Page 37 - GBC Winter 2020 ENG

• Engagement is 4 times higher in mobile apps than it is in mobile web browsers. Simply put, for every 1 minute someone uses a mobile web browser, they spend 4 minutes using a mobile app
Within the Golf Industry, the stat- istics become even more astounding.
Mobile app engagement in golf apps:
• Of the users of custom branded
mobile apps we have studied, 59.5% of the users have used the app more than 5 times, with 41.85% of the total using the app more than 10 times
• One-third of all users indicate their most desired feature would be to check-in and pay for their greens fees through the app
• And possibly the most surprising metricofall,93.48%ofusersare over 35 years old, with 66.46% of the total users being 55 years of age and older, debunking the myth that older people don’t use smartphones and can’t use apps!
TECH AND YOUR BOTTOM LINE
Okay, so I have you this far. I hope you are wondering what can be done with mobile technology to engage with your customers and help your business gain more loyal, higher spending, happier clients.
Gallus Golf Client App Users
Which category includes your age?
Here is a list of common features in mobile technology, specifically the golf industry:
• A virtual caddie - this looper can give you GPS, scorekeeping, playing tips, shot distances, alerts to hazards, score posting to Golf Canada, social sharing with your BFFs, and the ability to order more beer, NOW! Plus a virtual caddie never cares about mulligans.
• Commerce - you can book your next tee time, pay for your greens fee directly integrated to the course POS in some cases, or you can order sandwiches and drinks and pay directly through the app. You can order more golf balls, or a hat, towel, or shirt. Anything you can normally sell in person, you can now sell through your app.
• Content Marketing - think about your website, social media, and email content. It can all be conveyed through your app as well. Newsletters, course conditions, today’s playing information and maintenance alerts, and more, all right there on the screen of the device every adult Canadian is carrying around all day long.
• Special Offers - anything you would normally be advertising, you can now extend as offers through apps. In some mobile app
cases you can also target specific people with certain offers, using information you know about them to help you choose who sees what offers.
•Communications - most good apps will allow you to send push notifications and utilize geofence notifications alerting people when and where about information you want related to your course. Some apps even allow for 1 on 1 text message conversations between the golf shop and the customer.
•Most importantly - LOYAL BEHAVIOUR. Once you own this real estate on your customers’ smartphone, you are now open to being a part of that 90% of the time they spend on their phones. You have made engaging with your business easier than ever before, and most likely easier than it is with your competition. Ease of use and a place in this mobile tech arena directly equates to that loyal behaviour.
THE FUTURE IS NOW
We know it, mobile technology is not going anywhere. It is growing, and none of us can imagine a world where people are not able to connect using some kind of mobile device they are able to have on their person at any time, anywhere. To say that “Now is the Time” is actually an understatement in many ways. Rest assured that if you are not connecting with your customers on their mobile devices, they are connecting with someone else.
The Year 2020. Don’t make 2020 hindsight for you, allow it to be your look and involvement with the future, because it is now.
Golf Business Canada
Golf Business Canada 37
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/467190/forecast-of-smartphone-users-in-canada/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/444858/canada-resident-population-by-gender-and-age-group/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/289741/canada-retail-e-commerce-sales/ https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet-usage-statistics
Gallus Golf mobile app usage metrics