Does Your Business Really Need a Mobile App?

There are certainly more than a few things to know if you are jumping into creating your very first app but today we’ve summarized the main things to consider before you go all in!

We’ve serviced many clients from multi-million dollar companies to solo and indie entrepreneurs and have come to conclusion that before anyone decides if their business or idea should take the challenge of entering the app space they need to ask themselves, do we really need an app?

In July of 2008 The Apple Store launched and shortly after followed the Playstore. It was not long after this that the invasion of mobile apps took over the world. We can stop saying that the future of the internet is mobile. The internet, right now is fully mobile. The future we talked about for the internet is now here and bigger than we expected.

TechCrunch has estimated that consumers in the United States spend five hours a day on a mobile device. But even cooler than that? 92 percent of that time is completely spent using apps! Only 8 percent was to usage of the web browser

The point is if your business or idea isn’t present and optimized for mobile you pretty much don’t exist. But this doesn’t mean you absolutely need an app right? The answer to that is it “depends”

Consider the following:

Is your business model based around the function and utlitity of an app?

If your business is based on the usuage of your app for its functions much like Uber or Whatsapp then you definitely need a great app to get your business going. This one is a no brainer, if your business model falls under this category you need an extremely well built app. In this case the app is the business. No app, no business!

Is Your Website optimized for mobile?

First things first before you look on to create an app for your idea or business please make sure that you have the basics down. If your website isn’t mobile friendly and fully optimized for a mobile experience maybe you should focus on that for now.

Creating a responsive web design for the mobile experience should usually come first. The reason behind this is that for your target audience to interact with you through your website via web browser is always a possibility and readily available from their mobile devices. But having someone download your app first to then interact with your business is a more difficult first step than the former. That is why you always want to have a mobile friendly website first to remove any friction for your target audience to interact with you before giving them a great app to indulge in.

In short, do right by the basics first. In todays environment your website should already be mobile friendly. After that’s checked off, consider giving them added value through a comprehensive mobile app!

Does your app solve a problem ?

Your mobile app should do more than your mobile optimized website. When someone downloads your app they are giving you the great honor of being on their phone 24 hours a day. You need to make sure that your app is solving a unique problem that your website doesn’t. This will get your users to download the app and use it routinely in the long term.

Do some research on your customers pain points, if a mobile application can solve these issues then its likely an app would be a great idea!

So should you build an app?

The world is being run by apps. Most of our content consumption and usage of the internet is through mobile apps. Building an app that your customers will download and use is extremely powerful. Once someone downloads your app its on the home screen of their mobile device which they look at for hours a day. This alone helps keep your business at the top of their mind.

If you can create an app for your business that makes sense and will provide effective value for your customers then you should definitely consider going for it.

If you have any concerns or questions about mobile apps or would like to know if an app would be a good fit for your business or idea shoot me an email at Ray.k@innow8apps.com/cjindal@innow8apps.com and we can chat!