Instead of cycling through another email campaign, laundry and dry cleaning service app Washio decided last year to clean up its mobile marketing.
And so it turned to deep linking. Washio in early 2014 began adding deep links to all of its marketing emails. The company sends out tens of thousands of emails a day, says Nick Greenfield, vice president of marking and growth at Washio.
Deep linking takes a shopper directly into the optimal page in a company’s app, assuming the consumer has the app on her phone. That connection into the app can be made from a link in a mobile email, mobile paid search result or mobile ad. Once she clicks, the link automatically opens the app for her and shows her the page related to the offer. Many companies offer a more roundabout route by directing a shopper to the mobile home page, even if she has the app.
Since Washio began linking marketing emails to its app, the company’s mobile conversion rate increased by a double-digit percentage, says Greenfield, who declined to be more specific. Depending on the marketing email, Washio’s deep links will take consumers to the coupon page, referral page or order page in its app.
Besides boosting Washio’s conversion rate, deep linking offers helpful features for customers as well, Greenfield says. For example, when a customer orders a driver to pick up his laundry, he automatically receives a text message with a deep link to a map within the app. On the map he can watch as his driver approaches his location to see how far away he is. Also, after a consumer places an order, he is offered a link that takes him directly to the page within the Washio app where he can rate his experience with Washio.
Washio launched in June 2013 and has hundreds of thousands of users, Greenfield says. Washio used mobile marketing company Yozio to deep link its emails. The cost is a “significant” quarterly fee, but worth it in terms of the revenue it brings in, Greenfield says. Greenfield declined to give a specific cost.
Other companies, such as social network Pinterest and online lodging service Airbnb, also used Yozio to add deep links to their app marketing. Pinterest increased its iPhone app download rate by more than 100%, says Daniel Chu, engineering growth manager at Pinterest. And Airbnb increased its Android downloads 300%, Airbnb reports.
Follow mobile business journalist April Dahlquist, associate editor, mobile, at Mobile Strategies 360, @Mobile360April
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