NEW YORK ? Marketing executives at Mobile Marketer?s FirstLook: Strategy 2015 conference agreed that turning to A/B testing to garner potential customer feedback is a sound choice in determining whether to invest more heavily in a mobile application or mobile Web site.

During the lunch keynotes at the two-day event last week, executives from Artisan Mobile, Urban Airship, Fiksu and Leanplum discussed the importance of creating valuable, user-friendly mobile apps and sites and also testing feedback to optimize mobile engagement and loyalty. Brands that develop true mobile moments will be much better positioned to succeed in their mobile strategies, which must be available for both iOS and Android users.

?A/B testing is this technique that is very popular on the Web that allows you to run multiple versions of your Web page at the same time to real users and then measure which one is performing the best,? said Momchil Kyurkchiev, CEO of Leanplum. ?Data-driven decision making is very key to be able to move fast and figure out what works and what doesn?t work in mobile.?

Optimizing flow
Artisan Mobile also tapped A/B testing as an ideal strategy for honing in on the right mobile message to send and the most beneficial time at which to reach users. It found that 84 percent of mobile users claim push notifications are more effective when they are personalized.

Apps also must have a greater purpose and utility, rather than simply existing for the sake of having a branded experience on the App Store or Google Play. Collecting feedback from consumers is instrumental in deciding how to tweak an app or create a greater purpose for it.

?Make it easy for them to complain about your app somewhere so it?s not easy for them to go to the App Store to complain and give you one or two-star reviews,? said Bob Moul, CEO of Artisan Mobile.

Urban Airship echoed the statement regarding the importance of apps? utility, and encouraged marketers to find value in micro-moments by personalizing experiences on mobile. For example, a pharmacy chain offering prescription refills via its mobile app can also opt to send users push notifications reminding them when to take their medicine.

That is something that offers real value, and makes consumers feel as though the brand knows them.

?It?s all about targeted notifications,? said Brent Hieggelke, CMO of Urban Airship.

Retargeting and A/B testing
Fiksu highlighted the benefits of retargeted previous users and offered examples of potential ways of engaging lapsed consumers, including keeping your brand relevant by targeting users seasonally, creating custom campaigns to drive incremental opens and registrations and showcase a new product line to drum up excitement.

Segmentation is key in carrying these tactics out, and can be leveraged with first-party data on purchasing history and third-party data on interest information. Users can then be followed up with via targeted creative for each segment.

?Get your users to re-engage with you now,? said Spencer Scott, chief revenue officer at Fiksu. ?Now, the message is no longer ?download,? it?s ?take that action you want them to take.??

?Deep-link them into a transaction, prompt them to do a search, get them to register and connect to their social media accounts,? he said. ?Whatever the case may be, once you get them to download, if they haven?t already taken that action, you should take immediate action and get them to do the things you know will make them more valuable to you.?

However, driving user engagement will likely be easiest if A/B testing has been implemented and user feedback has been taken into consideration.

?You also want to be tracking high-level metrics as well, such as average revenue per user or even lifetime value,? Leanplum?s Mr. Kyurkchiev said ?These are very important metrics to be looking at when running an A/B test.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York