In the latest of our daily previews of the finalists in this years Effective Mobile Marketing Awards, we turn our attention to the contenders in the category for Most Effective Consumer Smartphone App…

Santander and Nimbletank – KiTTi: An Account for Groups
KiTTi is an easy way to create a collective pot of money with friends. It’s an account for groups, powered by mobile, created by Santander, working in partnership with Nimbletank. KiTTi’s aim is to make it easy for groups of people to collect money to be used for a common purpose, whether that’s paying a bunch of friends paying for a holiday or a football team organising a post-match curry.

The objective in creating KiTTi was to change behaviour and change cash as we know it. This meant moving from an un-met customer need, to an optimized commercial product, service, app and business. In doing so the measure of efficacy was user feedback, funnel performance and active KiTTis. In each of these respects, KiTTi has outperformed expectations.

Cricket Wireless, SessionM and HackerAgency – Cricket Rewards App
The Cricket Rewards app is a points-based loyalty program. Members earn points when signing up for wireless services or upgrades, referring a friend to Cricket or paying their bill. They can also earn points when checking-in or playing in-app games. And the app is available to everyone, not just current Cricket customers.

On the redemption front, the app partners with over 1,500 affiliated apps which means more flexibility when redeeming points. Members can use points to enter contests, receive retail gift cards, get exclusive merchandise and experiences, or donate points to local and national charities.
Since launching the app less than a year ago, Cricket has seen 700,000 enrollments; a 50 per cent reduction in customer churn; and a 45 per cent increase in lifetime value.

John Lewis – John Lewis iPhone App
The John Lewis app gives customers access to 250,000 products while they’re on the move. In store, the app can be used to scan products to access further information, including ratings and reviews from other customers. Shoppers can also use it to build Wish Lists and find their nearest store. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded more than 1m times.

Lloyds Banking Group – Lloyds Banking Group Mobile App
The Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) app is designed to deliver optimal customer experiences for Halifax, Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland customers. User research has informed the design of the app, and since its launch in 2014, the app has frequently secured a 5-star rating in the Apple app store and been ranked in first place in the Forrester UK Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark in both 2015 and 2016.

Since its launch, over 50 new features have been added to the app. For example, customers can now use the app to notify the Group when they will be travelling abroad. Users log in to their account via the app using just three characters from their memorable, reducing login time from 45 seconds to just 10 seconds. 92 per cent of customers upgraded to the new version of the app within one week of its launch.
The app also scores highly on accessibility – it has been fully tested in line with WCAG 2.0 and accredited by the Digital Accessibility Centre.

Schadeformulier, E-polis and aFrogleap – Schadeformulier app
Every year in Europe, 115m accident statements are generated by people involved in car crashes. In the Netherlands, this accounts for more than 1m hand-written paper claim forms every year, many of which are submitted incomplete and illegible, costing insurance companies both time and money.

The Schadeformulier app makes it easy for people involved in car accidents to fill in a claim form on their iPhone and submit it to their insurer. The result? Less paperwork and a logical flow and settlement of the claim. The app has only been live for a few months but is already gaining considerable traction in the Netherlands.

Sliide Airtime – Sliide Airtime Africa
Sliide provides people with ad-funded access to the internet through their mobile phone in emerging economies, where the average cost of mobile data is disproportionately high compared to incomes,
Sliide Airtime launched Africa’s first lock screen content discovery platform in Nigeria in March 2016.

The app provides people with a new way of accessing content from their mobile devices, while simultaneously earning free airtime. After entering information about their interests, users receive personalised content as soon as they wake their phone, including news and entertainment hand-picked from local and international media sources, as well as branded content and ads. Sliide uses some of the revenue it earns from showing ads on the lock screen to buy mobile data from mobile operators. It then gives this mobile data back to its users, allowing them to access the internet for free, while providing advertisers with a new and unique platform to reach consumers through their most prized and most frequently used device.

While the numbers are confidential, they were shared with our judges, and were impressive enough to earn Sliide a place on the shortlist.

Our Award winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony in London on 17 November. To book a seat or table, head for the Awards website or call John Owen on 07769 674824.