If Apple was threatened by “Fortnite” trying to bypass the App Store, it’s not going to be happy when progressive web apps take off. PWAs disrupt the tech giant’s granular control over the Apple App Store because they offer app-like experiences without the need to download an actual app. They’re designed for the everyday website user but provide many features that are exclusive to native apps.

Although many companies love the idea of building a native app, this approach can be a hassle for developers. You have to update them, manage reviews, attract downloads, and pay most stores a 30 percent cut of every sale — this includes paid apps and in-app purchases, which can add up quickly. Apple raked in $64 billion from the App Store in 2020.

That’s part of the reason Google is an advocate for PWAs, encouraging developers to build and distribute them. The search engine also leads Project Fugu, which aims to expand browser capabilities and help web apps “do anything native apps can“. This dream could become a reality: Almost 65 percent of internet users already rely on Chrome, and its open-source Chromium foundation lets other browsers use its PWA technology.

Since the pandemic has been sending more people online than ever before, much of the focus in 2021 will remain on the user experience. So, would you rather take cues from Apple or Google? The PWA vs. native app war has begun, and if you’re looking to stand out and get a leg up on the competition, then a PWA may be the way to go.

The business benefits of PWAs

PWAs provide users with numerous benefits. For example, they are smaller files than native apps, which frees up space on people’s devices. However, PWAs can also impact your goals and bottom line as a business. Here are three key advantages of progressive web apps:

1. Rapid connections

Consumers have options: There are plenty of places to browse news, buy clothes, and watch videos. If your website isn’t up to speed (literally), people will take their attention and spending power elsewhere. For instance, the Forbes website used to take anywhere from three to 12 seconds to fully load, those delays caused 53 percent of users to abandon the website. Once the company switched to a PWA, browsing sessions increased by 43 percent.

PWAs can increase speed for all users, but the acceleration is particularly important for browsers on slow connections. By caching content after the first visit, PWAs make it possible for more people to access your products. That increase in speed also translates to improvements in discoverability for all users. According to Google’s 2018 announcement, mobile speed factors heavily into overall page ranking.

2. SEO capabilities

Aside from the fact that speed affects your page rankings, PWAs are also SEO-friendly. Because they live on the web, their content is visible to search engines. This can boost your ability to generate traffic and leads. For example, when Alibaba turned its website into a PWA, it saw 76 percent more conversions.

Native apps are limited to the SEO constraints of app stores. Typically, only the app profile page is listed in Google search results, forcing companies to rely on the app’s description, pictures, and positive reviews to improve visibility and land more downloads.

With a PWA, you have the same unlimited flexibility as a website to create custom user experiences and optimized resourceful content that will rank on Google and showcase your app’s features and benefits. App store optimization is limited, but a PWA enables you to execute all SEO strategies.

3. Engagement opportunities

PWAs support push notifications, creating opportunities for companies to reach out to their customers with personalized product recommendations, news updates, and other relevant communications. This can improve customer engagement and help increase brand loyalty.

PWAs can also boost engagement with your social media pages because they’re able to use device tools like cameras and Global Positioning System (GPS). And as augmented reality (AR) becomes available on PWAs, all kinds of exciting possibilities will open up. Imagine a customer trying on your company’s latest apparel in AR and then sharing their selfies on social media — all without a native app that has to be developed for multiple operating systems and tweaked to support dozens of devices.

Decreasing coronavirus case numbers and accelerating vaccine distribution efforts are contributing to optimism in many parts of the world. Still, it will likely be a while before life returns to normal. As people continue to spend more time at home (and on the internet), organizations need to prioritize their digital transformation strategies.

For the reasons above, this should include building PWAs. While web apps aren’t new developments, they are uniquely positioned to help companies achieve their goals in the current environment. Companies can focus their efforts on one web app that prioritizes the user experience instead of wasting energy on multiple native apps designed for different operating systems with limited search engine visibility.

Nick Chasinov is the Founder and CEO of Teknicks, a research-based agile internet marketing agency certified by Google in Analytics, Tag Manager, and Ads.

The post Why progressive web apps (PWAs) are poised to dominate moving forward appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

New Channels, Better Targeting: How B2B Tech Marketing Is Changing [Survey]
54 percent of global B2B marketers plan to use more marketing channels during 2021, and 51 percent say they are seeking out new ways to tell their brand’s stories — two of several statistics of interest to digital marketers in newly-released report data from Spotify and WARC. MarketingProfs

New Report Looks at the Rising Influence of Online Communities
77 percent of consumers say that online groups are the single most important communities in their lives, a trend that has increased during the pandemic, according to recently-released global survey data. Social Media Today

Twitter announces paid Super Follows to let you charge for tweets
Twitter has announced a selection of payment tools that will allow online publishers to provide exclusive content on the social platform, while a new Twitter Communities feature will bring topic-specific groups to the platform. The Verge

Facebook Shares New Research into the Comparative Performance of Brand vs Direct Response Campaigns
Facebook has published results from three-year examination of 500 brand and direct response (DR) marketing campaigns, detailing how effectiveness varies across industries and target audiences, the social media giant recently announced. Social Media Today

62% of People Say Customer Photos Influence Purchase Decisions
Some 62 percent of consumers say they are more likely to make a purchase when they can first see customer photos and videos, according to recently-released survey data, also showing that other customer-created content also influences purchase decisions. Search Engine Journal

Does ‘brand purpose‘ messaging actually impact consumer behavior?
82 percent of consumers say that they would pay more to choose a brand that supports a cause that is important to them, and 43 percent say they would pay twice as much to support such brands, according to newly-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. Campaign US

Brandwatch is acquired by Cision for $450M, creating a PR, marketing and social listening giant
Communication and public relations giant Cision has acquired social media listening platform Brandwatch for $450 million, in a move that will also see BuzzSumo among Cision’s properties, the firm recently announced. TechCrunch

TikTok, Facebook Are America’s Least-Trusted Platforms, 61% Want Tech Giants Regulated
TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter were the least-trusted platforms among U.S. consumers, while Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple occupied the most-trusted spots, according to recently-released November 2020 survey data. MediaPost

Google’s Message To The Ad Industry: We Won’t Build Our Own Third-Party Cookie Alternatives (And We Don’t Want You To Either)
Search giant Google announced that it does not plan to implement alternative tracking methods once it ceases online tracking cookie support in its Chrome web browser, and voiced its disapproval of email-based tracking alternatives — moves that have caused advertising industry speculation about the future importance of first-party data among digital marketers. AdExchanger

Fewer Than Half of B2B SMBs Report Shared KPIs for Marketing and Sales
Ideal customer profiles (ICPs) are the least shared among sales and marketing teams, while regular joint meetings between the two departments are the most frequency activities shared, according to recently-released B2B marketing and sales collaboration survey data. MarketingCharts

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “sustainability marketing” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Trader Joe’s, Great Value ‚Most Loved Brands‘ — MediaPost

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• SAP — NBCUniversal, Ad Council, and SAP Execs on the Power of Purpose-Led Marketing — Adweek

Have you found your own key B2B marketing story from the past week of industry news? Please let us know in the comments below.

Thank you for taking the time to join us for the TopRank Marketing B2B marketing news, and we hope that you’ll return again next Friday for more of the week’s most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: How B2B Tech Marketing Is Changing, The Rising Influence of Online Communities, B2B Sales & Marketing Sharing Study, & Brand vs Direct Response Campaign Report appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Source:: toprankblog.com

2020 has forced brands to completely transform the way they operate in the wake of the pandemic, and it is evident that some of the changes we are experiencing will be permanent. Brand relationships that were once defined by visiting stores or face-to-face conversations with salespeople are now being reimagined as remote interactions. Mandatory physical distancing around the world, coupled with the rise of digital connectivity, has resulted in many brands transitioning from brick-and-mortar to online.

In line with this change, customers‘ behaviors and expectations have also evolved dramatically over the past year. For instance, consumers were 31 percent more likely to purchase online in 2021 than they were just a year prior.

While online or remote interactions are not an entirely new concept, the challenge brands face is cutting through the clutter and creating meaningful experiences for their valued customers. Here are the four key trends I foresee playing out in 2021 to make that a reality.

Customer care will shift to a business driver

Marketers are taking notice. In the battlefield of experience, remote interactions with customers have become key. With the vast majority of them now taking place in the contact center, companies have come to recognize these interactions are gold. With the omnichannel capabilities available today, marketers have terabytes of data generated every day by their interactions with their customers that could be mined to hyper-personalized interactions, wow their customers, and make every contact count.

Investments in employee experience will have a greater impact on customer experience than ever before

Happy employees equal happy customers. The more brands invest in the employee experience, the more the customer benefits. AI-enabled tools used for recruiting can turn the power of data into creating a perfect match between their target consumers and the people they entrust to interact with them day in and day out. Furthermore, AI-enabled tools can enable those humans to provide the support that is frictionless, with less effort.

This year will take brands much closer to getting the human-machine balance right

Rather than replacing humans, machines are elevating what humans do, giving them powers that reach beyond space and time. This delivers benefits to consumers and employees alike. While humans are busy interacting with customers, AI-enabled bots trained on sentiment data analysis and more can scour chat, email, and other channels to identify customers that need help and fast.

2021 may be the year AI-enabled marketing explodes

This would literally give the term “marketing automation” a new meaning. With huge amounts of interaction data available to many companies and advances in machine learning, brands could see next-generation, real-time, AI-enabled marketing where signals are detected and hyper-personalized messages and offers are instantly dispatched without nary a marketer or marketing operations person lifting a finger.

2021: A renewed focus on creating winning experiences

For brands to be more intentional about creating winning experiences across their multiple customer touchpoints, they need to improve on the way they leverage data, deploy aiding technologies and empower their employees to drive these interactions.

It is only by striking the right balance between the three that brands can deliver the kinds of experiences that ensure success in driving increased consumer delight and loyalty.

Donna Tuths is Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Sutherland.

The post 2021 Will be the year brands make winning experiences out of remote interactions appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com