5 Signs that your business needs a mobile application

Gimena Aguerreberry
April 1, 2021

Mobile apps are no longer intended only for big companies. Small and midsize businesses are following the mobile trend, understanding that an effective mobile strategy involves more than just a mobile-friendly website.

Mobile apps are trending in marketing, and it’s becoming a basic essential to sustain in the digital era. While most businesses see a major shift in their success once they establish a website, some may see even greater success building a mobile app.

Apps can make the lives of your customers so much easier, incentivizing them to use your service as a result. But of course, not every business needs an app.

If you’re not sure whether an app is right for your business, we’ve put together a list of signs that your business needs a mobile application.

It will help you increase your business

If you’re planning to provide tools that help increase your business, then you should definitely consider mobile app development.

Obviously, your app needs to be in line with your overall business plan. Businesses should look at how their audience is connecting with them online and what’s motivating them to make a purchase.

When apps are built considering your plan and how it leads to sales, then success is likely to happen.

Provide value to your customers

Your app should not be intended to mirror your business website. If you want that, you should just make your site mobile-friendly and do not bother with an app at all. Great business apps take advantage of features unique to smartphones, creating value in the process while distinguishing themselves from their websites.

Apps are great for many functions, they can provide information, prices, booking forms, search features, user accounts, news feeds, and much more.

One of the biggest benefits of developing specifically for this channel is that all the information that your customers need will be available to them right at their fingertips.

Through push notifications, you can easily remind customers about your products and services whenever it makes sense, and of course, let them know about special offers and promotions.

If there are clear problems that you could solve with an app, then you should definitely go for it.

For instance, our customer Amgen found that their sales representatives were facing serious obstacles in optimizing their productivity, so we teamed up with them to create an iOs app that enables sales reps to access all the data they need in one place.

Many apps are shaping the way businesses and consumers connect, and you could continue this trend by solving your consumer issues. Some of those issues may include:

  • Improving communication
  • Managing online reviews
  • Offer a better customer service
  • Address pain points

Your app should offer new functionality and convenience to customers, making it easier for them to interact with you.

Stand out from the crowd

Consumers are increasingly connected to their phones, which underscores the necessity for an app.

Mobile apps at the small business level are still rare, so this is where you can take a big leap ahead of your competitors. If your competitors don’t have an app yet, and you know one would add value to your audience, then this could be your opportunity to stand out from the crowd, rather than try to catch up with them.

If you have a product (digital or physical), that could be enhanced via an app, consider what you could do and how to create a more effective business model. For example, if you sell a subscription product, an app might be useful to help people track orders and purchase additional items.

A mobile app is necessary if you can't replicate the same app functionality on a website.

For a typical small business, a website has all the functionality you need, so It is not worth the investment if all of the functionality you may need is already on your website.

As for eCommerce, most businesses would do well to create a mobile app. With the number of e-commerce shoppers increasing, it's safe to assume that people want to shop through mobile devices. So if you don't have an app, you're missing sales and other conversions.

Having an app grants you more flexibility in the kind of user experience that you want to deliver. Whether you are developing native apps, web apps, or any kind of type of mobile app, you will have total control of the buying experience.

Improve Brand Awareness

A mobile app for your business can greatly contribute to your brand awareness.

When building apps, the main objective is to provide better possibilities for clients to access your business, from any place and at any time. Of course, this also translates into greater communication with customers, better attention, and most importantly, brand recognition and strengthening.

Possibilities are endless, you can create an app that has features your customers will love, while at the same time is well branded and beautifully designed.

The more often you can get customers involved with your app, the sooner they will be inclined to buy your product and/or service. If you offer a loyalty program, can offer targeted discounts, coupons, and other incentives that you don’t offer anywhere else.

If your business is struggling with customer retention, that could mean your website visitors aren't engaged enough. learned from their behaviors to encourage engagement and increase customer retention.

Gain priceless insight

Mobile apps have the power to let business owners know the patterns, performance, and preferences of their users. Through the features included during the development process, you can monitor and track behavior in the user interface. This knowledge allows your company to fine-tune your services according to your consumer’s preferences.

Regular analysis of user behavior within the app, along with consistently thinking of new ways to improve your app using the information you have gathered, will ensure your app is always meeting your consumers’ needs.

In the end, building a mobile app is a worthwhile venture to get with the times of a fast-growing landscape.

"5 Signs that your business needs a mobile application" by Gimena Aguerreberry is licensed under CC BY SA. Source code examples are licensed under MIT.

Photo by Robin van der Ploeg.

Categorized under software development.

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