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Mobile applications hold great promise for travel businesses that are looking for anchors for driving customer loyalty and lifetime value.

Get your customer to download the app, and presumably you’ll be more “sticky,” as your app icon will hold a coveted position on your customers’ mobile home screens. Repeat business will come more easily. Brand engagement will improve. On-the-road mobile bookings will become the norm. Lifetime value will naturally and organically see a lift. Right?

At Kontagent, we’ve worked with thousands of developers who have built thousands of applications (some of the most heavily used apps in the App Store and Google Play). After all this experience, there are five primary lessons we’ve learned that we’d like to share with you in this paper. Read them closely. Ignore them at your own risk. And, most importantly, recognize that while every app has its own business headwinds and tailwinds, these rules apply to 99% of businesses trying to succeed in the mobile app space.

Here are the five lessons you can’t afford to ignore if you want to create an engaging, successful travel or hotel mobile app:

1. If you build it, they won’t come. Not necessarily, anyway. Mobile app discovery isn’t easy, and discovery is not a given. In fact, it is more challenging than the Web.
2. Downloads don’t mean anything. In fact, on average, 95% of users who download your app will likely never use it. That means they won’t get a chance to book or buy anything from it. Focus on maximizing the 5%, and get creative with the rest.
3. Revenue shouldn’t be your #1 priority. At least not in the beginning. Unlike your website, which is primarily geared towards immediate sales, your mobile app should offer content or a utility that engages your customers and drives longer-term dollars.
4. Agility wins. Your mobile app should always be a “work in progress.” Successful apps are constantly measured and improved based on how users interact with it. If you’re not agile now, figure out how to get there.
5. Mobile is not like the Web. Traditional Web analytics solutions do not work for measuring user activity in your mobile app. Your app is an entirely different business opportunity, and requires different technology and expertise.

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Download our whitepaper to learn more about each of these five rules to live by. At the end of the day, we want to see you build a more engaging experience, which will generate more bookings, which will lead to higher lifetime value.

And, of course, if you want to chat, we’d love to talk to you about how Kontagent kSuite Mobile Analytics can help you achieve your business goals. Contact us at sales@kontagent.com.

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About the author: Dan Kimball is Kontagent’s CMO and resident storyteller. His drive to make sense of complex concepts and solutions comes from his unique background in philosophy, quantitative research and brand marketing. You can contact Dan at: @dmkimball05.