Ah, retention. The Achilles' heel of many, if not most companies out there. The challenge is clear, but how can business improve on it?

We've talked about "companion apps" and their potential before. but now let's zoom in a little on how they can impact customer retention, and therefore, their overall lifetime value.

Generally speaking, to make people come back, you should be giving them these 4 things:

👉 More value for their time and money invested

👉 A personalized experience that delights people

👉 A greater level of convenience compared to alternatives

👉 Quality care that goes beyond the product or service

Obviously these four aspects are heavily interlinked, but I tried my best to distinguish them below. Take Nike as an example, and their Nike Run Club app. What's the point of a fitness app for a sports apparel manufacturer you may ask? From a business perspective, the benefits are very clear:

🏃‍♂️ Perpetuating Nike's brand positioning as the one and only sports clothing brand.

🏃‍♂️ Creating a brand-new channel for Nike to engage with customers.

🏃‍♂️ Collecting first-party data to enhance personalization and recommendations.

That last one is particularly important in the fight to retain users. In the Nike Run Club app, people can even tag the shoes they'd worn during their last run. From the perspective of the end user, peep the carousel below to learn how value, experience, quality and convenience affects them.

What do you think? Reckon it's worth it to invest in companion apps for your business?

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