop options, and live video sales.

Why not book a demo with us, and let’s see how we can get your app up and running.