"Does your business have a mobile app?" You might have encountered this question the moment you mentioned your business to others and you might be wondering why is everyone asking about the mobile app when yours is just a small-scale business? Trust me, you need one.
With technology fitting inside any screen space, mobile apps are the most preferred ones since your smartphones have become a part of the human body. You won't find a person who isn't scrolling on his/her smartphone. Hence, it has become crucial for any business to be present on that little screen. With people now spending not half but their entire life on their smartphones, your business must be present and ready to serve the customers at their fingertip, anytime they want.
With every passing minute, web traffic from mobile devices is becoming comparatively more than that from the desktops. A need can arise at any moment and customers are more prone to use their phones first. So, no matter what size your business is, you get to be there on their screens. Look for the mobile app statistics for yourself and you will know the position of mobile apps in our life.
Still, to convince you more and help you further understand the importance and benefits of it, here are the reasons why your small business need a mobile version of it;
- You Make Your Brand Known
Until and unless anyone visits your website, no one will know about your existence. While a mobile app will enhance your visibility in a smart, quick and effective way. People look for the ease of use and mobile apps provide that. Mobile phones stay closer and for a longer duration with us, thus, making a mobile app will keep your business in constant touch with them. Moreover, a website requires full internet access, while you can design your app in such a way that your customer can navigate your app even offline. This will keep the brand engagement going uninterruptedly.
- Make It Personalized
People love when you offer them customized and personalized experience. Like a user may get annoyed to see numerous recommendations and notifications which are out of their context, but when you give them content feed customized to their behavior or push notifications based on the content they are interested in, they will engage more. For example, if a consumer begins purchasing baby clothing for a newborn infant in the month of April, serve them baby clothing that would fit a 2-3-month-old as June approaches.
- The More Engaging, The Better
Waiting for the websites to load, getting the contact details or filling up the form, all can seem like a never-ending process to today's user who wants everything at the instant. Mobile apps can turn a user into a paying customer within seconds. Instead of just giving an overview of your business in your mobile app, allow your users to have access to all of your services through it. Like Domino’s Pizza, their mobile app allows customers to order for delivery or in-store pickup the moment the craving strikes and due to which their app-based orders rose by more than 41%. Plus with instant customer support, feedback, chat and registration, user find it easier and enjoyable to interact via mobile apps.
- Geo-targeted Marketing & Sales
Location-driven services have revolutionized the way of targeted sales & marketing. With now Geo-targeted mobile applications, it is now possible to skip the tedious stretch of marketing to millions of random people and directly reach out to high potential leads.With GPS tracking of products and services, SMS alert about the new arrivals as soon as the customer is located near to your store or appearing in top results whenever a customer is hunting for nearby restaurants in your location, making your mobile app location-based can benefit you in millions. For more, you can also design your app with inbuilt data capturing capabilities that will take a deep insight into the customer’s search preference and will help you in customizing marketing campaigns in accordance with the demand.
- Attract Using Customer Loyalty Program
Offers, rewards, coupons, discounts and lucrative deals, all these terms users love to hear and explore no matter what. People migrate from one app to another comparing which one is offering the more. Offer them points at their every shopping which they can later claim into attractive gifts in exchange for the points they won in the past. For example, Starbucks offers rewards to app users who buy a certain amount of drinks or food through the Starbucks app and once you reach up to 125 stars, Starbucks gives you a free drink, which motivates customers to keep coming back.
- Instant Payments
Customers can change their mind within a blink of an eye. To avoid that, you must offer them instant purchase option the moment they have eyed something on your app. Since mobile wallet is growing and preferable by users than cash, so provide them the option of multiple checkout channels to survive amongst the big players. And guess what, the total transaction value in the Digital Payments segment amounts to US$50,215m in 2018 and the trends ahead will surely see mobile wallets taking over the share.
Conclusion Websites are a must but with people attached more to their smartphones, mobile apps are becoming necessary for any business to establish their identity. Your small investment of time and money today for a mobile app can give you huge returns forever. So stop pondering over whether an app will make sense for your business or not and create your very own mobile app and start engaging your audience today.