A global brand can easily incorporate latest analytics tools, CRM solutions, location technologies as part of their business strategy. Small businesses, on the other hand, struggle to make their ends meet due to lack of fund and quality manpower.
Most small businesses are still underexposed to the digital world. Many of them have their business websites and social profiles. But, to keep pace with the emerging mobile audience, just a mobile friendly website is not enough. A dedicated mobile app is invincible to offer your users and customers a native experience.
For some time now, we are seeing an increasing rate of interest in mobile apps from small businesses. According to latest statistics, 55% of small businesses who already have mobile apps built them to increase sales. 50% of such businesses built their mobile apps to improve customer experience. 50% of small business apps are built to position competitively in a specific market.
A recent prediction by Gartner says that by 2017 there will be 268 billion of app downloads Creating app revenue of more than $77 billion worth. If you are still not convinced about the huge competitive role played by mobile apps across business niches, here below we introduce 6 reasons to consider.
1. Apps are robust promotional tool
Most of your existing customers are very likely to spend a good amount of time browsing through mobile or using mobile apps. So, any promotional campaign you introduce should either be delivered over the mobile website or should be accessed through a mobile app.
At a time when most urban people spend their valuable time indoor just because of the handheld device and the ecosystem of apps, to make any campaign louder you need the help of the mobile app. Moreover, with social integration, you can easily make your campaign further audible across the platforms and apps
2. It’s not as expensive as you might think
A vast majority of small businesses like to resist the thought of having a mobile app for their business because of the cost concerns. Often cost alone remains to be the most important factor In guiding small businesses when it comes to embracing new technologies. When even the custom web development seems to sit in the backyard of your list of priorities, building a new mobile app looks like too much to consider. You might have considered building mobile apps is a rich man’s business. But to your amazement, it is often not.
There are too much affordable, highly customizable and result-wise superb tools that can easily deliver you a small but functionally brilliant mobile app in less than the budget of building a website.
Remember building a high-quality mobile app is not a ‘once and for all’ affair. After having your first mobile app you need to fine-tune and make it better over time. But at any cost, from the very initial moment of building your app you need to ensure a few things including ease of use, quality of boarding experience, faster loading time, clean and clutter free interface And quick check out time.
3. Making your digital presence louder than ever before
You have a mobile website, right? If you think it’s enough to stand for all your digital presence, you are terribly wrong. A mobile website can be the launching pad for all your digital campaigns, but until you provide your users a native mobile experience, you cannot make a sustainable impression. In fact, a mobile app for a business makes your web presence louder than ever before. With the digital strategy of enterprises banking more and more on personalization, one digital avenue is no longer enough to cater to all tastes and preferences.
Most successful businesses across the niches prefer a combination of digital avenues to address their customers and users. A mobile-friendly website can still be the centerpiece of digital campaigns, but to offer a native experience for seasoned users, mobile apps are still invincible.
4. Strengthening bond with your customers
If you have a local business, you know the importance of nurturing a bond with local customers. Well, local businesses thanks to mobile apps can easily build a local community around their brand. T-mobile app can easily connect local people and make a community where they can discuss relevant issues topics of their common interests.
By allowing people connect and share among themselves, you develop a strong breed of loyal customers. Thus with mobile apps, local businesses can gain customer loyalty and better retention. If you cannot become the talk of the town, you can at least become part of it through a mobile app of your own business.
5. Float the competition
Though small businesses are fast embracing mobile apps, it is still the domain dominated by large companies. Moreover, all small businesses cannot take advantage of mobile apps in the same manner. There are small businesses that purely operate as an online entity and hence do not have a local community. So, the real competition for a small business when it comes to the engaging audience through a mobile app is limited to only a few local players.
As the mobile app business for local and small businesses is still in its nascent state of development, a great app can easily flout the competition and win business. It is the stand-out customer experience the impressive ease of interaction and engagement that will give your app a competitive edge.
6. Mobile app converts buying power
Smartphone and wearable flaunting millennials already acquired a habit of buying their needful from the handheld devices. So, with a mobile app, you actually offer buying power to your audience. 69% of millennials prefer to buy anything from their mobile device.
The beneficiaries of this trend are the businesses and the retailers. Mobile apps in more ways than one created a level playing field for all businesses. If mobile app translates to buying power for the customers, it equally reinvents the power to connect customers as well.