Why Your Business Needs an App
These days, when children are able to master YouTube before they learn the alphabet, being visible online is crucial for any business. Enter the app
After entrepreneurs discovered the power of digital marketing, they started to divert budgets from offline activities to the internet. As it turned out, running a website (even a fancy one) doesn’t ensure higher sales. Yet one well-designed mobile app can make your business thrive. The fact is people delight in tapping on their mobile phones – a lot. An average smartphone user spends about three hours per day browsing different apps. This number seems ridiculous unless you install the QualityTime app, which tracks the time you actively spend on your smartphone and favorite apps. Get ready to be surprised!
The good news? Small and midsize businesses can capitalise on this ubiquitous obsession with apps, and we’re put together five undeniable reasons why a mobile app is the best festive gift to your business.
DRIVE BRAND AWARENESS AND SALES
Once your app is installed on a smartphone, the distance between you and your targeted customer becomes a one-click action. The next thing to do is to turn simple use of your app into a habit. For this, your app should provide worthy value, like helping solve a real-life problem or simplify a time-consuming task.
For example, Ikea’s augmented reality app is both a useful tool and fun. By letting people virtually put Ikea’s furniture into their home, the app helps make the right decisions before making in-store purchases.
GROW A COMMUNITY OF LOYAL CUSTOMERS
Along with useful features, your app can offer valuable rewards. In this way, your mobile app helps you turn a one-time customer into a loyal customer.
Discounts and bonuses have proven to be a powerful tool for just this purpose: entertaining content, a touch of exclusivity, or other marketing-related activities can become a part of your loyalty programme too. When your app is something more than just a service, you have higher chances to stay pinned to the device and, as a result, to your customer’s mind.
INCREASE CUSTOMER CRED
A frequently updated app with a user-friendly design shows that you care about your audience. The fact that a business owner invests in an app fosters people’s trust as well as implies the company is looking to the future.
When your app sits alongside the apps of Facebook, Google, or Twitter (at least on a smartphone screen) it earns a higher level of credibility in your customers eyes. Which brand do you think might win over the battle for customers: the one with an app placed amidst trustworthy companies or the one with an enormous marketing budget without an app?
INPROVE YOUR PRODUCT FOR THE BETTER
App owners often use mobile apps to gain quality feedback on their product. Honest feedback from an active customer can help identify and fix gaps in your business. And, with the help of an app, you can analyse your target audience, its preferences, and behaviour. Maybe you fail to increase sales simply because the process of in-app registration is too complicated?
ENHANCE YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY
Positive comments and five-star ratings from your users will uplift your app to top positions in app store charts. Thus, your app (read: your product) will become easier to discover by a wider audience.
The app can also include a sharing button for users to make posts about your business in their social media profiles. And, in short, pop-up messages called ‘push notifications’ are an excellent tool for reminding people about your product from time-to-time.
All in all, if you are looking for new ways to expand your business, our recommendation is: build a flawless app. The results will pay off.
If you are not ready to hire an in-house app development team, build your mobile app by yourself. Fantastic mobile app builders like BuildFire or AppsBuilder help create an app without going into coding or all the other technical stuff.
