If you think that mobile apps are solely for big brands like Walmart and Bank of America, you are wrong. More and more small and mid-size businesses are following the mobile trend, understanding that an effective mobile strategy involves more than just a mobile-friendly website and that their business needs a mobile app.
In fact, these days you’ll notice that many small businesses you interact with on a frequent basis have their own dedicated mobile app—be it the corner coffeeshop or the beauty spa downtown. These companies are ahead of the game when it comes to taking their digital marketing to the next level.
In case you are still not sure why anyone would want to build their own mobile application, here are the top seven benefits of going down this path sooner rather than later.
1. Be visible to customers at all times
Statistics show that the average American adult spends 4 hours and 30 minutes a day on their mobile device. While probably only a handful of applications make up the bulk of this total usage, it doesn’t change the fact that each user has to unlock, scroll, and scan their device for the apps they’re looking for. Being “in the way” can be an advantage to your company, as our mind subconsciously records every image and text (or well-designed app icon!) it comes across.
2. Create a direct marketing channel
Apps serve many functions: they can provide general info, prices, booking forms, search features, user accounts, messengers, news feeds, and much more.
One of the biggest benefits of having a mobile app is that all the information you’d like to provide to your customers—including special sales and promotions—is right at their fingertips. Via push notifications you’re getting even closer to a direct interaction, and can easily remind customers about your products and services whenever it makes sense.
3. Provide value to your customers
Talking about on-hand information, how about digitalizing that loyalty program you have in place? Instead of sticking to the old point-collection card, make it possible for your customers to collect their rewards via your mobile app. The result? More downloads and more return customers.
4. Build brand recognition
Photo by Daria Nepriakhina 🇺🇦 on Unsplash
A mobile app for your business can greatly contribute to your brand awareness. I’d like to break this topic down into two aspects, the combination of which will make your app a true winner:
- Brand. A mobile app is like a blank billboard sign. You can do what you want with it; you can make it stylish, hip, functional, bold, or informative. But what you really want to do is create an app that has features your customers will love, while at the same time is well branded and beautifully designed.
- Recognition. The more often you can get customers involved with your app, the sooner they will be inclined to buy your product and/or service. In advertising this is called the “effective frequency”: as a rule of thumb, hearing and/or seeing your brand approximately 20 times is what will get you truly noticed.
5. Improve customer engagement
No matter whether you are selling flowers or spa services, your customers need a way to reach you. Having a messaging (or help desk) feature within your app can really make a difference in the way you communicate with your customers. Think about it: OpenTable, for example, built its entire business model around this principle. Instead of calling a restaurant for a table, you can book it with less than five clicks on their platform. Now think about it: How many customers would prefer to communicate with you via text than via phone?
6. Stand out from the competition
These days mobile apps at the small business level are still less common, and this is where you can take a big leap ahead of your competitors. Be the first in your neighborhood to offer a mobile app to your customers. They’ll be impressed by your forward-thinking approach!
7. Cultivate customer loyalty
Last, but not least, the most important reason why you should consider building your own mobile app is customer loyalty. With all the noise out there—roadside banners, billboards, flashing signs, newspaper ads, flyers, coupons, websites, website banners, Facebook ads, and email marketing—we slowly lose our impact on customers because of the immense amount of advertising surrounding us all.
It’s time to go back to making a true and sincere connection with your customers, and making them a loyal lover of your product and/or service. I am not saying a mobile app is going to save your business, but it can be a way of staying closer to your customers, and be just a “fingertip” away at all times.
Convinced yet? Now that you have gotten a taste of the numerous benefits of your own business mobile app, where are you going to start? You have two options:
- Hire an app-development agency, or bring your own in-house app-development team on board (depending on how much emphasis you’d like to put on your mobile strategy).
- Use one of the many mobile app builders out there, such as Como or BuildFire, to build your own mobile app without having to worry about coding and technicalities.
However you take the plunge, mobile apps are become standard for almost all businesses. The choice you make today will set the foundation for the future success of your business. It’s on you to decide whether you’d like to be one of the first.
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