There once was a time that it was assumed that mobile apps were only for the big branded businesses out there. It is now 2019, and if your business doesn’t have an app, you’re more likely to turn customers away than bring them in. One of the best ways to reach people is online, of course, but being able to reach people wherever they are is the goal. Smartphones and tablets have made that possible, and while you can optimize your website to appear on a smartphone or tablet, nothing does it quite like a mobile app.
A robust mobile strategy is vital to your business, and a strong understanding of why mobile apps are essential is just as necessary. If you decide to invest in building an app for your business, you’ll notice how your customer engagement pops up very quickly. You’ll also be one of the companies that are ahead of the game for their marketing
Relevant Information, Relevant Method
The one thing your business needs to be the most is relevant. You want to be at the forefront of your customer’s mind at all times when your industry comes up for them. Studies have previously shown that consumers are using mobile apps over mobile optimized websites. That’s a figure of 89% of consumers relying on mobile apps to explore what a business is doing and interacting with that business. With people seeing how well mobile apps are doing, more companies are jumping on the bandwagon; and rightly so!
A business – whether large or small – needs to grow its revenue. With a mobile app, you have the chance to change your revenue year on year. For example, in 2015, mobile retail apps earned a staggering $80.94 billion. It was predicted to reach $206.53 billion; that is an increase purely based on usage, and your business needs a piece of that revenue pie.
Accessible For All
In the end, mobile apps are changing the game for businesses of all sizes, and if you want to make it big in retail, you need to have an app. Mobile apps used to be hard to build, with the need for a developer to build the app from scratch. Today, you could take steps to create an app of your own, and it’s easier and cheaper to do it that way, too!
With all of this in mind, you need to understand precisely why a mobile app is a good idea for your business, so let’s take a look at the top reasons you should go for it.
Building Awareness
Brand awareness is going to help your business to gain recognition for all the things it does. Your app is like a blank sheet of paper, and you can build it exactly the way that you want to. You can make it functional and edgy, or hip and informative. Either way, you need to consider how your app is going to make your customers fall in love with what you do. As well as brand awareness, you’re going to help your business to gain more recognition.
Higher Revenue
Your business should be concerned about how your marketing channels are bringing in the money, and a mobile app is a way that you can ensure revenue is coming in. You are spending time inside the phones of your consumer whether they want to shop with you or not right now. Your marketing channels should be bringing you in an income, and mobile apps are going to help you to do that. E-commerce has changed the way that people shop exponentially, and if you can dip a toe in that water, you absolutely should.
Providing Unrivalled Value
If you currently have a loyalty program in place for your business, you need to go digital with it. Any programs that are available for customers to use; such as point collection cards, voucher rewards, and discount codes, you can move all of this online and end up with more downloads, more customers and more revenue.
Set Yourself Apart From The Competition
Mobile apps for smaller businesses are still not as common as the larger brand names out there, but you can be ahead of your competitors should you make the leap. Be the very first in your line of work to offer a mobile app to the customers, and you’ll be the one who is remembered.
Create Loyalty
Lastly, a mobile app can help you to encourage loyalty from your customers. There are so many ways to go about your marketing strategy, from advertising in magazines to giant flashy banners outside of your business. With all of the newer ways to market a business, we lose touch with customers very quickly. Instead, you can use your mobile app to communicate better and quicker with your customers. A mobile app doesn’t save a business necessarily, but it sure does support it!
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