The 21st century has ushered in a lot of incredible changes. Technology happens to be a highly significant one of the lot. Day after day, businesses are beginning to optimise their services with the latest tech trends. Indeed, we’ve come to an age where you can now do almost everything on your mobile phones. As a business owner, you may wonder how this affects commercial activities, and businesses in particular. Should businesses go for mobile applications?
If the modern mobile craze is anything to go by, it’s a clear indication that your business could be in trouble if it isn’t mobile-optimised. There are several ways to make your business mobile-friendly. You could choose to build ‘responsive’ websites or ‘progressive’ web apps or opt to join the accelerating mobile app trend. By and large, your business benefits in several ways from using mobile apps. Mobile applications can:
- strengthen your brand image,
- boost your website traffic,
- open new revenue channels,
- give you priceless customer insights,
- offer fast and seamless user experience,
- make your business location-independent,
- increase your customers’ engagement and drive them to action, amongst others.
On the flip side, deciding whether or not your business needs a mobile app could be daunting — it shouldn’t be.
How to Decide Whether or Not Your Business Needs a Mobile App
Regardless of the mobile craze, you shouldn’t be pressured to build your business a mobile app just to ‘follow the trend’. The following are essential pointers that could help you decide whether or not you need to get on the ‘mobile app train’.
What’s the need?
There has to be a specific need backing your intention to have your business go the mobile way. For example, if you need to explore new product dimensions with location tracking, a mobile app could be your best shot.
Do you intend to make your customers feel your business online presence the more? Would you like to keep in touch with their daily personal lives? Do you look to increase their engagement with your business on a frequent basis? Are you attempting to provide a better way for them to access your value proposition? All of these put together would help you define the need. It also keeps you in check so if you choose to get your business “mobile-apped”, you can tell if it isn’t fulfilling its essence in the long run.
What’s your target audience?
Just as you define your target audience when doing a business research, you’d have to do same when considering giving your business a mobile version. Is an app really the best way to reach your target audience?
Do your competitors have apps?
Gone are the days when only popular brands like Walmart, etc., are perceived to be the major players in the mobile app domain. Small and medium-sized businesses are now joining the mobile trend. A good way to know if your business needs a mobile app is to watch out for your competitors. Do they have apps? What drives their platforms? How’s the target audience interacting with these apps?
These questions would help decide the next step for your business and also hint on the best ways you could improve on your app features to get the best of your clientele.
Need easier features and upgrades?
Indeed, mobile apps have a way of enmeshing into the lives of their users. If your business is more of a ‘people-brand’, you could feel the need to connect better with your users. Here’s where a mobile app comes handy. Features like ‘push notification’, ‘gamification’, ‘loyalty rewards’; all embedded in a direct, easy-to-use interface, could be highly rewarding on mobile — both for the user and your business.
While mobile apps have a lot of benefits, it’s important to know where, when and how to adopt it in your business value chain. We know this at Charisol. That’s why our talented mobile app development team is willing to help you with insights to determine what mobile-optimisation method is best for your business.
We are a software development agency with a community of talented software developers that leverage on the “work without walls” culture to provide solutions for clients around the world. Our services span Software designing, App development, Digital marketing, Social Media Marketing, Content Writing & Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation. Follow us here on Medium or on social (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn).
Originally published at www.charisol.io.
