FEBRUARY 20209tionally agile, they must also have an efficient mechanism to gauge customer's response to enhance-ments in real-time. This leaves the startup with the smartphone as the best option to elicit these responses, learn, rebuild, grow and accelerate. The `Think Inside the Box' Process Each startup would have customers who range from outstanding to very poor in terms of understanding a UI and offering the desired response. Hence, thinking about the custom-er when he sees you (the startup brand) in that box becomes very im-portant. The first and most impor-tance part of the process becomes creating a well-thought customer journey and allied UI and UX. Once the startup becomes good at the art of walking the customer seamlessly through the mobile app and garner-ing a response, it would be impor-tant to ensure that the data, espe-cially the transactional data, from the customer is stored efficiently and analysed. The third element in this process is constant communi-cation through in-app means such as notifications, polls, contests and many more. The unicorn startups of today have leveraged this approach to create immense value for their customers and stakeholders.Reduced Turnaround Time for Innovations & New Marketing StrategiesTraditionally, marketing would rely on a smart creative campaign and a robust media plan to gain mind-share of the customer. Now, with data coming into the picture and technology enabling the last ech-elon reach, marketers can tweak plans real-time. Hence, the turna-round time for innovations and for new marketing strategies has re-duced, resulting in obvious benefits and loyalty for a startup's product or service. Expanding their Repertoire of OfferingsTravis Kalanick, the founder of Uber said that if Uber could bring transport to you in five minutes, the possibilities were unimaginable. By thinking about the customer and the interactions within the box, startups can expand their repertoire of services and accelerate growth. The more you make the customer interact in the box, the better it is in terms of taking data-driven decisions to drive app usage, engagement and growth. Augmenting Contextual FactorsStartups that have a robust SEO, SEM and social media strategy can ensure that their brand is seen by the customer when they need it the most. This leads to a definite increase in downloads of the mobile app and often, converts a prospect into a customer. Enhancing ConvenienceIf startups can visualize how the customer interacts in the box, they will find cues to enhance conveni-ence for the customer and thus ensure that he sticks to the prod-uct. Slonkit, being India's favourite money management app for young-sters and children, has a three click mobile recharge feature. By under-standing the pattern of recharge and payments, the customer is now given a one-click option to populate all details such as name of opera-tor, bill amount and make the pay-ment. The reduction of two clicks enhances convenience for the user and drives them back to the app, each time they need this service. The Game of Startups ThronesThere are many startups which are trying to address the same problem in different ways. It leads to healthy and exciting competition, with customer being the centre of all attention and affection. It is inevitable that they must stay relevant by reinventing themselves every day. In this game of thrones, the one that will sit on the iron throne will be an `Out of this World' startup with a `Think inside the box' DNA. Vimal Pillai, Head - MarketingThe reduction of two clicks enhances convenience for the user and drives them back to the app
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