The latest innovation in the business environment has to do with creating your own app that caters to your business. However, you should ask yourself if this move if worth the time and money investment. And if this does prove beneficial, how long will it take until you see the return of your investment? Apps nowadays make life easier. You can order dinner, hail a cab or even check your symptoms for that pesky cold only by using the smartphone you own. There is a growing tendency nowadays to use apps given their convenience and immediacy. However, 45 % of businesses still do not have a mobile optimized site or a mobile app. So if you’re among the unlucky one, now is the time to start developing the perfect mobile app. And if you’re still undecided whether to create an app or not, here are five reasons why your company needs a business app.
1. It boosts sales. Consider the following: customers can complete a purchase when they wait in line at a grocery store or when they’re stuck in traffic. So if you have an app, you’ve just accomplished a very difficult marketing task, i.e. meeting your customers wherever they may be. Instead of having them sit down in front of a computer to buy your products, with the help of an m-commerce app, potential customers can make easy purchases wherever they are. A study published in 2013 showed that nearly 55 percent of customers spend their time buying products on a mobile device, while only 45 percent do this on their computers.
2. Another aspect you should take into consideration is that mobile apps can deliver faster customer support. Instead of spending countless minutes of their time listening to cheerful music while they’re on hold, customers nowadays prefer to get answers and information quickly and efficiently. Services such as Hipmob have managed to do exactly that. The guys at Hipmob enable businesses to provide in-app customer support and answers to FAQs. This way you can deliver a more pleasant experience for your customers and lower the call volumes for the customer support staff.
3. By creating a business app you ensure an increase in customer engagement. It may come as no surprise that customers who have access to the services and products you provide are likely to come back. But apps usually do not have m-commerce components to ensure customer engagement. Therefore, do your best to provide valuable content that is related to your business. This, in turn, ensures the provision of lasting value to your customers. Moreover, you will build confidence among them and solidify the brand name in your field. Keep your customers engaged through push notifications.
4. Having a business app is a great way of getting to know your customers. If you’re still interested in unique visitors and page-views to assess the performance of your digital performance, this is not enough. Despite the fact that with the help of web-based analytics you can see where and when your customers interact with your brand, mobile analytics offers you an innovating way of analyzing the behavior of your customers. This is a helpful tool that will allow you to plan promotions or deliver unexpected value to your customers.
5. Having a business app may prove the “it” factor that differentiates your brand from your competition. This applies particularly if you’re in a non-digital field. For example, you’re a freelance translator and you have an app that allows interested customers to get all the necessary data at the touch of a button. This may prove extremely beneficial and give you the advantage over the competition. Also, by having an app, new customers who are searching for online services or answers can be brought in easier than you might think.
So these are our arguments. How was your experience with creating an app? Did it prove worth your while? We welcome you to comment below.
