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Is A Mobile App Right For Your Church?

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It’s an amazing time in history. As a Religious leader, there are more technological tools at your disposal to not only streamline your communications with your existing congregational members, but also to attract and build a larger following.

All you have to do is think of major platforms such as Facebook to realize how technology improves our ability to keep in touch with others and extend our reach with those we do not yet know

One of the biggest game changers for Facebook was the implementation of a mobile app for their users. By doing so, they took steps to assure an improved user experience for everyone accessing the platform on their preferred device. In recent years, the sales of smartphones and mobile devices has surpassed the sales of traditional desktop and laptop computers. The way that people use and access the internet has changed, so it was a ‘no-brainer’ to invest in improved technology.

While you might think “Why should we get a mobile app for our church? Isn’t a website enough?” The short answer is that a website (even one that is mobile friendly) is very different from a mobile app.

A mobile app is optimized to operate on a smartphone or tablet. At the tap of an icon, anyone who has downloaded your church app can instantly connect with functionality only available on your app.

When weighing the advantages of a mobile app for your church, here are some things to consider.

Your app should be useful to your parishioners and go further than being eye-pleasing. The more value that your app provides, the better. If it doesn’t add enough perceived benefits, the likelihood of your users forgetting to use it – or worse – delete it, is high.

One of the most significant features your church members are sure to enjoy are push notifications. Push notifications are a nearly ‘can’t miss’ way to share news or updates with your congregation at the press of a button. Push notifications are a straightforward way to send information and updates about benefit dinners, dances, ministry group outings, rummage sales, car washes, Vacation Bible School, bake sales, fundraisers, retreats, special masses or services, or event changes, delays, or cancellations. With this type of connectivity, you can be sure that you’re always in touch with your parishioners on their favorite mobile device.

An optimized church mobile app may also include daily devotional and inspiration, recorded sermons, a member directory, volunteer listings, and other resources your members find helpful.

By treating your mobile app as a resource center, church members are never in the dark about what’s going on at their house of worship.

One of the advantages of being a church is that your members serve as your captive audience for downloading the app. Instead of having to build your app user base from the ground up, you have your existing parishioners who can download the app instantly. Since you already have an affinity group of users, you won’t have to compete with several other apps for your user’s attention. You can build a much stronger community with the help of technology and your mobile app. It serves as a central community center to provide information about upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, school functions (if your church has a school,) member directories, community announcements, and planned outings and excursions. In a nutshell, a mobile app is one of the most efficient ways to keep in regular communications with all of your parishioners from the device they use the most – their smartphone or other preferred mobile device.

A built-in audience is a great place to start. If you want your app to get distributed to a wider audience, it has to be useful, attractive and technologically sound. You want to eliminate as many quirksome bugs as possible before putting it into full release. Things like unexpected crashes and slow load times are two of the biggest reasons that people uninstall or delete apps from their mobile devices. Because technology is constantly changing and evolving, having the ability to upgrade and adapt your mobile app in the future helps you stay competitive. Once you’ve deployed your app, don’t be afraid to ask your users for feedback on how your app can be improved. You should be willing to adapt your app to meet the needs of your users as time goes along. The best ideas often come from the people who are the biggest advocates of your app. Your most loyal users are the ones who will have the most working experience with the app.

Since they regularly use all of the different features and functionality, they can tell you ways that it can be improved, offer new ideas for future development, and give “bug” reports helping to fix issues with the app quickly. You always want to put your best foot forward with your church mobile app and provide a seamless experience.

Unfortunately, one bad user experience can result in a negative impression of the app. Should they decide to tell their friends and family members, this discourages them from downloading the app, as well. On the bright side, you can expect the same reaction to your app if it is an excellent one. Your avid users will tell the people in their circles about how impressed they are with your mobile app. This constructive feedback is sure to influence others to give the app a try, so they can get all of the benefits of becoming a mobile app user. For this reason, it’s critical to select a mobile developer who has the experience to complete the job to your specifications and is there to offer guidance and assistance when needed to enhance the app on a needed basis.

Have more questions or want to learn more about how to launch a mobile app for your church? Contact us today! We would love to help you with all of your mobile app needs!

Don’t Get Deleted! Tips to Get Users to Download and Keep Your App Installed

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As more people worldwide gravitate towards using Smartphones and other Mobile devices to access the Internet, savvy businesses understand the need to stay connected with their target audiences on their preferred mobile devices. A recent study conducted by Pew Research found that just over one in ten Americans are “Smartphone Only” Internet users, meaning that they don’t have traditional Internet Services such as DSL, Fiber, or Cable in their home. What is even more interesting is that many Americans now spend anywhere from 5 – 10 hours daily using their Smartphones and other mobile devices.

Connect With Your Mobile Market

As you can imagine, mobile users are among some of the most loyal, and their dependency on these devices offers you a unique opportunity to get – and stay – connected with this avid user base. This opportunity is what’s commonly known as a Mobile App.

Unlike traditional websites where people typically access your site by typing in the URL or using a search bar, a mobile app requires that your user download your app to their Smartphone or Mobile Device.

Depending on the nature of your business, you might consider offering people who download your mobile app an incentive or promotional offer for doing so. For instance, a beauty salon might offer a 10% discount on services for using the app to schedule their next appointment or service. Your mobile app works as a critical part of your overall marketing and sales funnel. Features such as the ability to send “Push Notifications” directly to your app users offers a convenient way to alert your mobile app users about flash sales, special offers, or other promotions to drive traffic to your business.

By enticing clients and customers with exclusive offers, coupons and other rewards that are only available via your app, you’re taking steps to increase customer loyalty and patronage. By adding value, the careful use of promos and incentives helps assure that people who downloaded your app on their mobile devices keep them installed.

The Magic Of Push Notifications

If you want an “on-demand” way to broadcast an offer to your patrons, fans, and followers, Push Notifications are the perfect way to accomplish this marketing feat. Instead of your message getting routed to an Email (that may or may not get monitored on a regular basis) your marketing message is delivered like a text message. According to reports, 90% of people read text messages, so the likelihood that your communication reaches your target market is almost guaranteed. Once the message gets sent through the system, mobile users will get a pop-up on their Smartphone or Tablet with your message. How cool is it to know that you get your potential customer’s undivided attention?

Mobile Apps As Part Of Your Overall Marketing Strategy

It stands to reason that you want to derive as much value as possible for all of your marketing and advertising budgets and efforts. In addition to offering a cutting-edge mobile app, it’s always a sound marketing approach to build your audience using organic methodologies and paid advertising including Print, Online, and Social Media ads. 

One of the reasons that using Print and Online ads is so useful is because people might be reluctant to download your mobile app if they aren’t familiar with your brand or business. Online and Print ads are effective at raising brand awareness and building trust with the consumer.

Once you’ve established a baseline relationship with potential new clients, they are more likely to download your mobile app to take advantage of the special offers and promotions you offer via your app. In a nutshell, all of your marketing efforts work in combination with one another to stabilize your blended advertising costs.

Finding The Right Marketing Mix

Most successful business owners understand the importance of getting their marketing mix just right. Not only do you want to be able to attract new customers to your business, but you also want to be able to build repeat business with your existing customer base. As the old saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” But if you work every day to build your business, you’re taking the right steps towards lasting success – and marketing has a lot to do with your end results.

Failure to target mobile internet users could perhaps be one of the biggest mistakes any business could make, because of the high degree of engagement people have with their Smartphones. All you need to do to see just how accurate this statement is, is by taking a look around you almost everywhere you go. People are always on their mobile devices doing something, whether it’s making a phone call, listening to music, watching videos, or hailing a ride with apps like Uber or Lyft. By increasing your coverage and market share with these same mobile users, you get the chance to increase your sales volume, revenue, and profit, which are the benchmarks for success for all companies.

Launch Your Mobile App and Marketing Campaigns With Ease

Want to launch your mobile app and marketing campaign but not sure where to start? No worries! The experts at Colleen Eakins Design are here to help you achieve your business goals with mobile apps, graphic design, and web design that work. Our job is to make sure that our customers look good online, digitally and in print, so they can focus on the core areas of their business where they excel. We help you get ahead of your competition by giving your customers, and potential clients access to one of the things they love the most, mobile apps!

We’re happy to work with companies of all sizes to develop a mobile app that helps them meet their business objectives. If you’re ready to extend your marketing efforts into the growing mobile market, Contact Us today to start the discussion about your mobile app needs. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Colleen EakinsColleen Eakins is a dynamic and creative individual that possess a knack for great design. With over 15 years of experience in the field of graphic design, Colleen is able to effectively brand her clients with great design pieces. Her motto is: “Anyone can make a pretty picture, but is it effective? Will it […]

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Discover Why a Loyalty Rewards Program and App Should Be Your Next Move

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Small business owners know there’s a battle going on for customer’s attentions. People have short attention spans these days and are always looking for something new to interest them. Loyalty rewards programs are popular because they help win back eyeballs that otherwise might not come back. Rewarding your best clients makes sense because they buy more when you do!

Acquiring new customers is the hardest part of running a business. It’s an expensive process and not one that’s easy to do on a day-to-day basis. That’s why loyalty rewards programs resonate with owners and operators. They are an easy way to hang on to the customers you already have while encouraging them to spend more. Your organization doesn’t have to stop when it comes to promoting customer loyalty.

Products Are Outstanding App Ideas

Your product can become an app, which is a fast way to reach a vast new audience. Chances are your product already has many of the components in place to transform into a business application. Tons of companies already use this approach effectively to gain mobile usage. Face facts, if you aren’t already catering to a mobile market, you’re behind the curve. A majority of internet users are on mobile devices, and the trend won’t reverse.

Speak with your app developer to cover your options. With a bit of ingenuity, she can help you deliver a compelling application to users to expand your market.

Get Users to Engage

Apps don’t mean much unless people use and interact with them. It’s crucial that you design your offering with this fact in mind. There’s no doubt that users expect engagement. When they ask a question, they want answers fast. Companies take advantage of this opportunity by providing them with excellent, custom service. Personalizing their experience is one of the best ways to keep people coming back.

Transparency Helps Increase Participation

It’s always a good idea to be transparent with your loyalty rewards program. Your customers will want to know what precise benefits they get when they join. Spell it all out, and you’ll find that your participation rates are sky high. Deliver on the advantages you outline and you’ll find that people are more than happy to continue their business relationship with your organization. It’s a challenge to keep people around, so it’s necessary to have a high standard of quality built into your program.

Increase Sharing as Much as Possible

Virality is a savvy way to get the most mileage out of your business app. Encouraging people to share will result in them spreading the word beyond your traditional platform. Your success depends on how you and your developer orient your positioning in the market. For business owners in the retail space, such as massage therapists, café’s, restaurants, and hair stylists, an app spreads the word in a way that conventional advertising cannot. Customer loyalty programs built around apps outperform alternatives because they make staying loyal incredibly simple.

Loyalty Rewards Program Apps Spur Revenue Growth and Retain Customers

Major retail stores have long wowed their fans with discounts and incentives to stay loyal. Fortunately, the tactics work for almost all business types. It’s crucial to put a personal spin on your approach, but if you’re willing to make an effort to fit your app to your market, you cannot lose. Client retention is going to remain the number one issue for all companies across all industries. Many big companies now offer multi-level reward programs that account for a vast amount of revenue. Even the smallest retailer benefits from installing a program, especially one that taps into the convenience of mobile devices.

Your Most Active Users Make a Massive Difference

Your most eager customers and users are the driving force for your sales growth. A few customers push the majority of revenues for companies, with many experts stating the 80/20 rule. That’s why loyalty rewards programs excel. They help you pinpoint and cultivate relationships with those clients who are demonstrably valuable to your enterprise.

Start New People off with a Bonus

It’s a smart idea to get new rewards members to start off with something extra. That’s an easy way to make them feel like the program is worth it. Getting feedback from your current fans is a way to find out what features they want the most. If you’re willing to come through for them based on their input, you’ll see a greater degree of involvement.

Keep the Focus on the Goals

People join loyalty programs so they can achieve progressive goals. The reward you choose is not the only factor for success. Perhaps the customer will receive a free meal after paying for ten. It may be a free haircut once every three months that keeps someone interested. What matters most is that they’re working towards their objective as they make each purchase. The goal should be something of value that they want. With an app, you can reward them every step of the way as they continue to make purchases and payments. Even relatively small rewards may have a significant impact because your customers engage with your app.

Now is an ideal time to speak to us about how we can help you craft a loyalty rewards program that will boost company sales. With the right incentives in place, your technology will spread effortlessly. Your customers are like everybody else, and they will take incentives where they can find them! We can help make the entire system seamless so that rewards become an automatic process. You won’t have to do extra work using physical systems. Instead, rely on the power of an app to do all the heavy lifting needed. Reward programs continue to carry a lot of weight with consumers. They love to feel appreciation, especially from companies like yours that they admire. Get in touch now to find out more! We’re passionate about helping small businesses establish a loyalty rewards program that works. Fill out the form below and someone from the team will get in touch with you.

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Colleen EakinsColleen Eakins is a dynamic and creative individual that possess a knack for great design. With over 15 years of experience in the field of graphic design, Colleen is able to effectively brand her clients with great design pieces. Her motto is: “Anyone can make a pretty picture, but is it effective? Will it […]

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