Improving brand love through branded apps: is that possible?

Abstract As organizations are gradually shifting their emphasis from customer acquisition to creating customer engagement and participation, mobile applications serve as an important tool for organizations to encourage and enhance customers’ active engagement and to serve as brand ambassadors. Previous research outlines that consumer engagement with branded mobile apps can lead to customer loyalty but has yet to examine the effects of branded mobile apps on brand love. Building on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and consumers’ utilitarian and hedonic motivations of using technology, this study provides a comprehensive framework on how consumers’ brand love can be attained through branded apps. In this process, this research identified three primary app attributes namely perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived entertainment and examined their direct and indirect influences on brand love through app attitude and app satisfaction. The results from 323 branded app users revealed that out of those three primary app attributes, only perceived usefulness serves as a key driver of brand love. Perceived entertainment may enhance the attitude towards the app but it does not improve brand love. And, perceived ease of use has no impact on either the attitude towards the app or brand love. These findings provide valuable insights and recommendations for researchers and managers alike.