Author: Dan Gendro

Applications are now being used to help enhance the rate of customer engagement while shopping.

Marketers are continuing with their rapid adoption of techniques to reach consumers via smartphone and the popularity of mobile commerce apps is a new reflection of that attitude. A new report suggests that these marketers are using mobile applications as a new way of reaching their target audience.

The report was titled “Quantifying the Rise of Mobile Apps & The Value of Deep Linking.”

That report was published by The Relevancy Group in conjunction with Branch. The research data indicated that almost 45 percent of marketers are now developing and launching mobile commerce apps to enhance customer engagement. Furthermore, over 40 percent of marketers are looking to mobile apps to boost brand loyalty. About that same percentage of marketers are also using applications for the purpose of driving sales.

Marketers recognize the increasing value of mobile commerce apps to drive revenue.

When asked their opinion about the effectiveness of m-commerce apps in driving revenue, marketers ranked them as fourth on the list of most effective channels. Above applications in terms of their effectiveness were: display advertising, social media marketing and email marketing.

According to Branch’s Todd Patton, “Email marketing remains an important part of your marketing efforts.” Furthermore, “Email is the best channel to directly reach potential customers and loyal supporters, “ he said.

At the same time, marketers acknowledge that email marketing can be very effective while at the same time being easy to use. It remains a central marketing tactic for brands due to the simplicity of the tools required in order to reach customers. It is quick, cost effective and it reaches people on virtually any connected device.

A previous Adestra and Ascend2 report called “State of Digital Marketing – Benchmarks for Success,” showed that 61 percent of marketers feel email is the most effective marketing technique. Only 23 percent felt that it was the most challenging tactic to effectively execute.

That said, 38 percent of marketers felt mobile marketing was the most challenging to execute. Still, its effectiveness appears to have made the challenge worthwhile considering the rising number of mobile commerce apps being produced.

The online marketplace has released its full on-demand service called Amazon Music Unlimited.

It feels as though rumors about an Amazon streaming music service have been around forever. As of this week, the company launched Amazon Music Unlimited. It is meant to function as a rival to Google Play Music, Apple Music and Spotify. That said, Amazon has worked hard to make its offerings stand out.

There are many ways in which Amazon Music Unlimited is different from other options on the market.

That said, the price of a subscription is likely what makes this streaming music service the most different. In the U.S., it has launched at $79 per year or $7.99 per month for Prime members. This is notably less expensive than the premium Spotify and Apple Music options. Moreover, customers who own an Amazon Echo voice-controlled gadget will be able to subscribe for music at only $3.99 per month.

That said, at the very heart of the service is one that is quite similar to the competition. It has an enormous catalog of songs. It also includes a recommendation engine to help users to discover new music. The service has a contract with the three largest music labels in addition to a solid number of indie labels. It can allow users to create their own playlists though algorithmic playlists are also available.

The Amazon streaming music service is available for Android, iOS, Sonos and desktop users.

Naturally, it is also available through the Amazon set-top boxes as well as its Fire tablets. The company’s new Music apps have been entirely recreated and overhauled. They have new navigation, typography and place a greater focus on album art and imagery.

These applications also offer a number of interesting features. For instance, users can automatically download music the company’s algorithms think they will like. This function occurs in the background so users can benefit from offline listening, too. Lyrics integration has also been included in the mix.

Amazon is focusing the marketing of its new streaming music service on its sleek integration with the Echo devices and with Alexa voice assistant.