The benefits of investing in a mobile app for your brand

As an entrepreneur, you may think that web presence and mobile-friendly site access to all the information is enough to grab customer attention. This could be right in some cases. But more importantly, the question you need to consider is whether it is sufficient to maintain or level up your customer conversion rates. With mobile usage surpassing desktops, 85 percent of consumers prefer using mobile applications over desktop platforms.

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All companies, from well-established brands to new ones, are increasingly using phone apps to extend their customer base, generate astounding amounts of revenue and up their brand value. Lack of resources, technology backing or budget limitations may be holding you back from investing in a mobile app for your brand or business. You may, however, want to reconsider your stance. Here is why:

User experience not only says but does it all

Browsing through your mobile site allows replicating a web experience – the same tabs, same content and, in all probability, an unenthused customer, too. Apps, however, have the power to extend the web experience while providing unique, useful and interactive features to the customer. There’s seamless integration across devices, location-specific search results, instant loyalty benefits and more when it comes to what apps can do.

For instance, Uber claims to have captured over half the taxi and transportation market over the last few years. Hassle-free booking, convenient loyalty benefits and a comfortable ride – Uber promises all these and more. That leaves us with little doubt as to the reason behind their huge success and why other cab companies have quickly followed suit.

It would be prudent to identify a few key features that would improve the customer experience for your brand and your products before you build on it.

A company is only as good as the data it gets

Mobile interaction has thrown businesses into a slew. Mobile usage is a huge part of understanding your customers – both existing and prospective ones. Not having a mobile app often skews your understanding of customers’ behaviour, expectations and demands.

Apps with an inbuilt analytics capability can help you observe how various groups of customers prefer to engage with your brand. These help you gain insights into what aspects are working or not and give it the attention due.

Tailor-made to suit your customer preferences

When you have an app, the analytics can help you come up with effective strategies like custom-made marketing campaigns to retain those customers as well. The more customised, the better! User-experience can be personalised and each interaction can be made relevant and enjoyable by running segment-based campaigns; these are not possible on websites. This makes your goal of meeting the expectations of your consumers easy.

Before you dive right in, a little homework…

Before you decide to jump on the bandwagon, devote sufficient thought to significant details. You could get started by answering these questions – What features can and will the app provide? How will you extend the app in continuity to the existing web experience? Which is the right platform? With clearly defined specifications, you can consider a comfortable option to develop the app. Software kits, for example, help to develop a specialised app to fit your target audience while allowing you to cut down on development costs as opposed hiring a team; this could definitely help you when you’re just starting out!

Now that you are left with fewer excuses not to enjoy the obvious benefits a mobile app offers, are you ready to include a well-developed app as a part of your mobile strategy yet?