Gamification:

Gamification takes a regular, mundane event and makes it fun. It’s a proven method for gaining consumer attention. Gamification can be taken very literally, in that brands create a mobile game based on their product, or it can be a strategy based around gaming, one that’s designed to incorporate something else. Popular fitness trackers that offer users challenges for meeting certain exercise milestones are a prime example of this form of gamification.

Rewards:

Rewards often go hand-in-hand with a gamification strategy, as they recognize a user’s accomplishment. Consider Shopkick, which takes consumers on a digital scavenger hunt to find products and locations. When those consumers go to certain locations or interact with participating products, they receive point rewards—known as kicks—which can later be redeemed for gift cards. Such rewards are often viewed as being more valuable than their face value amount, thanks to the embedded emotional reward the consumer receives in earning the reward and again when collecting on it later.

Video:

Of all the digital advertising channels, video is the most powerful at converting passive viewers into active shoppers. In one study, it was noted that adding a video to an email marketing message increased click-through rates by as much as 300%. Using video ads in a mobile advertising campaign isn’t just an option, it’s a necessity. Consumers prefer video to both text and image-based advertising, and it’s capable of reaching active and passive audiences. When working with a mobile advertising agency, look for companies that offer video platforms.

Geotracking:

While beacon technology has been around for a few years, companies are finding more precise methods of geotracking in apps to pinpoint a consumer to their location within a store. This allows for better, more accurate mobile advertisements that reach consumers at that all important moment when they’re in the shopping aisle.

Augmented Reality:

A few companies have rolled out their own augmented reality (AR) apps as a means of tying the digital and physical worlds together. Because AR is in high demand, the best mobile advertising companies are seeking out ways to leverage AR to engage with consumers.

Voice-based Assistants:

Smart home devices, like smart speakers and wearables, primarily rely on voice to allow users to work with them. Companies planning marketing campaigns in the future may need to look for ways to offer voice integration.

Mobile Pay:

Consumers are shifting their payment methods to the digital universe with mobile wallets. As the technology becomes more widespread, expect consumers to want more mobile payment options. Mobile payment options are also a good time for upsell opportunities since additional products and services can be recommended to the consumer based on what is in their shopping basket.

Partnerships with the Trustworthy Accountability Group:

This group provides a TAG Certified Against Fraud Program certification badge for publishers that meet certain guidelines in actively preventing fraud.

Audits from the Media Rating Council:

MRC compliance covers the proper measuring of traffic. To be considered MRC compliant, a company needs to pass an audit of their prior traffic and measuring processes.  

Clear User Terms:

When working with a mobile app, you should carefully review the terms of service users of their service sign to ensure that data is stored carefully and collected legally. Consumers must give retail mobile apps permission to access user information and the permission type should be clearly stated in the user agreement, so the company ensures they’re only accessing data that the consumer agreed to release.

Incremental Sales ROI:

With the right data, brands can see exactly how marketing impacts a customer through all parts of the purchase journey. This allows brands to adjust or expand strategies as needed.

New Customer Acquisitions:

Companies should be able to see how many individuals who purchased something through the campaign are new—versus returning—customers. New customers are necessary for gaining market share. Data that shows how effectively a campaign converts new customers into buyers will directly impact the company’s bottom line.

Ad Impressions and Completed Views:

These metrics offer  insight particularly on video ads, which can be expensive to produce and roll out on a mass scale. This data informs brands how long users are watching videos, the completion rate as well as the actions taken afterward. Such information helps determine the level of brand awareness created by running mobile ads and whether the ad is worth rolling out on other mediums.

In-store Product Engagement:

Getting consumers to engage with products in the store is often the first step on the path to purchase. In-store product engagement, whether it’s obtained through geotracking-based data or barcode scans, shows a brand how often consumers are seeing their product in-store as well as how often those consumers make a purchase afterward.

Look for testimonials and case studies:

Brands with proven experience share that experience via their client testimonials. However, when looking at these testimonials, you need to look for real numbers that discuss incremental sale lifts and new customers acquisitions. This will provide the real data needed to determine if a company can deliver impact.

Seek out online reviews:

Consider looking for online reviews in places like Google and on industry-specific sites. These can provide the customer’s perspective and will help you determine if the firm is a good fit for your brand.

Find company leaders in the news:

Often, when a company is particularly promising, information about them is available from interviews the leadership team has completed in publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Business Journal, and more. Such stories are typically a good sign that the company has come up with an innovative idea or product and can give you the edge you need. Just be careful of “advertorials,” which is an article that a company has paid to have placed in a magazine. (Most are identified as such.) While the company may still have a strong base of industry knowledge, the article is not unbiased like a regular article in the business or marketing news section.

Free Stuff Times

There may be plenty of deals online to get free stuff, but when you’re busy raising three boys, you don’t have the time (or energy) to scope out all those deals. That’s where the Free Stuff Times app comes in handy. It’s essentially an aggregate site for finding free stuff on the Internet!

Many of the other budget-boosting apps that give you free stuff on my list work with a sort of points-and-rewards system, meaning they ask you to do a small task and in return, you receive points that you can later trade for rewards. The Free Stuff Times app, however, serves as a directory for ways to get free stuff. It contains things like digital coupons or a link to a list of ebooks that are free to download. Essentially, it’s an online newspaper filled with connections to ways to save. Or, as the name implies, ways to get free stuff! The app also allows you to set up push notifications which help ensure you don’t miss out on offers.

Checkout51

One of the most reliable ways to get free stuff and become your own Budget Fairy may be to clip paper coupons, but it feels so antiquated! Thankfully, the idea of coupons has been translated into digital apps like Checkout51, which solves the hassles of carrying around pocketbooks stuffed with coupons.

Checkout51 lists items you can buy at the store, and it also gives you digital coupons for those items. After purchasing of an eligible item, you simply scan your receipt and Checkout51 banks the difference between the full price and the discounted one for you. It might be a few cents on mouthwash here or a nickel for chips there, but it adds up, and eventually, you can get that money back through PayPal or gift cards to some of your favorite stores.

Scratchy

When I was a kid, my uncle would give me a stack of scratch-off lottery tickets and a quarter to go wild with every year for my birthday. I never won any big prizes, but I always had a ton of fun scratching off the silver paint. Well, it takes a bit of patience and luck, but Scratchy is sort of the digital version of that.

I generally spend a few minutes on Scratchy each morning. First I choose which brands or stores I want to win a prize from, then I scratch off a digital ticket in hopes of revealing three matching logos, in which case I get a prize. Scratchy has levels to advance through, and the more time you spend playing, the higher the level you’ll reach and the better the prizes. I once won a $50 gift card to Amazon. That was a lucky day!

Fronto

Turns out you can now use your boring old smartphone lock screen to earn free gift cards, thanks to Fronto. All you have to do is swap out whatever photo is on your lock screen for news and ads that are selected by Fronto. Every time you view one of these ads, Fronto gives you points. Sometimes, it even asks you an interactive question that allows you to earn even more points. Once you’ve earned $10 worth of points, you can exchange them for gift cards. One word of advice: Fronto can seriously drain your data plan and battery life, so make sure you have data to spare and your charger in hand before you start using it in earnest!

Claim it!

Like Scratchy, this app requires a bit of patience and a lot of luck. It’s called Claim it! and it’s basically an entire social media network made up of free stuff! Individuals give away free stuff on Claim it!, and so do local stores.

The interface is super simple to use. Each week the app lists sweepstakes you can enter, and you throw your hat in the ring by simply clicking a button that says Claim it! For the data nerds out there, it also lets you know your chances of winning, how many other people have entered, and the value of each item. Just be aware that the more valuable an item is, the lower your chances of winning. For example, I found I had a 100% chance of winning a free yogurt at my local grocery, but a less than 1% chance of snagging a fancy pair of noise-canceling headphones.

Viggle

When I have a chance to unwind, I usually spend it binge-watching shows or streaming music. I’ve always been a big fan of streaming media as it makes it so easy to access entertainment you might not have found otherwise. As it turns out there’s also an app that gives you free stuff for all the media streaming you do, and it’s called Viggle.

Viggle is an app on your phone that listens for music and TV shows, and then gives you points for all the shows and songs it’s able to identify. You can then convert those points into gift cards or cash. It does, however, tend to take a long time to accumulate enough points to cash out. For example, listening to a Drake song might earn you just two of the 20,000 Viggle points required for a $20 gift card. Then again, if you’re streaming regularly like I am, that might not be a big issue.

Shopkick

Shopkick is kind of magic itself, in that it turns every trip to the store into a super fun scavenger hunt for points, which they call kicks. It’s super easy to use, and all the tasks users do for kicks are ones you do whenever you shop, anyway. Simply put, Shopkick is a free app that pays you to shop. How it works is that basically, you download the app, then walk into one of the many featured partner stores—and earn kicks. Scan featured item barcodes, get kicks. Buy a featured item, get more kicks! You can even shop from your sofa using the app, and you still get kicks! Once you’ve earned enough kicks, you can trade them in for free gift cards to a super wide range of stores.

One of my favorite things about Shopkick is how I barely have to go out of my way for free stuff. And, you can combine Shopkick with other shopping rewards apps—including many of the ones listed here—to double up on rewards! For example, Shopkick works really well with Checkout51.

Not only is Shopkick easy and fun to use, it also has a great social media community full of other Shopkickers who love to share tips about everything from deals to ways to maximize the number of kicks you can earn. It’s a small thing, but it makes a BIG difference.

Interaction drives sales:

One way consumers earn rewards is by scanning the barcodes of certain products via their phone. Encouraging physical interaction with a product increases the likelihood of a sale for a brand. The ability for consumers to earn additional rewards for purchasing the product—which is already in their hand—further incentivizes sales.

Interaction improves brand recall:

Brand recall occurs when a consumer remembers a brand when it matters the most—as they’re about to purchase a product. In-store interaction with a product can foster an important psychological cue that can encourage future purchase behavior. In the consumer’s mind, the brand is now linked to the desired product and to that product’s location in the store.
For example, a consumer uses an app to earn for scanning the barcode on a bottle of nail polish, but doesn’t buy it. Later in the week, the consumer decides it’s time for a new shade. Since they already know the brand, know where it is located in the store, and know that they could potentially earn additional rewards for a purchase, they’ll be more likely to seek out that brand when they’re ready to buy.

Interaction encourages cross-sales:

A consumer using an app in-store to earn rewards for one product may choose to buy another of the brand’s products, or convert from a competitor brand, because of that interaction. Say for example that a dairy brand offered kicks for scanning its butter. After the consumer has scanned the butter, they remember they need milk and choose that brand’s milk. Offering rewards for one product in a brand’s portfolio can help gain awareness for all of them.

Motivating consumers to seek out products:

When a brand doesn’t want to invest heavily in product placement, the ability to motivate consumers to actively seek out products is key. Consider the case of a wine brand that is experiencing low sales and that has poor shelf position. Rather than pay to improve that shelf position, the brand chooses instead to offer free rewards points just for scanning the wine’s barcode, no purchase required. This strategy can drive traffic to their shelf as well as promote consumer engagement with the brand. And, because the request—seek out wine, scan bottle—requires little time investment by the consumer it encourages a large number of scans. Brands can even experiment with the numbers to see exactly how many points it takes to get consumers to actively seek out a product in-store, all while avoiding product placement expenses.

Improved ROI:

Proximity marketing data can be used to determine whether offering rewards or discounts are more effective, and what kind of consumers are attracted to a campaign. Offering a discount often gains only a one-time sale from a new customer, who may be mainly focused on price. Providing rewards, on the other hand, may turn customers into repeat buyers. Data from proximity marketing apps that incorporate rewards can be used to justify increasing rewards marketing and reducing costly discount-based deals.

Testing demand for new product launches:

When rolling out a new product, a brand may choose to do so on a smaller scale, through pilot launches. A shopping app can provide a test market community, allowing the brand to determine whether the product and its marketing campaign is ready for a full launch, or if either needs tweaking first.

Ability to scale for expected demand:

The real-time nature of data gathered through proximity marketing gives a brand early indication of a product’s popularity within a region, and even as narrowly as by neighborhood. This allows brands to scale supply based on specific, localized demand.