Essential Features for a Successful Mobile Commerce App

Building a mobile commerce app is one of the best ways to drive sales for ecommerce businesses. That’s because mobile apps convert higher than the mobile web.

But simply launching an app isn’t enough to make it successful.

The best ecommerce apps on the market have certain features in common. These specific elements are all focused on improving the customer experience, driving sales, and increasing conversions.

Whether your app is live or still in the early development stages, adding the right features will lead to prosperity, success, and profitability.

After researching the latest mobile commerce trends, mobile commerce tips, and best practices, I’ve identified the top 15 features your m-commerce app must have.

1. Push Notifications

A significant benefit of your mobile commerce app is the ability to communicate with app users. You don’t have this advantage with your mobile site or desktop site for that matter, either.

When leveraged correctly, sending the right push notification at the perfect time can lead to sales.

Push notifications can be treated like your email marketing campaigns. You can send product updates, discounts, promotions, and other offers as well. Except push notifications should be reserved for your best offers.

If the offer is so good that you’d send a text message to your customers about it (since you basically are), then send it as a push.

70% of app users find push notifications useful. 40% of people engage with push notifications within an hour, compared to just 8% who ignore them altogether.

Here’s a breakdown of the most desired that content app users want from a push notification:

• Promotions — 34%
• New developments — 26%
• Geotargeted information — 26%
• Other — 14%

Running a flash sale? Send a push notification. Are you releasing a product with limited availability? Tell users with a push.

Consider using push notifications to update customers about their orders. For example, you can send a “package delivered” message when the order arrives at the front door.

2. Location Tracking

As I briefly mentioned, 26% of app users want push notifications relevant to their locations. Furthermore, 53% of people agree to share their location with mobile apps.

Use this crucial data to your advantage to improve your mobile commerce marketing strategy. There are so many different ways to leverage location tracking for mobile apps.

Here are a few basic examples to showcase how versatile location tracking can be.

Feature	Benefit
Store Locator	Helps users find the nearest physical store.
Geofencing	Sends targeted notifications based on user location.
Personalized Offers	Customizes app content based on regional preferences.

For those of you with physical retail locations, you can have a “store locator” feature within your app. Users can use this to find the closest store to their current position.

According to a recent consumer survey, the ability to locate physical stores from an app is one of the most valuable features of a mobile commerce app.

In addition to your store location feature, you can use geofencing technology to send relevant push notifications.

If an app user walks by one of your stores, you can immediately send them a push notification enticing them to buy. Even if you don’t have any physical stores, geofencing can still be extremely useful.

Here’s an obvious example to illustrate my point.

Let’s say your business sells sports equipment. If an app user goes to the beach, you can send them an offer related to surfboards and kayaks. If a user goes to a ski resort, you can send offers related to snowboarding and skiing.

A person’s physical location can also be used to personalize their app home screen.

Customers living in New York City shouldn’t be seeing the same offers as customers living in Los Angeles.

3. User Profiles

Allowing users to log in and make purchases from a customer profile is the ultimate advantage of having a mobile commerce app.

This feature has countless benefits for you as well as your customers.

For starters, a user profile gives you so much insight into the mind of each customer. You’ll be able to recommend relevant products based on their purchase history and browsing history.

Customers are happy because they are getting personalized offers, and you’re pleased because those recommendations will lead to sales.

90% of people find personalization appealing.

As you can see, 80% of consumers say they are more likely to do business with brands that offer a personalized experience.

Personalization aside, customer profiles make the lives of app users much easier.

Since all of their information is saved to the profile, they can shop and checkout in seconds. Think about how much information is required to complete a transaction. At the bare minimum, you’re asking for things like:

• Customer name
• Credit card number
• Billing address
• Shipping address
• Email address

Each additional step a customer has to take reduces their chances of converting. From a mobile device, entering all of this information is tedious.

However, app users only have to do this once. Then the information can be stored and used for future purchases.

4. Social Media Integration

74% of shoppers are influenced by social media when it comes to purchasing decisions.

I’m assuming (and hoping) that your company already has an active presence on social media. So integrate those channels with your mobile commerce app to get the most out of them.

Here’s why. It’s possible that customers who installed your mobile app do not follow you on social media. Even your top customers won’t be opening your app every day, but it’s likely that they’re using social media daily.

Adding your Facebook wall or Instagram feed to your app can encourage users to follow you.

On days when they aren’t shopping on the app, you can still engage with those people via social media.

Social media integration also saves you time when it comes to adding content to your app. For example, if you install a YouTube plugin, any video uploaded to your YouTube channel will automatically appear in the app. So you won’t have to upload it twice.

5. Discounts and Promotions

Everyone loves to feel like they got a great deal when they’re shopping. So give your customers an incentive to use the app by offering exclusive discounts and promotions.

According to a recent study, 65% of people use ecommerce apps to receive exclusive deals and offers.

As you can see from the chart, this ranked first on the list of reasons.

This feature will obviously have a lot to do with your brand’s overall image and pricing strategy. I know that some luxury brands never offer discounts or anything like that.

But for the majority of you, this feature will be essential for success.

I like the idea of using a discount or promotional offer as a way to drive app downloads from the beginning. For example, you could offer $20 off or 20% discount off the first purchase using the app.

But beyond the initial offer, discounts are still a great way to drive mobile commerce sales. This is especially true for time-sensitive offers.

Send push notifications for flash sales or deals expiring soon. If you can create FOMO (fear or missing out), it will entice app users to act quickly. People want to get a discount before it’s too late.

6. Customer Loyalty Program

An app is the perfect platf

nclude mobile-optimized images as well.

The inability to touch and feel a product is one of the most difficult aspects of making an online purchase. Consumers rely on detailed and accurate photographs to eliminate this barrier.

Research shows that an inaccurate depiction of products is a leading cause of returns.

Your app should include as many product images as possible. These must be high-quality and show the product from every angle.

If possible, find a way to show the items to scale. Show action shots and people modeling or using the product.

For example, let’s say you’re selling a shirt. A person wearing the shirt would provide more value to a customer than a shirt sitting on a table or plain background.

According to a case study from CXL Institute, product images with a 360-degree spin feature can boost conversions by up to 27%.

14. Simple Returns

In a perfect world, all of your customers will be happy with your products. But we both know that’s not the case.

Returns are part of running an online retail business. Don’t make this a hassle for your customers.

92% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand again if they experience a simple returns process. 67% of people check a company’s return policy before finalizing a purchase.

Furthermore, poor return policies are a leading cause of shopping cart abandonment.

Always offer free returns.

Allow users to facilitate the return process directly through the app. You can take a page from Amazon’s playbook and generate a QR code in the app. That code can be scanned and processed at UPS or FedEx store.

You know that returns are bound to happen. Making them easy for app users will keep those customers coming back to make more purchases in the future.

15. App Analytics

Use app analytics to make continuous improvements in your mobile commerce app. You can track things like:

• Product page conversion rates
• Most popular payment methods
• Section of the screen that’s clicked the most
• Geographic location of app users
• Types of mobile device being used
• Daily app usage per user
• Duration of app usage per visit
• App crashes
• Bugs and error reports

The list goes on and on. This type of information is extremely valuable. You might learn something about the behavior of app users that could trigger a change in your app.

Aspect	Amazon’s Approach	General Recommendation
Return Process	Generate a QR code in the app	Facilitate returns directly through the app
Return Location	Processed at UPS or FedEx store	Offer free returns

Don’t assume that your app is perfect the way it is. There’s a good chance that it’s not. App analytics will help you make significant improvements.

Conclusion

If you have an ecommerce mobile app, you need to add these must-have features if you want it to be successful.

All of the information above is based on actual research from high-performing apps.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• What are the must-have features for an ecommerce mobile app? High-quality product images, simple returns, and app analytics are essential features.
• How can product images boost conversions? Detailed images, especially with a 360-degree spin feature, can increase conversions by up to 27%.
• Why is a simple returns process important? A hassle-free returns process can increase repeat purchases and reduce cart abandonment.
• What should I track with app analytics? Track conversion rates, popular payment methods, user locations, and device types to improve your app.
• How can I facilitate returns through my app? Allow users to generate QR codes for easy returns at UPS or FedEx stores.