Aug 26, 2021
DFS Fleet Mobility-As-A-Service
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We’ve all heard it before — the market is moving to digital and the industry is changing before our eyes. Consumers are proving this by voting for convenience with their dollars. As a result, consumer expectations are higher than ever when it comes to personalized experiences. Having goods delivered to your house or providing new and alternative ways to interact with devices and each other are just two examples of how personalization and consumer experience have taken on a whole new meaning when it requires six feet of social distancing.
One critical area of change in the consumer experience is the advent and adoption of mobile applications. More now than ever, consumers are using mobile devices to transform what used to be standard practices of paying for goods and services like credit cards and cash. Businesses are beginning to harness that same power and the benefits reach are far and beyond the purchase of a product.
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Get Closer To Your Customers
Steve Jobs said, “Get closer than ever to your customers, so close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves”. Mobile applications allow businesses to get close to their customers by providing consumers easy access to all the different options they have available during the decision-making process. A mobile application gives businesses the ability to completely change what was a transactional relationship into a consultative and impactful conversation. Consider how Amazon continues to attract new buyers and purchases through their “Inspired by your purchases” panels. Taking in information of past search results, buying patterns, and preferences gives companies a complete view into their customers to drive engagement at the consumer level. Bringing that power and feedback into mobile applications drives instantaneous engagement and agility.
Improve Marketing and Drive Brand Loyalty
According to“8 Incredible Benefits Of Having A Mobile Application For A Business” , a couple of the key takeaways for moving in this direction is the ability to improve marketing and drive brand loyalty. “[A] business needs to be more aware of the brand to improve user traffic and engagement. People generally invest two to three hours of their time a day on their phone according to the studies, whether it’s an Android phone or iPhone”. And “[c]ompared to social media management, email marketing, and roadside posters, buying in-app is more successful when it comes to gaining the confidence of the clients." (InvisionSolutions).
According to BuildFire in their article, “4 Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Having a Mobile App,” “One of the most important things a mobile app offers to consumers is awareness of and communication with your brand. And through that regular interaction with your target market, you’re fostering trust. The more your audience trusts you, the more likely they’ll be to listen to later sales pitches and even commit to your brand. With an app, you’ll demonstrate to your users why they should trust you by showing (rather than telling) what your brand stands for. ” (Buildfire).
Another benefit that comes from mobile applications is a business’ ability to gather feedback from customers. “While business-to-customer communication is important for marketing, a reverse customer- to-business communication is equally important to maintain customer loyalty. Customers love it when their concerns and complaints are heard and resolved with minimal lag time and this, in turn, helps businesses build brand loyalty. This is where applications come into the picture. They help maintain this critical relationship through online help desks and support systems.” (Rajagopal, 2018).
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The Impact on Consumer Interaction
Seeing these trends in the fueling industry has a significant impact on how consumers interact with our dispensers and payment terminals. The industry sees mobility as a direct link to consumer loyalty. The Wise Marketer research states that, “While the average smartphone user has 80 plus apps installed on their phone, only nine are used each day [on] average. The importance of enabling payments on the mobile phones is driving growth in the mobile wallet market, helping to what we hope will make mobile payments one of those nine applications used on a daily basis. Estimates for the mobile wallet industry, as reported by Finaria, predict “the mobile wallet market will register $3.5 trillion in value by 2023.*” (The Wise Marketer, 2021). DFS didn’t launch the DFS DX™ Connected Solutions Platform into the market just so we could say we were driving new technology and bringing cool solutions into the market. Will Chun, Director of Global Consumer Experiences and Payments, believes that digital transformation “…enables the flexibility, since there is not a “one-size-fits-all”, by solving inconvenient parts of individual journeys as well as the entire system of fleet services.”
DX Fleet® is one of the key solutions working to bring that type of innovation to our customers. DX Fleet is a cloud-based fuel management solution that delivers real-time monitoring of fleet vehicles, proprietary cards, transactions, alerts, notifications and reports. The next exciting step in DX Fleet’s evolution is launching our mobile app to deliver all of the DX Fleet® game-changing features on any mobile device or tablet, previously only available through our intuitive web interface.
The DX Fleet® mobile app also features mobile authorization functionality for the Petro Vend® proprietary cardlock system. This exciting new feature delivers a user-friendly consistent experience similar to a typical retail transaction. Customers can now utilize the mobile application to authorize drivers and enable prompts, just like at any fuel island terminal.
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As our markets and customers continue to demand more personalization, features, and capabilities, DFS is poised to provide that level of engagement through the DFS DX™ connected solutions platform and partnerships. Our open platform will continue to derive value and enhancements that lead the market and open a world of value-creating possibilities.
Useful Links
Invision Solutions. "8 Incredible Benefits Of Having A Mobile Application For A Business". DATE. https://www.invisionsolutions.ca/8-incredible-benefits-of-having-a-mobile-application-for-a-business/
Buildfire. "4 Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Having a Mobile App". DATE. https://buildfire.com/ways-business-benefit-having-mobile-app/
Rajagopal, Aromal. "7 Surprising Benefits of Mobile App For Your Business". Apr 18, 2018. https://www.carmatec.com/mobile-app-development/7-surprising-benefits-mobile-app-business/
The Wise Marketer. "Driving Loyalty With Mobile Payments in Convenience and Fuel Retail". June 8. 2021. https://thewisemarketer.com/retail/driving-loyalty-with-mobile-payments-in-convenience-and-fuel-retail/