This article will delve into the reasons why you should consider building a mobile app for your business. Mobile app development is not just reserved for the bigger players. More and more of the small to medium sized enterprises are engaging in mobile app building to help grow their business.
So why go mobile?
Research is showing that mobile internet usage is rising as desktop usage starts to fall. You may have seen this trend in your own website visitor statistics. Of that increased mobile traffic 90% of time spent is in apps rather than a browser (emarketer 2020). This data tells us that businesses need to make sure they have a robust mobile strategy in place and that means more that just a mobile optimised website. They should also consider creating a customised, responsive app.
Increase Customer Engagement
Mobile apps deliver a direct channel of communication between you and your customer. They allow you push out information or promotions at the click of a button and they can include booking functionality, pricing, messages, news and general information. Some apps can include rewards allowing you create a loyalty program.
Get Ahead of the Competition
Early adopters have an advantage over their competition. As the world moves more and more towards mobile communication this is your opportunity to capitalise on the trend and get ahead of your competition. Apps are innovative, smart and customer focused and this will benefit your reputation in the market as a leader and innovator. App development companies have worked with all sorts of industries and will be able to advise you on the type of functionality that would make sense for your business.
Do your Research
Before engaging with a mobile app building partner have a think first about your business and where you can see a mobile app helping. Do some research into your competitors or peers in other geographies. Do they currently offer a mobile app to customers? What promises do they make? Can you see similarities with your own business? What is your mobile app development budget?
Set some Mobile App goals and objectives
What problems can you see an app solving? It is important to note that mobile apps are not only customer facing. Many SMBs use mobile apps internally to make processes simpler and more efficient. These types of apps are even more valuable if you have a remote based workforce or employees that move around such as sales people or engineers making visits to different customer sites. Mobile app development can dramatically improve internal workflow and process management. A good app development company will be able to analyse your process flow and highlight areas where a mobile app could deliver significant cost and time improvement.
Developing the App
Mobile app building can be a time consuming task. It requires planning, scoping, building and testing time. If you don’t have an internal resource who has the right skillset and time to devote to creating the app there is an alternative. App development companies will have lots of experience creating apps for different types of businesses. They can work with you on a bespoke application development to create an app or apps for your specific business needs. Often businesses choose to create more than one app – one customer facing and one internal.
Choosing an App Development Company
Make sure you do your research. Look for how long the mobile app building companies have been in the industry. What other businesses have they worked for? Read through any case studies and/or client testimonials that are on the businesses websites. Look for mentions of bespoke application development as most businesses will not want an ‘out of the box’ experience. Every business will have nuances in how they operate and an app will need to cater for these. Equally businesses will differ in how they want to interact with their customers and this needs to be taken into account.
Testing is a very important component in mobile app development. You will want to be sure your app is tried and tested before you launch it – internally and externally. Talk to the mobile app development companies about their testing process and their overall project management approach. The most successful projects are those that are built on trust where delivery deadlines are met. Quality has to be assured so ask the mobile app building companies what their QA process involves.
Mobile app building is an investment – one that will pay off but you want to be sure that you work with a company that will deliver on their promises. Make sure to do due diligence before picking an app development company.
Our team of mobile app engineers have years of experience across multiple industries. Contact our team for a no obligation chat about usage of mobile apps within your business.
