Why Your Customer Mobile App Is About To Die

It’s Halloween and there's something terrifying looming over the landscape.

Be afraid…. be very afraid – because the grim reaper is coming for your customer app.

 “But I’m not ready to die!” cries the quaking widget. “I’m too young – I have so much to give! How can this be???”

 “It is… time”, replies the ever-so-slightly tired voice of doom (after all, he’s heard all this before; this little fella sounds just like the Sony Minidisc). “While you've been sleeping peacefully, rarely woken from the comforting bed of your customer’s phone, I have been watching how China and the Far East have been creating an internet revolution that will change the way we engage with just about everything."

Ok, so it turns out that the Grim Reaper is a bit of tech-trends nerd. But it’s not just him. There’s also this guy called Michael Wolfe who knows a thing or two about the internet and media, having served on the board of AOL, been COO of MTV and founded the technology and media consulting group Activate. 

Just this October he gave a presentation on the nine big trends for 2016 at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJDLive event for CEO’s, founders, pioneers and luminaries. It was so good that Business Insider UK described it as “EPIC”. If you have time to review all 136 slides – it’s worth it – check them out here. 

In the meantime this is what you need to know:

• Messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, and WeChat (China) are the fastest growing technologies globally and are shortly set to eclipse social media platforms for the number of active users. 
• In China and the Far East, messaging platforms have been leveraged for years as B2C communicationplatforms. It’s how brands engage customers in the digital space.
• Over time, additional functionality has been added to platforms like WeChat – you can now chat with a business, order goods, summon a taxi, make payments, even perform banking activities… the list goes on.Sound like the sort of stuff your mobile app is being used for?
• Exactly - only messaging platforms don’t require you to go through the effort of downloading yet another business’s app and deciding if it should get real estate on your limited phone screen. All you need to do is ‘friend’ the business in one app you already have. And you’re already authenticated each time you want to do something.

So in the very near future – just like the inevitable growth of other low effort success stories (think contactless payments, Netflix, Uber…) messaging will take over from device apps as the way that we perform eCommerce.

This mega-trend has not gone unnoticed in the West. There are currently only two truly global messaging platforms – Facebook Messenger being the largest – and this is why development has been a number one priority. This year Facebook has launched Messenger for Business and the first major brands are going live engaging customers using [24]7’s integrated chat platform shortly.

So it’s pretty much inevitable that your mobile app will get used less and less as Facebook Messenger takes off in the B2C space. It may not be the Halloween horror story of a swift slice from a razor-sharp sickle, but I’m afraid the bloody writing is nevertheless on the wall.

Cheer up though, because what always comes soon after Halloween? Yep, Christmas! And, employed properly, engaging your customers on Messenger could be the best present you ever had:

• Far higher uptake of mobile commerce functionality compared to apps
• Ready authenticated users - more efficient service
• Integrated [24]7 Virtual Agent function to push notifications (eg. order updates) and resolve many customer queries without human intervention
• Simple way to draw customers from public social rants to private resolutions
• The natural state of customer communications will be text-chat – not voice – the biggest helping hand to channel transformation you’ll ever get
• Leverage device location data to enhance multi-channel experiences (“Welcome to the Oxford Street branch, I’ve notified the advisor you’re here and she’ll come and meet you for your mortgage appointment shortly”)
• Combine location data with contextual Virtual Agents to enhance in-store experiences (“Where do I find the men’s Armani section? / Where are the baby changing facilities?”) – all from the convenience of the customer’s own phone

So happy Halloween – and happy Christmas too. And if you’d like to make sure your business isn’t caught wearing a witch’s hat when the rest of the world has moved on to tinsel and wrapping paper, just drop me a line.

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Interested in this topic? You might like: 

Why The Human Contact Centre Will Be Key To Survival In The Age Of Automation

Can We Trust Intelligent Machines To Serve Us?

Want to transform your customer experience, self service and channel mix? Contact me on: 

+44 (0) 7534 058 945 / [email protected] / @tweetjonwebb