The Essentials of a Small Business App

It’s the age of smartphone addiction. According to a recent emarketer report, a US adult will spend an average of 3 hours, 35 minutes per day on mobile devices in 2018, an annual increase of more than 11 minutes. A smart business owner is someone who puts this knowledge to use and builds upon it for advantage. Every competitive business owner today is trying to harness the benefits of mobile phone popularity to add to their ROI. Simple web presence of the business is no longer sufficient as more and more customers today are using the internet through mobile. Adapting your business to mobile phone begins with getting a mobile-friendly website but does not necessarily end there. Many small-scale businesses are getting a mobile app dedicated to their business to cater to their customer’s needs. Clearly, they are ahead in the business marketing game. Here are some distinct benefits that a small business can reap from getting a mobile app:

 

What Are the Benefits Of App Development for Small Businesses?

 

I. An App Ensures Enhanced Visibility for Small Businesses

Remember, out of sight is out of mind. Having your app on a customer’s phone brings to you in contact with him/ her more often, enhancing professional interaction opportunities. As a customer comes into constant contact with your mobile app icon as visible on a patron’s phone,  it provides a distinct opportunity to popularize the business through visual design.

 

II. An App Can Be Your Direct Marketing Channel
In the era of digital innovation, the need for constantly evolving oneself is normal. While most small businesses rely on traditional methods of marketing, its the need of the hour to adopt new methods of marketing to reach out to a potential customer.

 

 

Currently, mobile apps present a distinct advantage to business owners to market themselves to customers at the right time and place. With a mobile app, it is possible for the business owner to communicate with customers in real time. Technology like geolocation and beacon work further in enhancing the prospects for the success of your business. Business apps also allow customers to make appointments and shoot reminders their way to avoid time wastage.

 

III. An App Can Help A Small Business Enhance Its Customer Outreach

A small business having a mobile app of its own stands more chances of availing a new customershan the one having only a website. This is because of the distinct popularity of mobile usage. Syncing the app with popular social media channels further makes it popular among people and helps create a fad.

 

IV. An App Bridges The Gap with Customer Engagement

Developing an app for your small-scale enterprise can present vivid opportunities for customer engagement. It ensures repeat visits of the customer. As a business owner, you can add value to the customer experience on your app by allowing a wide variety of online transactions like loyalty cards, push promotions etc. Mobile apps also make it possible to respond to customers swiftly, which is well appreciated in today’s world. You can work to include a messaging/chat feature within your app as it is a prompt communication option that is desirable. A digital loyalty program can be of great value to a customer and can benefit them phenomenally. Instead of point collection through old-school cards, focus on digital onboarding of customers by making them download your app and then you have their attention to yourself till the time they keep the app on their smartphones.

 

 

V. An App Makes A Business Stand Out Amidst Competition & Boost Sales

Modern business owners no longer need to rely on traditional methods of sale, waiting for customers to enter the store physically to purchase the things or avail services they want. Getting an app helps a small business owner sell products and services online, and at a much faster pace than on a website.  Apps make it possible for business owners to indulge customers with coupons, offers and announcements to boost sales. Push Notifications further solve the vows of businesses by peddling useful information towards customer every now and then.

 

VI. An App Helps You Gain Access to Consumer 24*7 & Cultivate Loyalty
Innumerable roadside banners, adverts, billboards, flash signs, print ads, flyers, coupons, websites, website banners, Facebook ads, and email marketing mailers about various things are bombarded on to people every day. An advertisement dedicated to promoting your small business risks getting lost in the hullaballoo of marketing paraphilia that surrounds us all. A mobile app installed on a customer’s mobile works incessantly towards collecting valuable information about his likes and dislikes and provides insights that can be useful in the future. A mobile app presents a distinct opportunity for business owners to be readily available to its loyal customer base, in just a few clicks.

 

VII. An App Can Assist A Small Business in Building Brand Awareness

A mobile app can be a crucial building block in your brand awareness campaign. App features, design, look and logo are important but what counts the most is the utility that the app holds for a user. Making a useful app that has good aesthetics, gets the customer hooked to it. Thus, making them more intent on buying the product or service being sold by the business.  Mobile apps allow a more streamlined experience through decreased fragmentation.

 

VIII. An App Can Help A Business Improve by Asking for Feedback from Customers

Intense competition in the app world makes sit difficult to keep a customer hooked for very long. Only customised customer experience can do the trick of retaining a visitor. Seeking a customer’s valuable opinion and views can help a business owner improvise and offer far better products and services that suit the customer’s preferences. All the data collected from the app can help the business identify the most profitable areas of the business that holds a promise of the future. Such knowledge at hand can be further used to improve customer experience and identify new business opportunities. Mobile apps also help in taking the customer opinion poll, which aids in formulating business strategies thereafter.

 

IX. An App Can Help You Earn Additional Money

You can put to use a hoard of app monetization techniques like in-app advertising, to earn extra money once it has been fully developed.

 

 

X. An App Can Help A Small Business Be Omnipresent

Developing an app for your business lets you be omnipresent virtually and lets you connect with customers across geographical borders and time zones. Features like location tracking, introduce new ways of targeting customers to the mix. Most successful shopping apps on the market use location tracking to customise notifications for users and lure them into the store.

 

What Are The Essential Features That A Small Business App Should Include?

 

• Interactive App Design– There are little things that can make a small business app stand out amongst many others. Eye-catching app design which is uniquely recognisable is likely to contribute to brand image phenomenally. Even when two business competitors have an app, a distinct app and website design can make then stand out against the other.

 

• User-Friendly– Modern day the mobile user has been spoilt for choice already and is not patient enough to learn navigation of a hard to use the mobile app. A smart business strategy, in this case, is to develop a user-friendly app that’s easy to navigate and highlights the USP of the business. It’s prudent to ensure the app supports intuitive navigation. It’s easier to scroll on a smartphone than to click. Keeping such technicalities in mind ensures that app is mobile user-friendly

 

• Focus on User Experience- If you want your business app to be a hit among users, you need to offer them an unparalleled experience. Focus on the reason as to why are you developing an app for your business and then build the app around that reason, instead of just duplicating an aimless mobile browsing experience from elsewhere. The app must add value to users.

 

 

• Personalized Experience- Even a small degree of personalisation adds great value to the product or service for the user; this is true in the case of apps too. A degree of personalisation to your app design can make it outshine amongst its competitors and can contribute to making it a user favourite. Seasoned developers can add personalised features to your app on account of user demographics, browsing history, app usage behaviour and patterns and current location.

 

• Convenient Checkout- Only if you want to deter a customer from making the purchase, go for a tiresome checkout process. It is at the checkout page only that crucial information is asked from the customer. Having too many fields for the customer to fill in can discourage him and make him impatient. Ask for info that is of extreme importance for the process only and uses autofill wherever possible. A smart developer encourages the user to save their payment and shipping info through app design. 

 

Conclusion

Today’s web savvy world prefers to access the net through mobile due to the convenience of handling and portability. Furthermore, a recent emarketer report suggests that Apps account for over 90% of internet time on smartphones and 77% of internet time on tablets. A far-sighted business owner takes every step to evolve his/her business in accordance with the current trends. While having a functional website is rewarding for a small business, the latest researches suggest that a mobile app leverages benefits superior to what just a website harnesses.

 

Most small businesses shy away from getting an app developed for their business assuming the costs of app development for their business would far exceed any increase in sales. They also intend to avoid additional hassles like building different apps for different platforms like Android, iOS, Windows and Blackberry. Choosing between building a dynamic or static app can also be a mind-boggling decision for someone who has no knowledge of app development.

 

However, a few pragmatic app development companies like Promatics are working incessantly on simplifying the process of mobile app creation and testing. With their cost-effective solutions, even small business owners can afford to have a mobile app and add to their ROI.