Investing in an App for Members Today: Is It Worth It or a Waste of Budget?
Building a membership system (Loyalty Program or Membership Program) is one of the most crucial strategies for Customer Retention and collecting First-Party Data in this modern day and age. A question frequently encountered when developing a membership system is, "Should we invest in building our own brand's mobile application (Mobile App)?" This article will take you through an analysis of the pros, cons, and appropriate alternatives for creating a membership system, complete with recently updated consumer behavior statistics to back up your decision.
Crucial Statistics to Aid Your Membership System Platform Decision
Before selecting whether to use a Mobile App or other platforms to manage your membership system, it is necessary to first consider internet usage behaviors and consumer expectations.
Overall Behavior of Thai Consumers (Digital Stat Thailand):
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The social media and chat platforms Thai people use the most are Facebook (90.7%) and LINE (90.6%).
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Key Observation: Although people primarily use mobile phones, most of their time is spent on major platforms (Super Apps). Pulling users to download and open a brand's brand-new application just to use a membership system poses a massive challenge in terms of User Acquisition.
Expectations Toward Membership Systems (Referencing EY Loyalty Market Study and other reports):
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Over 70% of consumers favor and prioritize accessing discounts and accumulating points through a membership system.
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73% of consumers view personalized experiences and rewards as vital factors in making a purchase decision.
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The younger generation (ages 18-24) tends to have the highest demand to register and utilize membership systems through a Mobile App (approximately 48%) compared to other age brackets.
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However, 36% of consumers are ready to switch brands immediately if the Mobile Experience turns out to be poor or difficult to use.
Is it Good to Build Your Membership System as an Application (Mobile App)?
Creating a Native App specifically for a membership system has both strengths and weaknesses that must be weighed against your business structure.
Pros of Having Your Own Mobile App:
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Data & Omnichannel Personalization: It is the strongest D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) channel, capturing clicking behaviors, page scrolling, and granular First-Party Data completely. It is ideal for scaling into a Customer Data Platform (CDP) for deep behavioral analysis.
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Brand Experience (UI/UX): You can maintain 100% control over the customer's journey and experience within the membership system without being constrained by external platform structures.
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Advanced Features & Gamification: Supports complex marketing mechanisms like member-tiering missions (special tiering), interactive content, or personalized push notifications.
Cons and Challenges:
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High Development & Maintenance Cost: The initial cost of development (iOS, Android, Backend), as well as annual system maintenance and update expenses, sit at a very high level.
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Customer Friction: Customers hesitate to sacrifice storage space on their smartphones to download a new app unless the brand offers exceptionally worthwhile benefits or belongs to an industry where customers repeat purchases daily.
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App Abandonment (Abandoning and Deleting Apps): A lack of frequency of use. Data referenced from AppsFlyer's report states that over 46% of applications will be uninstalled by users within the first 30 days. If a customer only buys products 1-2 times a year, the brand's application becomes an unopened app. Furthermore, statistics show that over 32% of smartphone users choose to delete apps they don't use regularly right away to reclaim storage space on their phones.
A Solution That Answers the Demand: Binding the Membership System to Shared Platforms (LINE OA / Web-based)
For most businesses in Thailand, binding a membership system to platform solutions that customers already use on a regular basis is considered a "Frictionless" strategy.
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LINE Official Account + LIFF: Binding the membership system into LINE, which covers a user base of over 54 million people in Thailand, allows customers to press-join membership, collect points, or check privileges instantly without installing an additional application.
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Powerful Backend System: Utilizing LINE merely as the front-end interface (Frontend) while connecting APIs to a customer relationship management system to handle point rules, rewards management, and segmentations helps brands lower app-building costs while yielding excellent efficiency.
Conclusion and Recommendations for Creating a Membership System
Deciding whether to build a Mobile App or not "depends primarily on the customer's frequency of use within the business."
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Should consider a Mobile App: Large-scale businesses with massive customer bases in categories like coffee/beverage shops, food delivery, retail (Supermarkets), or services where customers must open the app more than once a week. Having an application will increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) worthily.
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Should start with LINE OA / Web App: If the business involves fashion products, electrical appliances, automotive, or lifestyle items (purchase frequency of 1-3 times a year), it is recommended to use LINE or an Omnichannel Framework as a database aggregator for the membership system.
Once the active usage base of the membership system expands until it becomes robust, and possesses enough customer behavioral data to design core features, you can then consider upgrading the membership system into a Mobile App in the future.
No Need to Choose One or the Other... Because PRIMO's Membership System Gives You Both Platforms
Regardless of whether your brand's strategy focuses on quick and easy access or creating deep, exclusive personalized experiences, the PRIMOLoyalty platform—the membership system by PRIMO—is designed to be flexible and support the growth of membership systems in every form:
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Run a Membership System on LINE OA Smoothly and Frictionlessly: Brands can use LINE as a front house in conjunction with PRIMO's system, connecting through a LINE mini-app (LIFF). This allows customers to apply for membership, collect points, and redeem rewards instantly in a few clicks without loading extra apps, reducing friction and leaping the growth rate of your membership system exponentially.
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Develop a Full-Scale Custom App as Demanded: If your business grows to the point of needing its own Native App, PRIMO can develop and support Custom App building, allowing free UI/UX design matching your brand identity. It comes packed with advanced features and gamification, connecting data directly into the backend and Customer Data Platform (CDP) of PRIMO completely for deep-level personalization.
Brands do not need to stay locked to a single platform forever. You can start creating a membership system on LINE OA to collect data and test the market first. Once the business grows and achieves high frequency of use, you can move forward to expand into your own Custom App, ensuring that all data and accumulated points within the membership system never get lost and remain completely interconnected.
#MembershipApp #LoyaltyProgram #CustomerRetention #LINE_OA #DataAnalytics #DigitalMarketing #PRIMO
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