We won’t talk much about the role of mobile devices in 2022. Smartphones become more powerful each day, and they let us do more and more with just one tiny device and applications installed on it. So, your audience through those apps is a natural thing for business.
If you ask which businesses should have a mobile application, the answer is, all businesses. It is the reason why the mobile app development services market is among the fastest-growing business segments. But it does not mean that having an app guarantees success.
Plenty of mobile apps are tried once, and then abandoned or deleted. Therefore, the investment goes to waste. Moreover, turning to mobile software development services should be a part of the marketing strategy. The failure of the application may mean compromising the entire mobile strategy too.
Thus, the question arises: does the business that you created and own really need a mobile application?
© by Roberto Cortese
Ways to use mobile apps for your business
To be successful when investing in a mobile app for your business, you need to pay close attention to your approach. There are several ways you can choose to use mobile apps depending on your branding needs.
While the primary purpose of your app is to interact with your customer base, the purpose of the interaction often differs from company to company.
Here are a few of the most popular and effective approaches (with examples) we’ve seen in the marketplace.
Apps for content
Celebrities and experts in the service industry are also using mobile apps to share their content in the digital arena they manage.
Entertainment apps
Apps aren’t always just aimed at completing tasks. By entertaining users with your brand’s app, you can also retain most users, even without offering direct incentives.
Customer service apps and chatbots
These applications follow a basic communication model. They form a bridge between brand employees or software and users for troubleshooting purposes.
Customers can report issues they are facing and find solutions, and brands, for their part, can keep users notified of updates and new services.
Loyalty apps
Mobile apps can also be a great way to increase the loyalty of your customers. Many brands offer loyalty programs and incentives to reward. As a result, clients continue to return to the brand in exchange for these benefits.
Task apps
These apps help consumers perform tasks or use the services your business offers remotely and conveniently. Most mobile apps often include task-solving as a core element.
How to learn if your company should have a mobile app
Businesses hire custom mobile app development services because many tasks once confined to the desktop are now done from mobile devices. But what about mobile websites? They are much easier to create and support, let alone that they are much cheaper.
How would we define if we should invest in mobile development solutions instead of optimizing the mobile website version? Let us answer a few questions – our starter’s checklist.
- Does your target audience use mobile devices regularly?
You can get an answer easily by analyzing the stats. It will show the percentage of your online visitors using mobile devices vs desktops and laptops. If you see that the visitors prefer mobile – it is a good argument in favor of having an application. If they are inclined to use desktops – the presence of the mobile app won’t make difference.
It will start new marketing research of the target audience, and you will learn much more about their preferences to adjust the future product to them. But you need to know the fundamental information at once – how many of your visitors interact with your business through smartphones regularly. More than that, you should think about using microservices in your app development as they can improve the productivity of your developing team and deliver other benefits as well.
- Do your competitors use mobile apps in their marketing strategies?
Some pundits claim that businesses often order mobile application development services because they think that otherwise, they would miss something important. However, the fact remains – in a competitive environment, you have to keep up with your competitors. With the growth of the 5G networks, mobile devices will allow their users to perform a lot more new tasks, and mobile applications will be there.
Thus, if you and your competitors reach audiences that embrace mobile devices, you need a mobile application. If your competitor does not have one, you will get an advantage. If they have already introduced their apps – examine those solutions and find a way to overplay them.
- Can you achieve the same with an optimized mobile website version?
We mentioned the advantages of mobile-friendly websites earlier. If they deliver the same user experience to your visitors as the mobile app would do, it seems there is no need to waste money. But it would be true only if it is really all the same.
The difference is in what you offer. For instance, mobile apps are much more efficient for online sales. You can inform your users about special offers, send coupons, and use the smartphone’s own capabilities like cameras and GPS trackers. A professional team delivering Android or iOS mobile app development services will have lots of tools to ensure the necessary experience.
You can share product images, use Augmented Reality and apply GPS to help the users find the shop, inform them about the sale when they enter a certain area near your shop, etc. You can even make the application work without an Internet connection at all. These are just a few examples of when mobile apps win the competition with a crushing score.
Finally, don’t write off the psychological factor – smartphone devotees love using mobile apps. It is the default way for them to interact with the resources on the Web.
- Can the mobile application resolve the user’s problem?
An application is a tool to overcome a challenge, which could be any. For instance, we are moving from cash to cashless payments. We can not only pay for the purchase, but also donate, or give tips digitally – and you will find dozens of variants for each task or multi-featured solutions to cover all your needs.
However, it is not just resolving the user’s issue, but resolving it quickly and easily. In plain words, make the user do as few clicks as possible. Ideally, one or two (the first click would open the application). Much will depend on the mobile platform because Android and iOS have different design specificities. Keep this in mind when choosing Android app development services or hiring a team that specializes in iOS, or both.
- Can you support your mobile app in the long run?
Building an app is just the first step. If it makes a success, you must maintain it. Bug fixes are obligatory, but you have also to improve the design, add new options, etc.
The expenses will double if you offer both the iOS and Android versions of the application. That’s why cross-platform app development services gain more popularity – they let you get by with one app instead of two. In any case, having a mobile app as a part of your business strategy is a long-term investment, and you should keep it in mind from the start.
Thus, we have five basic questions. They might not give you an exhaustive answer immediately, but honest answers will show you the right direction.
How do you get a business mobile app?
There are many ways of getting a mobile app developed, starting from no-code platforms, and ending with an in-depth developed app by hiring dedicated no code app developers.
It all depends on your exact needs, the complexity of an app, your budget, and your expectations.
The lowest effort is required by using no-code platforms, which are software, that use AI to build a small, but functional mobile app with templated design and minimum functions.
The next is MVP -minimum value product, which is an option for those, who need something more than a regular barely functional app, but don’t need an ultimate and powerful app. Also, it’s good to check how your future big app would perform, by using MVP.
And the third option is hiring vue.js developers, that create a fast, scalable, and high-quality frontend for your mobile application, and will make it functional, clear, fast, and complex.
Conclusion
Every hotel, school, club, or local pizza shop wants a mobile app, and this is the trend of the modern day. Investment in mobile app development services as a part of the marketing strategy is a popular approach. And though the application itself can’t resolve all the marketing challenges, when implemented correctly, and with a little bit of luck, it brings nothing but good to the business. Visit Jatapp to know more.
