18 Advantages of Building A Mobile App for Business
Having a mobile app for your business brings about a huge number of benefits for you and your business. Let’s take a look at the different ways in which you can benefit from a mobile app.
1. Little to No Waiting Time for The Customers
Using a mobile app is a lot faster than having to use a mobile website and browsing on it. Web browsing whether on the mobile or on the computer entails you opening the web browser, then remembering and entering the URL, and then wait for the site to load before you finally have the content displayed in front of you. The speed of the entire process depends on the kind of network available in the area. However, when the customer launches the app, it merely takes a second as most of the content is stored within the app itself, which is why it is possible to make use of the app even when you are offline.
2. Apps Consistently Remind the Customers of Your Business
‘What you see is what you covet?’ this phrase might have been coined for an entirely different subject, but a truer sentence has never been uttered. It is only natural to be reminded only of things that are in front of you and hence the inclination of using, buying, interacting with these things is higher. An app on a smartphone definitely has more visibility or value for the customer as it is right there, in comparison to a web bookmark that can only be explored after opening the browser, hence has lower visibility and value. A mobile app is in front of the customer’s eyes all the time on their phones.
3. Apps Keep the Customers or The Users Hooked
It would only be apt to say that today the smartphones have the users hooked to them. Customers too are asking for more apps that would connect them to the businesses that they want to reach out to with ease and promptness. Apps have a better record and opportunity of engaging the customers in a stronger way. Whether they are on the move, at home, their workplace, in the gym, or out shopping, a mobile app for your business would always be in their pockets and they can engage with it at will, which makes them stay on your app for longer.
4. Apps Tend to Bring Down the Cost of Marketing
Consider the scenario when you do not have an app, you would probably send out marketing information through SMSs or other traditional media, which are a lot more expensive than reaching out to your customers through inobtrusive yet effective push notifications. Mobile apps simplify your communications while making it possible for you to reach and message your customers in a safe, instant, and cost-effective manner. Also, apps have been known to reduce the workload of information requests and phone calls by supplying all relevant information from within the app.
5. Apps Offer More Value to The Customers
The premise of your business is barter, right? This is where you offer a product and the customers dig in to their pockets to compensate you for it. As a business owner there would have been plenty of situations where you might have reached sat down with the rest of your team and tried to figure out ways to make these customers dig deeper and more often into their pockets. One thing that you may or may not have come up with is to provide value for your customers that they wouldn’t find anywhere else. This value can come from offering the customers a special loyalty bonus or points, a subscribers-only deal, and some such, which would help you keep bringing the customers back to you for more!
6. Apps Help Strengthen the Brand
This is probably one of the most important things that a mobile app can do for your business. It not only increases brand awareness among consumers but also helps them communicate or interact with your brand. Once you establish a relationship through this regular interaction you are also fostering a trust among them. As the trust they have in you increases, the chances of them listening to you in your future sales pitch are higher and who knows they might even commit to your brand! A mobile app lets you show to your customers the reason why they should trust you, instead of you just telling them they should.
7. Apps Help You Connect Better with The Customers
Customer service or interactions are of great value for any business. In the past, this was best accomplished by face to face communications and resolving the customer’s concerns through a team of professionals who were trained just for that. However, mobile devices which make your app available to the users with just one tap, have turned out to be the biggest game-changer yet, when it comes to customer service. A solid mobile presence for your business means that you are presenting a consistent face to the customers everywhere. The time differences wouldn’t matter with a mobile app. If a customer or a potential customer wants information or any other kind of interaction with your app at 2 in the morning, they can do it without having to wait till business hours. This, in the long run would help you raise customer satisfaction all across the board.
8. Apps Help You Push Your Profits Up
It is no hidden fact that a mobile app can help you raise customer satisfaction. But it has also been proven that when customer satisfaction is raised, it is often followed by an increase in sales too. As more and more customers find the interactions with your app fruitful and pleasant, the demand for your services and products will increase too! You might have an awesome website which has the ability to adapt to the multitude of devices available in the market which might eliminate the need for a secondary mobile website, but nothing beats the experience that an app can provide. It is this experience that brings you the much-needed boost as well in your profits and who doesn’t want that? One of the glowing examples here is that of Domino’s Pizza who witnessed a rise of 28% in half pre-tax profits in UK alone. It is humbling and encouraging to know that 52% of their online orders are completed through a mobile app.
9. Apps Help You Set Yourself Apart from The Crowd
With thousands of businesses vying for attention what are you doing that sets you apart from the rest of the crowd? Mobile app for your business can accomplish this with ease. It is still rare to use a mobile app for communication and marketing, and the sooner you get into it, the more you stand to gain from it.
10. Apps Increase Customer Loyalty
How many times do your customers come back to you after they have made their first purchase? This is an important aspect for the growth of your business and you must pay it due attention. It is easier to cultivate customer loyalty when you constantly remind your customers of your existence and your offerings. Advertising is a crowded space which is constantly bombarding the users with visual imagery consisting of hundreds of thousands of brands and products. A mobile app forges a truthful and honest relationship between your business and your customers. The mere fact that your app is at their fingertips makes the customers feel more connected and loyal to you.
11. Your App Can Be Turned into A Social Platform
Integrating as many social channels as you can, into your app can bring you an unexpected popularity. It has been established through studies that most of the people log on to the social media to see what their friends are saying. If people are talking about you or your products and sharing it on the social media, then their friends would know about you, be reminded of you, and interact with you. Additionally, incorporating features like in-app messaging, comments, likes, sharing, and logins through popular social media channels like Facebook or Instagram can effectively increase customer engagement and retention while ensuring repeat sales from your app.
12. Apps Add Value to The Websites
You might be questioning yourself at this time “With the shoestring budget that I have, should I build an app when I already have a functioning website?” Well, yes you do! The fact is that a mobile app would add further value to your website, by creating loyalty among the customers who were probably attracted to your brand by the website. Websites are, in general great for providing information, an app however, is extremely effective in offering two-way communication.
13. An Easy Way to Promote your Offerings
When you have a mobile app to strengthen your digital identity, the overall impression exerted by you and the brand is enhanced. Not only does it help you stand out and give you a reserved space on the mobile device carried at all times by your customer, but also makes it a lot easier to reach out to them in a strategic, timely fashion and place your products and services right in front of them, probably with attractive offers to entice the audience into making a purchase. Not only does it bring you better returns than the more traditional modes of advertising like billboards, TV, print media and more, but it also helps you save a lot of money in reaching just the right kind of audience.
14. Gets Genuine Feedback from the Customers
Your customers who are using your products and the app are a rich source of feedback when it comes to improving your product and the experience you are offering them. The feedback may be in the form of a review, a suggestion, may even be a grievance, or a compliment. Any business that hopes to achieve any measure of success would not simply put the customer relationship to end as soon as the purchase is made, or the targeted conversion is complete. It is important that you lend them an ear, listen to what they have to say about your business, your product or services, and the overall experience you are extending. Through a mobile app of your own, you are opening up a dialogue and an avenue for the customers to speak with you and help you understand where you have scope for improvement.
15. Improvisation is Easier with an App
Since the feedback you receive is in real time and genuine, there is a lot more value to it. The timelines are beautifully aligned with the actionable steps and you have the freedom and the opportunity to make changes as you receive these insights. With the feedback pouring in from genuine customers you would be able to tell what’s working for your business and what’s not. This way, you can make improvements to the experience immediately (where possible) and leverage the features or things that people are enjoying about your business, brand, or other offerings. This is also a great way to do some market research and understand what is it that your customers want, particularly when you are planning to launch a new product line or area of service.
16. You get to Sell Faster
In the world of small businesses, timing is of great essence. It is only natural that you would have some products that absolutely must be sold off before a particular time period is over. Using the push notification or in-app notification feature, you can prompt your app users and customers to buy these products as you declare a “limited period only” sale or discount coupon that can be redeemed on the app! These promotions invoke a sense of urgency and excitement among customers, encouraging them to make a purchase, helping you sell out the items you do not want to be stuck with. An additional advantage here is the ensuing publicity that comes your way putting your brand and business on the map and in your customers’ minds.
17. Easy Access to Business Analytics
As we are getting more comfortable with technology, the aspect of record keeping has become a breeze and even though the setup may take a little while, after that all your record keeping and collecting woes are smoothened out. The mobile app will come with a set of analytics and you can customize it to get more. You can track downloads, keep an eye on user engagement levels and the kind of products that the users show interest in. Having access to analytics and metrics can give you great insight in helping you determine how to make your products more suited to the customers.
18. A positive Image for your Business
In the business world, your stocks and their value depend to a great extent on the kind of image you have managed to create for yourself. When you have a mobile app to add to the whole digital presence, you are essentially contributing to a positive image for your business telling the world that you are abreast of the latest technology. Having a mobile app of your own today is not a fancy ad on, it has, in fact, turned into a necessity that the modern-day user has come to expect from a good brand irrespective of their scale, scope, and size.
