The browsing habits of customers have changed drastically in the last decade. With mobile phones taking over laptop and tablet sales, businesses can no longer ignore their mobile-first sales strategy.
While responsive websites will surely help you stay ahead of the curve, your business needs an app that provides it with the right technological leverage.
Let’s delve deeper.
Advantages of Building a Mobile App For Business:
Customers Love Apps:
● Quicker Access to Your Product/Service: Native apps built for specific platforms load faster than websites. This is because they are optimized for a specific platform and use the platform’s core programming language for coding and developing the app. As a result, customers see quicker load, more customized features, and more optimized graphics.
● Easier Access to Offers and Discounts: With your website, customers have to type them on the browser and visit to know about the latest offerings or discounts on the products they regularly buy. This can sometimes make them miss out on the exciting offers. With a mobile app and features such as push notifications, customers are alerted about the latest offers making it easier for them to make the decision.
● Apps offer More Control to the Customers: Since apps are developed using the platform’s core programming language, they offer more privacy of their data to customers, which is a big concern for most people today. With a mobile app, customers can choose to disclose or not disclose their location, or not give access to Bluetooth, giving them better control on data privacy.
● Lower Data Requirements: Mobile apps store cache files on the device, which makes it easy for customers to view the content of the app even in low or sometimes no data. This makes it a preferred choice for many.
Increases your Brand Visibility:
● Reminds of your Business: An app on your customer’s smartphone acts as a constant reminder to them of your business and your products and services. With people spending 3-5 hours on their phone every day, your app logo and name on the customer’s smartphone acts as a billboard promoting your business constantly.
● Helps you create an Ecosystem: Mobile apps help businesses create an ecosystem that makes it easier for companies to increase their brand visibility. They are not distracted by pop-ups, or multiple screens open in front of them on a browser.
● Strengthen the Brand Presence: Apps set your business apart. While a website is a necessity, an app shows your authority in the space you are in. There are a billion websites today as compared to only about 1.5-3 million apps. And when you co-relate this number to the increasing usage of mobile phones even surpassing browser reach, mobile app development for your business makes absolute sense.
Good for the Bottom and Top-Line:
● Sell Faster: Apps don’t just increase your brand visibility but impact the top-line growth by enabling your business to sell faster. Through push-notifications, you can create urgency by offering limited-duration deals on the app.
● Cross-Sell Products and Services: An app makes it easy for you to cross-sell other products and services. Using smart algorithms, machine learning, and AI, you can identify the buying behavior of your customer and suggest to them added products and services suited to their needs.
● The power of returning Customers: Once you have convinced a customer to download your app, you have made not just a 1-time customer but a possible returning customer. Apps give better opportunities for businesses to sell their products again.
Planning for a Mobile App for your Small Business?
● Put a Core Team Together: The first step is to put a core team together. This would comprise the CTO, the product heads, and the CFO typically.
● Prepare a Budget: Next step is to prepare a budget that you should keep aside. Look at a timeline of 3-12 months, depending on the nature of your app to prepare a budget that can fuel its growth and provide the results desired.
● Android vs iOS or Both: Decide whether you wish to build an app for Android, iOS, or both depending on your product, market research, competition research, etc.
● Work With App Agency: Hire a mobile app development company that can work with the technology and programming language best suited to your needs.
Marketing your Mobile App on a Small-Budget:
Mobile app marketing is not an alternative to your overall digital marketing. In fact, it can be integrated with your digital marketing efforts to give you the best results.
When your budget is low, it is important to make targeted efforts that do not drain your finances. Look at the key USPs of your products, your customer avatar, and your existing marketing strategy.
A digital marketing agency can help you build a comprehensive strategy that aligns with your budget and business goals.
Disadvantages of Building a Mobile App:
Not always is going mobile a good strategy. In fact, going the mobile app way may prove to be detrimental for your business if you don’t watch out for some of its limitations.
● Marketing your mobile app only does not give you any SEO juice for your website
● The customer journey for most businesses’ customers is the website first and then mobile making it hard to market without focusing on your website optimization.
● You’ll need to constantly update the app and maybe hire mobile app developers to ensure it conforms to the constantly updated rules of platforms such as Android and iOS.
Conclusion
A mobile app can surely give your business the edge it needs. It can take your business to the next level with the right strategy. However, it is essential to find the right mobile app development partner that can help you all the way through, right from development to marketing.
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