If companies cannot provide customers with a mobile app experience that accurately reflects the values of their brand, they risk seeing their competition pull ahead with a more convincing mobile offering, says new research from Oracle.

Nearly 55 per cent of millennials say a poor mobile app experience would make them less likely to use a company’s products or services, according to the global report “Millennials and mobility: how businesses can tap into the app generation” by Oracle.

Thirty-nine per cent of millennials would also be less likely to recommend a company’s products or services to others following a poor app experience, and 27 per cent admit it would even give them a negative view of that organization’s products or services altogether.

Suhas Uliyar, VP Mobile Strategy and Product Management at Oracle, said: “An engaging and personalized user experience has become the new weapon in the battle to attract and retain millennial customers. Businesses that cannot add value for customers with a more convenient, functional, and relevant mobile experience have little chance of coming out on top.”

The report also shows that millennials are turned off by unsolicited communications in the form of push-notifications that aren’t relevant to their individual needs, but are happy to receive support in the form of value-added communications from businesses.

Seventy-three percent “like” the ability to purchase a company’s product or service using a mobile app. Likewise, 71 per cent like the ability to manage billing for services, and 65 per cent like being able to flag issues or complaints to a business via a mobile app.

That said, more than half (56 per cent) would prefer not to receive push-notifications. The same percentage rarely acts on the push-notifications they do receive, even though nearly 50 per cent admit these are personalized to them.

“The ability to manage bills or flag service issues to a company via a mobile app implies an agreed-upon relationship between a customer and brand or service provider,” said Uliyar.

“The story is completely different in the case of push-notifications. Organizations will need to provide app-based services that deftly tread the line between helpfulness and overbearingness if they want to tap into young peoples’ affinity for using mobile and tablet apps without alienating them.”

A region-specific breakdown of the survey reveals that young people in APAC (Asia and Pacific) are miles ahead in their app use across the board, most notably so when it comes to apps for work and more “serious” functions.

Nearly three times as many millennials in APAC than in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) rate their work apps as absolute must-haves, with a similar ratio holding true for security apps. In addition, while millennials around the world have each downloaded between 20-25 mobile apps on average, 40 per cent of those in APAC  have paid for as many as five of these, compared with roughly 25 per cent of those in EMEA and North America.

For millennials in APAC, mobile apps are not just “nice-to-haves”, they are necessary resources in their day-to-day lives.  Young people in this region are constantly on the look-out for new innovative apps and, encouragingly for businesses, are willing to pay for applications that deliver a valuable experience.

On a global scale, the research points to a telling discrepancy between smartphone and tablet app use among millennials. While young people use tablets on a considerable scale, smartphones remain their device of choice for accessing mobile apps.

For example, sixty-one (61) percent of millennials have uploaded media content using a smartphone app, nearly twice as many as have done so with a tablet (35 per cent). When it comes to transferring money to a friend, 48 per cent have used a smartphone app to do so, versus 22 per cent that resorted to tablet apps.

“There clearly remains much room for innovation when it comes to tablet apps, as well as apps for larger form phablets, and companies that answer the call will be well-placed to capitalize on a still maturing market,” said Uliyar.

“However, apps for smartphones and tablets should not be developed independently from each other. Many millennials own multiple connected devices, and businesses will need to deliver a consistent, high-quality app experience across all of these if they want to add value for their customers,” he concluded. – TradeArabia News Service