New research states that companies with apps experience higher customer return and revenue—even in their physical stores.
If you’re a business owner, you may have once or twice thought of getting a mobile app for your business. Surely, most companies with apps experience an increase in customer conversion, loyalty, revenue, and marketing. This kind of return is always part of any business goal. But you may wonder “How would mobile apps help my company? Would the benefits outweigh the cost?”. And while mobile app development pricing is a different issue, we will list down major benefits that companies with apps have reportedly experienced. We hope that these major points would help you with your decision regarding mobile apps.
1. Firstly, mobile apps increase your digital presence
The advent of smartphones have increased marketing channels for businesses. Recent statistics show that over 3 billion people own smartphones globally—and is expected to reach 7 billion by 2020. Yes, that’s right! Your business can reach a high number of people using smartphones through mobile apps.
And while your business website may be the biggest (and most important) imprint of your digital presence, mobile apps can encompass more than that by getting more clicks. Mobile apps are used in a lot of ways because of the convenience they bring like linking to your website. And when making mobile apps, convenience towards your target market should be on your priority list.
Whether it’s making a standard category of products, sending updates and newsletters, placing shopping carts, featuring certain items, or creating a social community, mobile apps offer almost everything your website can with the touch of accessibility. And customers love that.
2. Companies with apps reward their customers
The digital age embraced mobile apps
Carpool apps like Uber, Lyft, and Grab reward customers and their drivers with points that can be used as digital currency for future purchases. These apps have a reward system that dictates the amount of convertible points a customer can get. Sure enough, customers gravitate towards companies that reward them with their purchases. Similarly, some companies also reward customers with discounts for their partner products. Sponsored brands and ads also help other businesses market themselves. And discounts, vouchers, and coupons for it make customers feel like purchasing through your business is worth much more compared to other places.
3. Also, companies with apps create games for customers
As you know, mobile apps are used to create games too. And sometimes, companies use this idea to keep their customers engaged. Mobile apps are created in such a way that customers and users would always find themselves going back to use it more; and games are one of the ways to make this work.
Shopee Shake, a popular game is Asia
Shopee, a popular shopping app in SouthEast Asia—especially Taiwan, hosts games for a limited amount of time like Shopee Shake where customers can win Shopee Coins (an in-app currency) that can be used for purchases and discounts on their store. All players had to do was shake their phones as Shopee coins would fall which they can keep.
This lead to a popular trend in Asia where shoppers uploaded funny videos of themselves playing Shopee Shake. Moreso, bloggers and social media users started talking about tricks on how to win more Shopee Coins in-game. As a result, the company then rewarded social media users with the funniest and most creative Shoppe Shake video with more rewards, giving them more market and a loyal fanbase. Now that’s a great way to market using mobile apps.
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4. Business apps can be used to provide updates to employees
While the first three points refer to mobile apps for customers, some companies use apps for business purposes. Businesses (like yours) usually use emails for company-wide announcements. But for some that have a large amount of people to manage, a push notification to remind employees of their schedules and appointments is more helpful to reduce inefficiency. Some company business apps even allow their employees to sync it with their mobile calendars for better time management. Mobile apps are a great way to introduce utility features to your employees like having a dedicated inbox for business matters and have these messages go straight to a company cloud service for added security.
5. Mobile apps are also used to increase customer engagement
Research also states that 35% of customers return more frequently to stores due to the huge amount of engagement they experience with mobile apps. This includes not only online stores but also physical stores of businesses. Aside from convenience, customers prefer customer that have higher engagement and mobile apps have been doing that for many years. Engaging features often yield positive results like allowing customers to give feedback easily, experiencing company engagement proactively through comments and customer features and the like.
6. Customers buy more items after they are introduced with apps
The days of product catalogs are long gone and some customers hate having to search through Google’s wastebasket of results. Not surprisingly, business apps help your potential customers with that. Potential customers become purchasing customers if they get answers fast. And one reason why potential customers turn the other way is if they don’t get answers quick. Customers want to know the price, any quantitative measurement, and quality descriptions of your products immediately and mobile apps can provide just that. They give all this convenience to your customers, especially if your app comes along with shopping cart integration and shipping.
33% of customers that use apps buy more frequently, 34% buy more items, and 37% spend more compared to those who don’t. Now that’s a huge increase in sales.
7. Lastly, loyal customers often prefer companies with apps
Customers love apps
And what is the best way to make use of your company app? Mobile apps can create a large pool of loyal customers through loyalty programs. These loyalty programs can feature different things like membership and exclusive deals. Some give incentives for their prime users, while Some provide real-time updates for sales and product announcements through push notifications. Business apps have become a powerful channel for businesses to a point where some companies cannot run without them because loyal customers often come back to it. So that advertisement where an influencer was talking about an app isn’t so farfetched after all.
Companies with Apps Provide More
In conclusion, a mobile app for your business is a reasonable consideration. And in reality, mobile apps would always be part of a business’ future plans. Whether you’re looking to create an app for your business or for your customers, efficiency and revenue would surely skyrocket. Indeed, mobile apps are a great way to leverage the power of the digital. They hold the key to today’s most sought out asset: convenience. So, when you’re planning to create a mobile app, make sure to put convenience and usefulness first. It’s what most companies with apps have done successfully.
