Marketing Web Application for SMS Campaigns

Our client requested a marketing web application that could launch, manage and track short messaging service (SMS) marketing campaigns from a mobile platform. As an experienced web application development company, we met the challenge with a highly functional app that exceeded the client’s expectations. The client creates online marketing services for retailers. They wanted a mobile platform with a focus on enhanced customer experience. The client wanted to help its customers increase their net promoter score (NPS), analyze customer lifetime value (LTV) and improve retention rate.

Challenges

The client selected us as their web application development company. Our goal was to create a platform that would automate tailored SMS marketing campaigns, manage contacts, launch new campaigns and analyze campaign metrics. The app should also give insights into how well various campaigns were working. We created a custom, easy-to-use mobile platform that does all that and more.

User Roles

The user experience was key to developing the custom Buddy app. A focus on UI and UX design made the app work for all its users and administrators.

Administrator

The Buddy app makes it easy to monitor the results of campaigns. A comprehensive filtering system lets administrators see statistics related to campaign reach, conversion rate, customer response and more. With a few quick touches, administrators can manage referral requests, process payments and handle other administrative tasks.

Retailer

Retailers need to know which campaigns are working. With the Buddy app, they can study the impact and sales results of specific campaigns. They can also automate personalized SMS marketing, manage contacts and track responses. The Buddy app gives retailers complete control of their contacts and the online forms used to enroll customers.

Contact

Customers are an integral part of the user experience on the Buddy app. The customer can use the app to respond to SMS advertising, order products, opt in and out of campaigns, and edit their contact information.

UI and UX Design

Our web app development services began with a client consultation. After researching best business practices for the industry and determining the client’s needs, we developed a technological solution based on low-fi wireframes.

We used Left-Left-Top navigation, which is universally regarded as the fastest and easiest navigation for users. Our graphics team completed the design process with a layout that incorporated clean, bright colors, sharp graphics and a sleek, modern design. We ensured the most important functions are reachable with the smallest possible number of clicks.

Technology Solutions

Our web app development services rely on the most innovative technology and our own in-house coding.

We employed a series of application programming interfaces (API) to make the app fully functional. They included:

Stripe Connect API for payments.
Plivo API for SMS campaign.
Google Places API for auto-filling.

Payment Models

Because the platform is a relative newcomer on the marketing scene, the client wanted to add a new payment option to potential customers. The app targets small and medium-sized businesses that may not have large marketing budgets. It relies on Plivo, which charges retailers for every SMS message sent.

We updated the platform to include a pay-as-you-go option besides the monthly subscription option. This gives Buddy an edge over its competitors because retailers can now try the service before subscribing. With the app’s functions, they can also track the results of their trial marketing efforts. Using pay-as-you-go is also convenient for the client, who can avoid the inconvenience of free trial subscriptions.

Contacts Management

A contacts management system allows the retailer to customize opt-in surveys based on the information they want to gather about potential customers. Keywords and embedded surveys allow them to reach a wide audience of buyers. This offers a custom, curated user experience that matches each retailer’s brand and image. The system lets each retailer track the recipients of their messages, synchronize contacts across campaigns, and import and export contact information.

Marketing Campaign Metrics

The app’s rich functionality makes it ideal for tracking the results of marketing campaigns. The success of a campaign is told in its numbers, and Buddy lets retailers monitor:

Number of campaigns running.
Total SMS sent.
Click-through rate.
Conversion rate.
Opt-ins selected.

Every marketing campaign has its own purpose and its own objectives. Our custom features ensure the app is flexible enough to customize for every campaign by altering the segmentation tools, messages, scheduling and automations.

Powerful segmentation tools allow retailers to tailor their messages to customers based on the buyer’s past purchase history, ordering habits, amount spent on each order, and other factors. A “smart send” option allows retailers to avoid sending messages too frequently.

A custom text editor makes it easy to edit messages by adding tags for dynamic information, including images and short URLs.

Automation means a retailer schedule messaging frequency and send special messages during holidays and customer birthdays.

Additional functions enable campaign customization, campaign reach out, use of recurring campaigns and other customizable elements. The Buddy app allows retailers to take full control of their marketing campaigns.

Product Campaign

A product campaign is an innovative way to use SMS marketing to sell specific products. It works like a catalog service, but it uses messaging to offer carefully curated products at specific times. The customer gets instant access to a catalog, and the retailer can monitor which product messages deliver the most click-throughs and the highest profits.

With the Buddy app, a retailer can manage and track a product campaign as easily as any marketing campaign. Each product links to the seller’s online catalog. The seller or retailer can use Buddy to create and edit catalog content, manage inventory and track marketing metrics.

Message flow is an additional function that allows users to preview and edit all messages sent during the purchase process. The retailer can use this to keep notes of each customer transaction.

Results

The client wanted a simple, powerful all-in-one marketing app that would allow retailers to create, manage and track marketing campaigns. With custom web application development services, we created a fully functional app that fulfills all these needs.