Web-to-App Strategy: How Brands Lose Millions Without Deep Linking (Fix Your App Conversions)

Coming up, I'm going to share why most brands dramatically [music] underestimate how much revenue they actually lose >> [music] >> when their web-to-app journey quietly breaks. And, of course, how to fix it. Stay tuned. >> [music] >> What is up, App Nation? It is Steve P. Young, founder of appmasters.com. And in this video, I'm going to talk all about the web-to-app journeys and why it is one of the simplest levers that you can pull for improving installs, onboarding, and in-app conversions. And why most brands, even the big ones, underestimate how much revenues they're actually losing without a proper web-to-app journey. So, let's get started. All right, here's a visual just for you guys, cuz I love me a visual, all right? Lifecycle marketers, growth teams, CRM managers, I am talking to you. Make sure that your web-to-app journey is seamless, and you have the proper analytics in place. Cuz

I'm going to share some examples of brands doing it really well, and even some that are huge brands that are like, "Uh, uh-uh, not doing it so well." All right? So, there's this huge gap that's happening from people actually experiencing and having a good experience on the web and bringing it into the app. And you might be wondering, "Hey, why take them to the app if they're already on my website?" Well, I'm going to tell you that. Three times higher. E-commerce apps convert at roughly three times higher rates than mobile web. So, you definitely want people on your app. They're just going to be stickier. Next, app viewers view 4.2x more products per session compared to mobile web visits. Like I said before, app users are way stickier than mobile web users. All right, lastly, check out this crazy number. Cart abandonment rates are dramatically lower in apps. That's 20% versus mobile web, meaning more completed purchases in the

app. So, not only are they converting more, but when they finally do start checking out, they actually do check out in the app versus the web. All right, here's some more numbers. This you can just take a screenshot of this. I'm not going to go through all the numbers, but spoiler alert, the app performs a lot better for everything, all the numbers you want to see, than the mobile web. All right, so that's the powerful. People will land on your mobile website, but then you obviously want to take them into your app.

So, let's review some of the biggest brands and how they're doing it, and what they could be doing better. First, Nike. A brand that I personally love, so let's check them out. So, apps not installed, I'm going to give you that scenario. I'm on their website right now, nike.com. I've loved this smart banner right here. So, I hit open. I've already downloaded, so I don't redownload the app, and then I have to sign up or sign in.

Don't really like this, Nike, but okay. Welcome back, Steve. To personalize your experience and connect you to sport, we've got a few questions. So, they're asking me a bunch of questions here. They want to use location services to help me find Nike stores. Okay. Good. I like to buy them online, but all right, tell me about the stores. And then that's it, and then they take me to the shoe. Now, actually, I had found the shoe first, and I hit that smart banner right here, and I was able to Nike took me automatically to the shoe. So, good job, Nike. You took me to the spot that I was at on the web, you took me directly to it within the app. Great job there. Now, let's take a look when the app is already installed. I want to see if there's a different experience, right?

So, here it is. I'm on the web. I love the LeBrons. That's what I wear all the time. So, I see the shoe. I have to scroll a little bit, which is kind of interesting, right? I'm scrolling a little bit. I'm picking my size and I hit open. And when I hit open, I have the app installed, I'm hit directly to the shoe and the size. So, that's the good part, Nike. It's very seamless. When I'm on the web and then going straight into the app, very, very seamless process, right? So, let's go over the pros and cons.

The users, the pros, the users are taken directly to the shoe and the correct shoe size selected. Pro. Ding. Great job, right? Cons, users are directed to the app store from the smart banner. Now, I'm going to show you a pretty cool way that you can actually get people to download the app within the smart banner, okay? So, stay tuned for that. Registration before purchase, I see this as a huge opportunity for Nike because what we've seen on our end is that if you take them to the product and only when they're about to check out is when you should ask for that user info, that registration info. So, I prefer to wait on that registration, especially since I'm coming from directly from a shoe that I already like. So, I'd rather wait for that sign up and sign in when I'm about to check out, okay?

And then, I would rather show the smart banner right away. Like, don't wait. I don't know why they're waiting for me to scroll a bit right here and pick a size and then hit open. All right, like I don't even have to pick a size. I can hit open and then I'm going straight into the app. So, I wouldn't I would have removed this scroll. Just leave it right here, right off the top, just like you do on your website. It's like right right here. Just like you do on your home page. Just do it right there. Right there. Up front center.

Okay? It's all right, Nike. Okay. Let's talk about Sephora. All right. [laughter] The makeup brand. Here's the Sephora website and I'm on the home page. I select an item. I hit get right here and it is automatically downloading. It's not taking me to the App Store like Nike's did because Nike, if you're taking me to the App Store, sometimes there might be some drop off. But Sephora's allowing me to automatically download within the smart banner. Really, really cool.

All right. So, you can see how it goes. I hit get and then I double click to install. Again, I'm still on the mobile web. I'm installing the app right here. So, that's pretty cool. Now, I see open. It turns to open instead of get. One thing to point out is I am on a product page. All right, keep that in mind. So, I hit open here. They're asking me to enable Face ID. I don't mind this, especially because there's a maybe later.

Again, they're asking me to sign in and sign up. Again, I don't mind this cuz I can skip for now. Nike, take a cue. Okay? But, here's what I do not like now that I'm in the app. I came from a product. I already picked this sunscreen product and now you're landing me onto the home page. Granted, I think the product's right there, right? Right here. But, I had already selected it. Unlike Nike that took me directly to the shoe, to the product that I wanted, Sephora did not. So, there's a huge opportunity here for Sephora.

Okay? Default home page, not the item I selected. Wanted to make that clear. And here's just the recap that I was on. So, I was on the Sephora home page, picked the product, downloaded the app, opened the app, and then I'm landed on the home page again. So, you can see the journey is a little bit broken. You can see some missed opportunity for increased revenue. There's more friction here. The more frictionless you can possibly be, the better it is. So, I have these two examples to show you the positives and the negatives, and if you combine both into one, take the Sephora smart banner that allows me to download directly the app while I'm on the mobile web and not redirect me to the app store page. Love that. But, Sephora, what you need to do better is if I'm on a product and I'm opening the app, take me to that product like Nike does, all right?

Okay. So, here are the pros. A lot more pros for Sephora. Users download the app directly within the smart banner. Woo! Really cool. Smart banner is permanently on the top, no matter what, whether I'm on the homepage or a product page. I can skip registration. The onboarding was really fast cuz you want people to shop, and then you make them register and sign up when they're about to check out. The cons, not too many. It defaults to the homepage of app instead of a true deep link, which takes me to the product from the web to the app. It should match just like Nike. Had those LeBrons on the web?

Have those LeBrons in the app. All right. Now, big news here. AppsFlyer has a deep linking experience that you have to check out. If you don't want their MMP, I would suggest it, but if you were like, "No, I don't need an MMP right now." That's fine. But, if you want to utilize a smart deep linking technology that combines all the pros of both Nike and Sephora into one seamless platform, check out AppsFlyer's deep linking solution. Again, you don't need their MMP to use their deep linking solution.

It's a great way to take a customer from the web and then have them in the app and benefit all the great numbers that the app provides. So, here it is, the smart banner, smart scripts, all the things we talked about are within AppsFlyer's platform. All right? If you want to check them out, use that link in that video description and let them know that you heard it on App Masters. All right, guys. That is it. [music] As you can see, a simple process can be broken along the way. So, if you want a seamless solution, check out AppsFlyer.

And if you're in the e-commerce space, I definitely hope you're using smart [music] banners to increase your revenues. All right. Till next [music] time, I'll see you on the next video.