Taplytics brings the quality of an in-store experience to mobile

Mobile needs to amp up its game. Sure, marketers are creating mobile programs within a broader omnichannel strategy, but just reaching out to customers on their devices isn’t enough. At least that’s what Aaron Glazer, CEO of  Taplytics, told me.

Glazer said that there’s been a shift in how customers use their devices, with a rising number wanting their engagement on mobile to match, if not exceed, the in-store one.

He used Starbucks as an example.

“Starbucks used to be defined by the in-store experience,” Glazer said. “If I said to you I was going to Starbucks a few years ago, you’d immediately assume that I was going there and standing in line for a coffee.”

“Now, if I told you that, you’d probably say, ‘Cool, what did you order on the app?’ The front door of Starbucks is now in your hand. It’s not a physical location,” Glazer explained.

Glazer said in order to drive engagement, companies need to invest more in their mobile efforts, adding that those who do should recoup that investment by seeing increased sales and brand perception.

“The net impact on ad spend can be massively improved through increased retention and conversion,” Glazer said.

But it’s not just about creating mobile content that drives to the store, it needs to be, in Glazer’s words, “magical.”

Amazon, he said, isn’t there yet.

“[Amazon] is trying to figure it out but they don’t yet have that harmonious experience between the app and physical,” Glazer said. “They have a long way to go on that front.”

Optical retailer Warby Parker is a Taplytics customer. Taplytics worked with them to offer customers a mobile brand encounter that rivals its brick-and-mortar one.

“Warby Parker’s home try-on program was good,” Glazer said, “But you didn’t have the flexibility you’d have with an in-person experience. In store, it is very easy to buy and try on.”

So Warby Parker used the face recognition feature of the iPhone X to replicate what a customer would do in the store.

“You can hold the phone up to your face and the front-screen camera would scan your face and measure the size and dimension and offer you the few glasses that will fit your face perfectly,” Glazer said, calling the execution “flawless.”

Glazer said that marketers need to adapt their mindset to keep up with how customers use their mobile devices.

“We help them think through the culture that will get them there. We bring a culture of experimentation and culture of hypothesis-driven product development to these teams so they’re able to think outside the box, be really creative and bring their ideas to life,” Glazer said.