Should You Have a Mobile App?
In the past decade, mobile app usage has exploded across the globe. In 2020, there were roughly 3.5 billion smartphone users worldwide. In fact, around 1.4 billion smartphones were sold in the year 2020 alone.
As a result, there is increased demand for mobile apps among most big firms and businesses. Not a surprise considering the wide array of advantages that I will detail below.
76% of consumers prefer to save time by shopping on their phones. And, most smartphone users prefer mobile apps over websites. Not a shocker, but still, a shockingly high statistic.
Regardless of what sector you are in, you should seriously investigate having a mobile app for your business.
Think of your clientele
Seriously. Think about them. The world is changing, largely due to technological evolution. It doesn’t even matter that your target clientele may not be millennials. Increasingly, people do not want to go online on their computers to access what they are seeking. And, increasingly, older people know how to navigate smartphones. They want to get what they need instantaneously. And picking up their smartphone and tapping your app satisfies that need.
Mobile Apps Offer Customers 24/7 Access To Your Business
It is true. Mobile apps are open 24/7. Gone are the days when your business hours are a set 9-5. Thanks to technology and your fancy mobile app, clientele can get what they need whenever they want. It can provide an uptick in revenue. Not to mention engagement. In short, it can help get your name out there. Apps can even help raise capital if you are a startup. Making a pitch to potential investors and showing off your shiny new app can go a long way.
Customer Insights
Another benefit to a mobile app is that it can be tailored to exactly what your customers want.
This means that there will be feedback and insight. It further means that your app can then be utilized to examine internally for the purpose of potential future growth. You have the ability to find out what people utilized most, what they didn’t, and what you can improve on. This can even have an impact on how you portray yourself to your target consumer. Perhaps what is revealed through the data of your mobile app will lead to a marketing / PR makeover. The analysis here is endless.
Mobile apps are never lacking in their mechanisms for capturing user feedback. Let’s take a quick look at some of these customer feedback mechanisms:
Widgets: Great for generating open-ended responses about a specific element of your brand.
Surveys: You can add concise surveys to your app. To boost your response rates, it’s important to make sure that the survey matches the context of your app and appears only when convenient
‘Rate my app’ prompts: You’ve heard of this one before. It is on virtually all mobile apps today. App ratings not only inform you about customer satisfaction but can also increase your app’s reputation in the app store.
Marketing
Simply put, you can market the hell out of your business in a multitude of ways through a mobile app. You can update the messages that you want to portray daily with ease. You can hold fun campaigns and contests right from your app to engage clientele. Running a business, you want to get your message out as much as possible to the public. Apps help you accomplish this. The more the public sees your logo, brand, message, and colors, the more likely they are to return and engage in a long-term relationship with your company.
Sidenote: I should mention that this somewhat aligns with the benefit and simplicity of what barcodes (a former blog post) do and how much they engage clientele.
Time
Mobile apps save time. Studies have revealed this to even be true. They not only save time for you but also for your client. Apps negate potential crashes that could arise with navigating through the internet onto a website. As far as payment through an app, this is also arguably easier too. Statistically, payments on mobile applications have risen from 41.8% to 52.2% from 2019-2023.
Cost
Minimal! Since you can market through your app, there is no need to spend big bucks on major marketing campaigns like billboards etc..
In fact, in the long run, you can earn money through your mobile app. Companies will pay you to advertise on your app. As your brand continues to increase and reach more of the world, so do the knocks on the door from other companies to advertise through you.
Mobile apps cut down the costs of SMS messages, brochures, and paper newsletters. It simplifies customer communications by using secured, instant and direct messages. It has also reduced the staff workload as they don’t have to send information requests and phone calls anymore.
In a nutshell, mobile feedback mechanisms often have higher response rates, are available around the clock, and require low maintenance.
Conclusion
Looking to improve your business processes and boost your profitability significantly? A mobile app might just be the missing link to get you to the next step in your endeavors.
Today, most of the traffic online is powered by mobile devices. Getting a mobile app for your business puts you in the right position to capitalize on this trend, which will only assuredly continue in the coming years.
From the branding perspective to customer service and marketing, there are hardly any departments of your business that won’t benefit from incorporating a mobile app. So, give it a try. It is worth the risk.
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