Malltip, a mobile application that helps consumers navigate shopping malls and find deals, is making its messaging more relevant and driving traffic into stores with the insertion of targeted coupons, brand suggestions and event notifications.

Leveraging the Appboy-developed Connected Content feature, which allows marketers to automatically insert a wide array of information into the messages they send users, Malltip is encouraging desired behavior to increase conversions. While online purchases cannot be made through the app, its latest feature points to the value of providing shopping experiences that personalize, rather than randomize the journey.

“Connected Content can greatly help drive additional conversions for mcommerce businesses, as users are more likely to act on personalized product recommendations, based on past purchases, compared to randomized selections,” said Jon Hyman, co-founder and chief information officer of Appboy, New York.

“Additionally, if a user abandons a cart, Connected Content can be used in a follow-up email or push notification to the user that hits the mcommerce application’s APIs with the cart contents, retrieves recommendations for similar items and inserts that into the user’s message.”

Inserting content
In initial testing of the feature, Malltip used Connected Content with a public weather API to send push notifications to users based on their local forecast. For example, those in warm locations with nice weather received, ”Hey [first name], pick up a new swimsuit at PacSun before you hit the pool.”

Mall of America, a partner of Malltip, hosts hundreds of events throughout the year. Using their API, Malltip can seamlessly pull that event information into messaging without creating a heavy burden for their engineering team.

Promo in Apple app store.

The feature allows marketers to insert dynamic content held on proprietary servers directly into push notifications, emails and in-app messages sent using Appboy, all without making the information accessible to others or even storing it on Appboy’s servers.

In addition to proprietary APIs like product recommendation engines, marketers can also access public APIs including New York Times, Google Maps, movie times or weather information.

Appboy’s Connected Content is a tag that is put into push notifications, emails, or other messages, which can be configured to fetch content from a customer’s API URL.

The URL itself can be templated, meaning that Appboy can pass information about the user’s profile into the API request to get the most relevant content for that user.

The tags describe the user’s attributes, for instance, zip code, and the variants indicate the message individuals would receive for each corresponding weather scenario.

When sending, the message hits the customer’s API and retrieves content from it on a per-user basis to include the relevant message being sent to each user.

Although consumers have integrated location-based services into their daily lives, studies show they are increasingly open to receiving special offers and other mobile alerts based on geographic location.

Battling abandonment
Recognizing that personalization is becoming a key issue in modern-day commerce, Walmart last year expanded its mobile presence to better relate to consumers personally and enhance the in-store shopping experience.

The big box retailer’s @WalmartLabs acquired location-based shopping application Stylr.

The app, founded by two Standford alumni, pulled inventory data from local stores to show shoppers what was available in their vicinity.

Receiving relevant offers.

“With this feature, marketers will be able to effortlessly encourage desired behavior and increase conversions,” Mr. Hyman said. “For instance, if a user begins to make a purchase but doesn’t finish, you can use Appboy’s technology to send an email or push notification with a coupon code generated specifically for the abandoned product.

“This new feature also lets marketers insert dynamic content held on proprietary servers directly into push notifications, emails and in-app messages sent using Appboy, all without making the information accessible to others.”

Final Take
Michael Barris is staff reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York