Mobile App Personalization: How to Use It

Imagine this: users open your app and find exactly what they're looking for. They keep coming back for more. That's the power of personalization — it creates a unique experience for each customer.

Sounds great, but how do you make it happen without a huge team? The answer is simple: start by personalizing your communications.

In this article, we'll explore how to personalize mobile apps and effectively engage users.

Spotify offers personalized weekly playlists, carefully crafted to match individual user preferences. Source: flightdigital.co.nz

What is App Personalization?

Personalization means tailoring the app's functionality to each individual user. It's based on data about user behavior, preferences, and needs.

There are many ways to implement it: from personalized push notifications and welcome screens to adapting the app's content and features for each specific user.

Why You Need Mobile App Personalization

Thanks to personalization, you create a truly engaging experience for each individual. Here's why it's beneficial:

• Increased engagement. By offering what the user truly needs, you make your app indispensable.

• Higher conversions. Targeted messages and offers encourage people to make more purchases.

• Reduced user churn. Increased loyalty means fewer people are likely to leave.

How Personalization Works

There are many ways to personalize. They can be divided into two main categories:

• The first is user experience personalization, where the app adapts its functions to a specific person. For example, a fitness app provides training programs tailored to the user's needs. In this case, the person specifies their fitness goals themselves.

• The second is contextual personalization. Here, the app analyzes user actions in real time. For example, it suggests products based on the user's location, or recommends additional purchases, taking into account previous orders. In other words, the app interacts with each user individually, taking into account their specific situation.

Combining these two approaches unlocks a vast array of experimental possibilities. You can create a comprehensive, personalized user experience for your application.

For content-based applications, display the most relevant content directly on the home screen. In an online store, allow users to save their favorite products. Then, leverage this data to send personalized messages.

For example, in the Amazon app, you can add items to a list

How to Personalize Mobile Apps

Let's explore some effective strategies for tailoring mobile apps to individual users.

Segment Users Based on Behavior

This segmentation is based on analyzing user data, including their in-app actions (such as purchases made) and preferences (like music listened to). This divides users into groups with similar behaviors and tailors content based on their actions and interests.

Kindle’s personalization

Create more detailed segments. Once you've gathered enough customer data, group users based on multiple conditions and usage patterns. For instance, segment people who:

• Have made at least one purchase in the last month;

• Haven't opened the app for more than five days.

Then re-engage them with a push notification offering a discount on their next purchase.

Classify app users by engagement level. For example, you can identify segments with the highest potential value: "gold" customers, "silver," and "bronze." "Gold" consumers can be offered more loyalty programs and discounts.

Communicate with customers across multiple channels

Utilize various communication channels for maximum impact. For instance, send personalized messages via push notifications, email, SMS, or within the app itself

To maximize the effectiveness of omnichannel marketing, try Altrcfat — a CDP platform that ensures high-quality customer interactions across various channels.

Utilize alternative communication methods if a customer doesn't open your message. This way, you'll reach customers through the channels they interact with most frequently. Imagine users who don't open your push notifications. In this case, send them a message via email or SMS. But, of course, avoid spamming.

You can also combine channels: for example, you send a user a push, they click on it, and they're taken to the app where an in-app message with details awaits them.

Personalize Your Push Notifications

Push notifications are a great way to engage and retain users, but generic messages often get ignored. Personalized notifications, on the other hand, are four times more likely to be noticed, according to Leanplum.

For example, instead of sending a message like "You have items in your cart. Please buy them," you send a personalized push: "(Customer's Name), you left a Hawaiian pizza in your cart!"

An example of a creative push notification from Duolingo — the character tells you how long your streak is

Personalize In-App Messages

In-app messages are a great way to communicate with customers while they're actively using your product. Here are a few helpful tips:

• Show messages at the right time. For example, send an offer to place an order to a user who has opened the app for the second time this week.

• Segment users for different in-app messages. For instance, target users based on their activity, experience, preferences, and previous actions.

Ensure Messages and App Content Align Seamlessly

Messages and the overall user experience should complement each other. If they're inconsistent, users are likely to get confused.

Highlight valuable features in your notifications that users might miss. A good approach is to directly link users to the relevant section so they don't have to search for it themselves.

Encourage users to take specific actions, such as using certain features or placing an order. For example, in your food delivery app, recommend a particular restaurant or dish based on their past orders and preferences.

Leverage Location-Based Personalization

This type of personalization is a powerful way to boost engagement. It's particularly beneficial in industries like travel, food delivery, and retail.

Send Messages at the Right Time

Choosing the optimal time and frequency for sending messages is crucial. Sending notifications at the right moment significantly increases their effectiveness. Manual scheduling isn't the most efficient approach — it's better to utilize self-learning algorithms like those found in Altcraft Platform. The ML module will determine the best time to send push notifications.

Utilize A/B Testing

Through A/B testing, you can experiment with various elements such as sending times, design, text, calls to action, and links. This will help you determine which messages resonate best with different users.

Levels and Types of Personalization

Personalized marketing doesn't always require a highly individualized approach to each user. More general methods can also be used. Let's learn more about the levels of personalization below.

Promotions for Everyone

This is the most common type. These are promotions designed for a wide range of consumers and cover all products. There's no personalization here, and no special technologies are required. Simple mass distribution of discount coupons is all that's needed.

Loyalty Program Promotions

These offers are restricted to a specific manufacturer or a particular group of products. With this approach, you provide customers with special terms, such as bonus points, gifts, or simply discounts until a certain date.

Targeted Offers

Promotions designed specifically for a particular segment of customers are called targeted offers. Customer segmentation is based on various criteria, including demographics, purchase history, and other factors.

Personalized Offers

Here, you focus on narrower audience segments.

This highly popular approach in modern mobile marketing involves dividing users into groups based on various criteria. Then, the most relevant offers are selected for each of these segments. For instance, instead of sending bonus points to the entire audience, you could limit them to customers who recently celebrated their birthdays.

Tailored Offers

The pinnacle of personalization is programs created specifically for an individual customer, taking into account their personal information and interaction history. Prime examples include automatically generated playlists based on a user's musical preferences.

Types of Personalization

• Personalization for improved usability: Here, you suggest to the customer the nearest store or offer to repeat an order.

• Reminders: Here, you can inform the user about a discount on a product in their cart.

• Motivation: You can send the user a message encouraging them to continue their lessons ("You haven't studied Spanish for 5 days") or return to listening to an album.

Challenges of Personalization

Lack of Suitable Tools

Many retail companies consider data collection and processing to be the primary challenge in personalizing the customer experience. This is often due to a lack of resources for implementing and maintaining the necessary technologies.

Data Errors

Personalization in mobile apps is based on user information. The more accurate this data, the better the app can adapt to each customer. However, if the information is incorrect or outdated, it can ruin the user experience. For example, if a person mistakenly clicks on a product they don't need, and the app then recommends similar products, it will cause a negative reaction. Give users the ability to opt out of irrelevant suggestions — for example, by allowing them to remove items from recommendations using a special button.

After accidentally clicking on a fishing product, the AliExpress feed was flooded with fishing gear recommendations

Data Security Challenges

Many people are willing to share their information in exchange for personalized offers. About half of users don't mind if a brand uses their purchase history.

However, it's important to handle user privacy with care. Be as transparent as possible about data collection and usage. Avoid data breaches.

Conclusion

Personalization is an integral part of a successful mobile application. With personalization, you create a product that precisely meets the customer's needs and makes interacting with the app more enjoyable.

However, it's important to remember that effective personalization is impossible without respecting user privacy. Only a balance between a personalized approach and protecting personal data will help the app gain trust and popularity.