What is the right time for me to invest in a mobile application?
Long gone are days when mobile phones weren’t ruling the world. Studies suggest that there are more than 3.5 billion unique users of the mobile internet, as of August 2017. Moreover, it has also been observed that users spend, on an average, 69% of their media time on their smartphones. So, what do these statistics tell you about the scenario of using mobile apps for business?
But it is also the truth that you do not need to run a race blindly. So, how do you know for sure if your business can benefit from a native mobile app? And if you know for sure that a mobile app will boost growth, how exactly do you come around doing it?
With this article, we solve the puzzle of mobile applications for small and big businesses. Let’s start by deciding whether your business needs a mobile app or not.
Factors to decide if your business needs a mobile app
Before you decide on making a native mobile application for your business, ask yourself the following questions.
Is it primarily user-oriented or plainly for personal profits?
Remember that the primary use of mobile apps in business is to satisfy your customers. And not just to look at your own benefits that may arise out of users downloading the app. Users generally avoid installing apps as they use data and occupy storage space.
If the user is not going to benefit much from the app, they may download it once, but you won’t be able to retain them. In the long run, the investment may seem futile. Thus, try and make your app user-oriented.
Will it help you provide the user with best possible experience?
Websites sometimes have limitations to the user experience. This is where mobile apps come in the picture. With a mobile app, availing your products or services becomes easier for the user.
Let’s say that you make games. By creating an application dedicated to the game, you attract more users. For, one may not be able to access a desktop all the time. Whereas, with mobile apps, they can play your game while waiting in a queue, riding the bus, or having lunch at a cafe.
Additionally, user experience also talks about the ease of completing a task with an app. Mobile apps can be accessed easily as opposed to websites. They also tend to make transactions quicker and more reliable. If your business needs such features, you may want to go for a mobile app.
Is the app likely to help in more revenue generation?
If you ask anyone why your business needs a mobile app, they’ll say it’s for revenue generation. Mobile applications should add to your profits and not be a financial burden on your business. While you should refrain from making them just for monetary purposes, you also have to check if they’re adding to your revenues.
If a native mobile application is driving in money, you can consider investing in it as a venture. But it should be done in such a way that using the app proves effective to your users.
Is your website mobile optimized?
Considering that 57% of internet users won’t recommend a business if its website is not mobile optimized, more businesses have started taking care of the matter.
Now, if you have a mobile-friendly website, it guarantees customer satisfaction, since the user is more likely to access your website through their mobile phone. In this case, if it is not extremely necessary, you can decide against making a mobile application.
Do your competitors have apps?
The market of mobile app designing in India is on the rise. It is likely that your rival companies have already invested in a mobile application. If this is the case, making a native mobile app for your business will prove to be a wise decision.
For example, if you sell groceries online and so does your rival. If they have a mobile application, online users who regularly shop for groceries online would prefer a mobile app for it. Instead of going to the website every other day, they can use a mobile app to select items, pay, and track their orders.
To help you further with making up your mind on mobile apps for your business, listed below are the examples of different type of mobile apps some famous companies use.
Types of Mobile Apps
Mobile apps can be categorized broadly under four types. If your business falls under one of these categories, building a mobile application will greatly help.
E-Commerce
These apps offer the service of online shopping of electronics, goods, and everyday items. Amazon, Flipkart, Tata Cliq are all examples of such apps.
Publishing
Content publishing apps revolve around producing blogs, articles, and other written content. Newspaper, magazine, book apps all fall into this category. Amazon Kindle and the TOI app are some of the many publishing apps.
Gaming
Games which are in form of apps find a place here. This is one of the most popular app types amongst children as well as adults. Temple Run, PUBG, Candy Crush, and all the other games you’ve loved playing from time to time come under this category.
Enterprize
Such apps are meant for bringing team members on the same platform to share information and collaborate. Companies use them for personal use to manage teams, maintain reports and charts, and to send out information.
Benefits of mobile apps for small businesses
Last but not least, we would like to discuss some advantages and luxuries that mobile applications provide to a company, brand, or business.
Influence the audience
With a mobile application, you ensure being visible to customers at all times. How? By simply seeing the icon of your application on their phone menu or receiving occasional notifications from you, you keep your business fresh in the memory of the user.
Hence, the next time they want to avail the services that you provide, they are likely to remember using the application and coming to you. Which is to say that with an application, you can influence the audience and turn things in your favor.
New revenue channels
The uses of mobile apps in business are ample and genius. We’re sure you’ve seen in-app advertisements. By adding a small section of ads in your business application, you can generate more revenue. If your business is popular in the market, you will get customers looking for advertising spaces easily. This way, you’ll be able to churn out some more money.
Additionally, you can enable in-app purchases. By keeping upgraded models on paid features, you can tempt users to avail high-quality service by paying for it.
Direct marketing channel
Notifications are a tool that can be majorly used to market your services. By notifying customers about latest deals, updates in your business, and other useful information, you are inviting business.
Upon reading your notification, the user will be curious and willing to check out what is in store for them. This way, with the help of just notifications, you can direct traffic to your application.
By using such marketing gimmicks, you’ll be able to handle a marketing channel and drive user engagement and footfall like a pro.
Brand image and visibility
One more creative reason why mobile apps are important. With a mobile application, you increase your brand credibility. If you have made efforts like creating an app for customer ease, the users are likely to trust you and your services more.
Additionally, applications also make it easier for you to maintain a brand image. With the content that goes on your application, you can shape an identity for your brand through the application itself.
Moreover, due to the ease of downloading and using your services from a single source, your brand also gets the deserved attention. The more people download your company’s application, the more your brand is going to be visible in the market.
Reviews to help better business
Applications can be used to register the real-time response of a user towards your business. With apps, you can put forward the feature of adding reviews. The reviews can be of products, services, application, their experience in being associated with you, and more.
By taking reviews, you can work on bettering your services, and as a result, the whole system. Thus, reviews help you understand what consumers are feeling about your ventures. More importantly, it also opens the gates of better-quality service, which we’re sure is your inward goal anyway.
Increase the ease for customers
If you hire a mobile app developer in India, this is what they should focus on above everything else. It is a fact that mobile applications get the job done easier and quicker. Be it booking tickets, reading, shopping, or any task that you can pull out of your hat, all is done more efficiently with dedicated apps.
They store user information, track data, encourage updates, and speed up the processes. For this reason, applications can be deemed better than websites or other means of getting the respective work done.
Customer Loyalty
Once a user downloads your application, chances are, that they’ll use it for a long time. On the other hand, if they have to refer to your website every time they want to get the work done, they may consider going to your competitor’s website for once. After all, it is the same amount of work.
With an application, you put the user in their comfort zone by making things easier. Thus, they are more likely to stick to you and your services. Eventually, this leads to them becoming loyal to your company, if they are satisfied with what you’re offering.
When using mobile apps development services, you can ask the company to come up with innovative solutions for gaining high customer loyalty.
Run promotional activities
Mobile applications can serve as an excellent platform for communication. Promoting a campaign, introducing a sale, or highlighting an offer all become easier when you have your own customisable app.
You can use this opportunity to come up with app-focused branding strategies. This can help in engaging and retaining customers, getting the sales going, and leading the market.
Conclusion
We hope the different details we pointed at will help you make the right decision. Mobile applications require effort, dedication, and constant maintenance. So when you decide to go for it, make sure that you dive all in and leave no stone unturned!
As of us, RareDevs is a mobile apps development company based in India. We build applications, websites, brand identity, and much more to your best interest. If you’d like to know us better and explore our services, we are available even in the middle of the night. Feel free to leave a comment or drop by, whatever seems more comfortable. We’re all ears.
Originally published at raredevs.weebly.com.
