The increasing use of smartphones in the digital era has resulted in an explosion in mobile app usage over the last decade. People now spend hours of their day glued to their mobile phones, and 88% of that time is spent on apps. It comes as no surprise, then, that the demand for mobile apps is rapidly rising among businesses as well.
From eCommerce stores to healthcare, there is almost no industry where mobile applications haven’t proven their transformational capabilities. As technology advances and users are moving into digital spaces, companies should no longer ask themselves if they need mobile applications but what role they can play in the business.
Before you decide to make an app that’s tailored for your unique business goals, it’s a good idea to take a step back to consider your needs and what you aspire to achieve. You can look at specific applications and the benefits of having one to determine their relevance for your business goals. To that end, let’s take a look at some of those benefits.
Increased Engagement
Creating a mobile app for your business, given its popularity with millions of digital users, is a great way to increase engagement. Mobile websites have come as close as they can to being user-friendly and offering a smooth user experience, but they cannot beat the simplicity of a mobile app.
Instead of using a browser to search for your website and waiting for it to load, users can simply open the app and browse through the menu. Using an internet browser may also mean that users are sometimes logged off between sessions, which should never happen with a mobile app. If you pay close attention to how your target users interact with the app and design it with their preferences in mind, you can watch your engagement rates accelerate.
Adds Value to Your Customers
As new products and services are saturating the market, companies are slowly losing their momentum with customers. If you want to improve your connection with customers and strengthen your sales numbers, you need to add value to your customers’ experience.
Many companies have already realized the importance of offering loyalty programs, reward points, or special offers for members who use the app, hence adding value and encouraging more purchases.
For example, the more purchases your customers make from their app, the more points they collect, which can be turned into better deals for their preferred products. By allowing payments from within the app, you can also make the check-out process easier and quicker.
Develop a Direct Marketing Channel
Mobile applications can allow users easy access to a lot of information, but they are also a great way to communicate with your customers directly. By sending push notifications or offering the newest updates every time users open the app, you can announce product launches, promotional offers, and improved features in a much more effective manner.
With their data collection capabilities, either through personal account information or cookies, apps can also lead to a better understanding of your target users and improved targeting. You can send messages to your users based on their location, communicate offers tailored to their preferences, and ultimately improve your marketing with less effort.
Offer Better Customer Service
Communicating with your customers directly can also help you offer stellar customer service. As most users now seek support through their mobile devices, offering in-app support is the best way to build trust with customers.
To do this, you can embed an intelligent, easy-to-use help center in your app to help your customers find answers to their queries as quickly as possible and install a chat box for instant messages. Since the app can collect data from previous interactions, it will also minimize the number of issues that arise, and give your support staff a head start when solving them. Ultimately, this will take some pressure off your employees and improve the customer experience all around.
Conclusion
In a time where it’s getting increasingly more challenging to reach and retain customers, mobile apps can establish a strong link between your business and target audience.
As users are spending more and more time on mobile applications, having one for your business can help you raise your engagement levels and add more value to your customers in the form of loyalty programs and unique offerings. As a form of direct communication, it can also help you develop a direct marketing channel and offer better customer service with fewer issues and more effective communication lines.
From any angle, having a mobile app will almost certainly get you one step closer to improving your business’ offerings and raising your profitability.
