My Deals Mobile App: Major Update for a More Rewarding Customer Experience

Mobile phones have become so engrained in our day to day, it’s sometimes hard for me to remember life without them. When people seek to interact with their favorite brands, they increasingly prefer to do so through their mobile devices.

The Access My Deals app debuted in March of 2011 with deals at 100,000 businesses nationwide. It was the first white label mobile coupon platform of its kind, back when people still were warming up to the idea of mobile couponing.

In 2016, the app got its first major overhaul with hundreds (yes, hundreds) of improvements to make the app more rewarding than ever. To help users enjoy the 500,000 deals available at the time, we added a navigation bar, yelp integration, filtering, a homepage with suggest offers and many more features to help members save more AND more often.

And now, just over a decade since its inception, Access is releasing the most comprehensive update yet. Every single change is aimed to make the user experience seamless, simple and MORE personalized, breaking down the common barriers that threaten to prevent members from saving every available dollar they can.

Previous versions of the My Deals mobile app have been well loved and well used. In fact, for the past three years, 77% of our total visitor sessions have been through mobile devices.

And there’s even better news for businesses and organizations that offer the My Deals mobile app to their members, customers, employees and more. During user testing, the latest app update performed better in several key metrics that matter most in terms of engagement. Test groups showed a 20% higher conversion rate of registrations and five times more redeems.

Melissa Garcia, senior director of product marketing at Access Development said, “Usage is a crucial piece of engagement. And when a benefit is fun, relevant, and easy to use, people grow to depend on it, using it again and again.”

Tour of the App and New Features

The newest version of the My Deals app takes members from registration to redemption with fewer steps, less effort and more value than ever before.

“The best thing about the app can also be the biggest challenge for some members: over 1 million deals available nationwide,” said Garcia. “And we’re continually adding restaurants, shops, hotels and more as they join the Access family of merchant discount providers. That is a LOT of value.

“Over the past years, feedback has told us that the growing number of discounts can actually make it harder to locate exactly the right deal in the moment the member wants to use it.”

So our products team got to work. With the aid of new technology now available, we developed and tested solutions to make it easier for members to narrow in on the perfect discount—or have something new suggested to them when they’re close by.

For users, these features mean it’s never been easier to find and redeem some of the best deals on everyday essentials available today.

You can enjoy a quick video introduction here:

 

Or, read on to discover how these new and improved features will help improve the user experience in several key ways.

Never miss an offer with notifications of nearby deals. Members who select to allow push notifications, a pop-up alert will appear on their device when they travel within proximity of a local merchant with a great deal. For users, it’s a great way to discover new deals at the moment they are ready to buy. And providing organizations can be confident the deals, and therefore their brand, will stay top of mind.

See deals at a glance with intuitive mapping. The new map uses member GPS location to display color-coded location of the best nearby offers. Users can zoom in and filter categories to easily home in on the right deal. And organizations love the added focus on local deals, the most relevant kind of deals because over 90% of people travel less than 20 miles for routine, everyday purchases.

Start saving in less time and with less hassle with simplified registration. Most members can now register with only their email address, which everyone should have at their fingertips. For users, not needing a group identification number means less friction and time spent. For organizations, easier processes will result in fewer abandoned registrations, opening more members to your marketing messages.

Become a savings expert in record time with onboarding tutorial. As soon as users register for the first time, the app will take them on a quick tour of the most popular features, and prompt them to allow push notifications for maximum value. In a world where apps are frequently deleted after one use (25% of time) users who learn quick and save money early are the ones who will frequently return.

Experience the ease of mobile-first design. The new design and functionality were created to complement an on-the-go experience. Not only does it feel more like a native app than a web page, several other changes combine to improve the user experience: fewer clicks to find/redeem offers, more accurate tapping, more intuitive search and navigation, and more.

All these changes will help users register and discover participating brands in record time. Members will be pleased to know that redemption will be as easy as ever. They’ll still have multiple options for redemption including show-your-phone coupons, printable coupons, online discount codes and phone discount codes.

Also returning is the popular travel booking engine. Members can book hotel stays, flights, car rentals, even event tickets right from the app – at prices that typically beat popular booking sites like Travelocity and Expedia by 10-50%.

Importance of Using Mobile to Engage Members

More and more people are choosing mobile as their preferred method of interacting with brands, and really, the world at large. Just take a look at these recent statistics about smart phone usage in general:

• There are 3.6 billion smartphone users worldwide
• The average American checks their phone every 12 minutes
• 41% of people say they couldn’t navigate without the GPS function on their mobile phones 
• In 2019, time spent on mobile phone exceeded time spent watching TV for the first time, at 3 hours and 43 minutes per day
• 49% of people feel the primary function of their phone is for something other than making phone calls 
• 88% of mobile time is spent on apps 
• Apple has 1.96 million apps available for download
• 49% of people open 10+ apps per day and 30+ per month

In the business world, these—and about a thousand other statistics not listed—highlight exactly why providing a positive mobile experience is no longer optional.

It’s more important than ever for businesses to provide valuable and cutting edge ways to deliver content and communicate with constituents.

Mobile engagement is defined as the level interaction between a brand and consumer via a mobile device. Having a dedicated business app is not a requirement, though it is a benefit. Mobile engagement can come through interactions on social media, visits to the mobile version of a website, even through text messaging.

At Access, our own numbers reflect this trend, with a growing percentage of members interacting with their deals and discounts via mobile phones. That’s a big part of the reason why Access decided it was time to update the My Deals app with new technology that will make the value more accessible to members.

“The money words here are easier, faster, more convenient and higher value,” said Garcia. “When connecting with a mobile-first audience, they’re the most important factors in determining whether they stick around or abandon you for something more their speed.”

Here to Help Businesses Succeed

At the end of the day, the purpose of the My Deals mobile app (and therefore this update) is to drive awareness and engagement for Access clients. Therefore, all the updates are aimed to remove barriers that might prevent members from finishing their registration, discovering deals in their neighborhood and remembering to use the deal when they’re out shopping.

To our clients: Now is a great time to encourage members to try the app for the first time, or again after a little break. And we’ll provide all the multi-channel marketing tools and training needed to launch with a bang. For a more detailed tour of the app, or for help getting started, contact your CSM.

To everyone else: Could your members/customers/employees use local discounts on everyday essentials like food, clothing, even fuel? It’s a great time to get them started with America’s largest private discount program / white label mobile coupon platform. Contact us to learn more.