If you have a mobile app for your Shopify business, you should be aware of the rapidly increasing app uninstall rates. Data reveals that the average uninstall rate of an Android mobile app was an alarming 50.49% in October 2023. This means that 1 out of every 2 apps installed are uninstalled within 30 days of download. 

The solution is quite clear - you need to make your customers engage more with your app and maintain consistent usage.

How about starting with constantly providing value to your customers like this:

In this article, you’ll learn strategies to win customer attention and ensure your app stays in the limelight.

App engagement strategy #1: Simple onboarding

The scope for confusion is the highest when users open your app for the first time. A smooth and simple onboarding process prevents this confusion. This is crucial because if users can’t understand your app during their first attempt, the possibility of uninstalling is high. 

A good place to begin is an easy login or sign-up process. Stick to the necessities – name, email, and password are more than enough. You can mandate other details like address and payment methods when they reach the actions where those details are necessary. Another very effective method is to incorporate social login or guest login options. Having either of these one-click login options reduces the effort needed to access the app to a great extent. Social login is a boon as 92% of users tend to completely give up the process when they forget their credentials instead of going through the recovery steps. 

App engagement strategy #2: Uncluttered design

Despite the advancements in smartphone technologies, the bottom line is you have about six inches of screen space to fit every app feature. So, the design of your app has to be very organized and clutter-free. 

The “block” system works best in the case of mobile apps. Arranging sections into rectangular or square-shaped blocks with consistent widths is the most optimal way to display content and separate one section from the next. If you want to add some more flavor, you can use different formats for each block like banners, image grids, carousels, etc. 

Check out this chic app homepage design by Vintage Boho Bags. They mention a running offer on their homepage through a top banner and an attractive image of a person using their product. There are grids to display diverse product categories and a thin banner to display social proof.

App engagement strategy #3: Easy navigation

Another problem that arises with the limited screen space of smartphones is moving from one screen to the next. Smartphones are ideally designed to be operated with thumbs, so making users stretch to the sandwich menu or back button for navigation translates to a UX disaster. This is where the bottom navigation bar helps. 

Your app’s bottom bar can consist of all the important screens of your app that are going to be accessed by your users the most, such as: 

• Homepage 
• Search
• Product Categories
• Cart / Wishlists
• User Account

While you might be tempted to put all the options into the bottom bar, that will lead to more cluttering and confusion. You can ideally have 5 bottom bar functions after carefully considering your product offerings and user behavior.

App engagement strategy #4: Conduct live sales

Live selling is gaining rapid popularity in the e-commerce space for all the right reasons. It has a strong attention factor associated with it since it presents information through video. The human brain is designed to process visuals and sound at a faster pace with much less processing in comparison to text.

A study confirms this by showing that viewers retain 95% of a video’s message compared to just 10% in the case of text. This aspect of live selling also reduces the overall effort required in the purchase process.

The second most important aspect is the confidence associated with making purchases through live selling. When customers can see how the product looks in real time, they can perceive the product more accurately. 

This image here is taken from a live selling session by Opal & Olive, a home decor brand. It explains how showcasing a product during a live sale helps viewers get a better understanding of its look and feel. 

Award-winning social selling strategist, Kirti Poonia, swears by the capability of live selling. She states that live selling is as close as one gets to making a purchase in-store. Live selling also strengthens the relationship between stores and customers as it abides by the “people buy from people” concept. 

App engagement strategy #5: Use the power of push notifications

Push notifications do wonders to increase app engagement. In addition to their convincing power, they are extremely versatile in communication. You can use push notifications to direct customer attention to a variety of different events such as:  

• Product launches 
• Exclusive events
• Key promotions 
• And much more

One of the best uses of push notifications is to remind customers about products in their carts. It’s a proven method to reduce cart abandonments. And you can go even one step ahead and automate push notifications triggered by customer actions. Doing this adds the element of personalization to the mix.

One of our customers was able to achieve a 146% growth in mobile revenue simply by incorporating push notifications into their engagement strategy.

Try Vajro’s push notifications for free. Click here to book a demo. 

App engagement strategy #6: Personalization

Personalization is a very desirable characteristic to enhance your shopping experience and build customer loyalty. Google says that 63% of customers have a stronger purchase affinity towards brands that give them relevant product recommendations. 

To offer personalized shopping experiences, you need to first understand your customers. Conduct in-app surveys to gather the necessary customer information like their age, hobbies, product preferences, and profession.

Be transparent with what you will do with this data. If a customer feels the survey isn’t going to be of use to them, they will either ignore it or give random answers. But if they know the survey is going to make their shopping experience better, they're more likely to give honest answers. 

App engagement strategy #7: Offer app-exclusive benefits

An effective way to increase app engagement is to offer app-exclusive perks. When you give your customers more value through a particular channel, they will naturally be more compelled to use it. There are multiple ways to offer special bonuses to your customers when they shop through an app: 

• Discounts: Pre-applied discounts give you a competitive advantage and increase conversions at the checkout page.
  
  
• Dedicated loyalty program: A loyalty program integrated into your app motivates customers to make more purchases with you, increasing your sales and retention. 
   
• Early access to new launches: If you are about to launch a new product, you can give your app users early access before the official launch. Make them feel special by making them a part of the launch and get their valuable feedback. 

Give your app engagement a boost with Vajro

Increasing app engagement is a very useful technique for building customer loyalty. Vajro’s mobile app builder is equipped with all the tools needed to keep customers hooked to your app. Give your customers unforgettable shopping experiences with a clean design, a comprehensive push notifications suite, live selling, personalized discounts, and more. Book a demo or try Vajro for free today.