Why Branded Mobile Apps Fail (And What's Replacing Them)

Hey everyone,

Welcome back for another bite to chew on.

Remember when every other DTC brand was launching a dedicated mobile app? 

At Obvi, we spent months and thousands of dollars building an app…that most of our customers never downloaded. We're not alone - this is the story of almost every DTC brand that's tried to crack the mobile commerce challenge.

That's why we invited Shopify alumni Ross Correia and Zach Elias of Reactiv onto our podcast. After years of watching brands struggle with mobile apps, they built a new platform that is revolutionizing how brands think about mobile app commerce. 

Their main insight is simple but powerful: Maybe the problem isn't that customers don't want to shop on mobile. Maybe they just don't want to download another app to do it.

Let’s go over how Zach and Ross are changing the game...

On the Menu:

• The Hidden Costs of Building an App

• Three Problems Every App Faces

• How Reactiv Changes the Game

• Bonus - What Actually Works in Mobile Commerce

Naturally, this post is just a sample of our conversation with Ross and Zach. Check out the whole thing for more insights: 

Find it on Spotify and Apple too.

Are You Attending eTail? Come to the Chew On This Afterparty!

We’re back in Southern California for Etail West on Feb. 25th to host the official afterparty 🍾

We’re renting out a beautiful villa in Palm Springs and gathering together 200 of the top DTC/eCommerce founders for a night of fun and networking. 

Come on down to unwind and relax after the conference. Enjoy delicious cocktails, appetizers, live entertainment, and a DJ that will get you moving. Not to mention with some of the best minds in the industry.  

We’re pretty pumped about this one. Can't wait to see you in Palm Springs!

RSVP → eTail Afterparty

The Hidden Costs of Building an App

Let's be real about what happens when you launch a mobile app. 

The initial excitement is intoxicating. Your team spends months perfecting every detail, making sure the experience is flawless. You plan out content calendars, special app-only offers, exclusive features. It feels like you're finally playing in the big leagues.

…Then reality hits.

At Obvi, we went all in. We built an app loaded with blogs, recipes, videos - everything our customers said they wanted. 

But what no one tells you about having an app is that it quickly becomes like managing an entirely separate business:

• Your growth team is running customer acquisition across both web and app. 

• Your content team is trying to maintain fresh content for multiple platforms. 

• Your tech resources are split between website updates and app maintenance. 

• Your marketing team is stretched thin trying to drive app downloads while also hitting their regular acquisition targets.

After dealing with all of this complexity, we faced another harsh reality: most users still weren't engaging with the app. 

We had created this beautiful experience with all the features our customers said they wanted. But in practice, it just became another icon sitting on their phones.

The problem isn't that mobile apps don't work. It's that traditional apps create massive operational complexity while demanding too much commitment from customers, too early in the relationship. 

3 Problems Every Branded Shopping App Faces

This is where our conversation with Zach and Ross got interesting. After years at Shopify, they identified three fundamental problems that every brand faces with mobile apps:

1. The Onboarding Problem

"Getting a customer to onboard is usually a hard, tedious task," Ross explains. The traditional solution is to spend more on app install campaigns. But now you're paying to acquire customers twice. 🤮

2. The Engagement Problem

Even if customers download your app, keeping them engaged is another challenge entirely. 

As Zach puts it, "Internally when we think about the tools that we're building we try and put the end user first in front of the merchant." Most brands do the opposite - building features they think customers want instead of solving real problems.

3. The Installation Barrier

The biggest breakthrough is making it so customers don't have to install anything at all. "We had this goal when we started Reactiv," Ross shares, "which was in 5 years people won't install or people won't shop within the browser on their phone."

How Reactiv Changes the Game

Instead of trying to solve these problems individually, Zach and Ross completely reimagined how mobile commerce should work. They created something called "Clips" - essentially app experiences without the download.

Here's how it works → 

1. Customer clicks your ad, email link, or scans a QR code, 

2. Instead of landing on a webpage, they get instantly dropped into a native app. experience. 

3. They can browse and buy just like a regular app. 

4. They are never asked to leave or visit the App Store to download anything.

Think of it like a “slice” of your application that customers can access instantly. 

You get all the benefits of an app - push notifications, native features, better performance - without the friction of downloads. And because it's native mobile code rather than a website wrapper, everything works faster and smoother than traditional mobile web experiences.

The platform handles all the technical complexity - connecting to your store, managing notifications, tracking analytics - while letting you focus on creating better customer experiences. 

And since everything is modular, you can start with simple product pages and add more complex features as you grow.

What (Actually) Works in Mobile Commerce

Instead of trying to solve these problems individually, Zach and Ross completely reimagined how mobile commerce should work in 3 ways…

1. Rethinking Customer Acquisition

Reactiv aids product discovery but also lets brands retarget with push notifications or send post-purchase flows through their platform. 

Key insight: engagement peaks between 9PM and midnight when people are lying in bed scrolling their phones. "People don't actually even click the notifications when they come in," Ross explains. "But at night when they're sitting on their couch or lying in bed just swiping at things, they click back into it and conversion at that stage is like 6.8% across the board - it's insane."

2. New Approach to Engagement

Instead of begging for downloads, brands can now create instant app experiences from any touchpoint - ads, emails, QR codes in stores, etc. 

Push notifications don't require an app download, and they're seeing 66% open rates compared to email's typical 20%.

3. Focus on Value First

"When we think about the tools that we're building we try and put end user first in front of the merchant," Zach emphasizes. That's why they limit brands to just 4 notifications in an 8-hour window. The focus is on delivering value, not spam.

Some brands are already seeing results with this new approach. Missouri Star Quilt Company, for example, generated 10% of their total revenue through mobile in just 2 weeks without asking customers to download anything.

Bonus: The Future of Mobile Commerce

The vision goes beyond just solving today's problems. 

Ross and Zach are building what they call "the Shopify of mobile apps" - a complete platform that will power mobile experiences for everyone from DTC brands to major retailers.

"Our goal is…3, 4, 5 years from now instead of just working with Shopify Brands we're also working with Lululemon and Nike and Zara," Ross explains. "They can use our platform to take care of all the boring stuff and…build the really cool stuff themselves."

This means advanced loyalty programs, unique branded interactions, and even integration with smart home devices. 

But the core promise remains the same → making mobile commerce work the way it should have worked all along.

Sum it up

The future of mobile commerce isn't about getting customers to download your app - it's about bringing the app experience to them wherever they are. As a brand that went the traditional app route, we can tell you this is the direction things need to take. 

What's exciting about this approach is that you're not creating another platform to manage. You're not asking customers to change their behavior. 

You're just making their existing shopping experience better, whether they're clicking an ad at midnight or walking through your store on a Saturday afternoon.

Mobile commerce is already evolving in this direction. 

The only choice now is whether to lead the change or chase it.

All the best,

Ron & Ash