Does Your Business Need a Mobile App?

You may feel that your business needs a mobile app to continue growing and increasing sales. You come up with all these ideas and features you want to be implemented in the app. The next step would be hiring a developer to help make that app a reality, right? All you have to do after that is tell them what you want in the app, and then it’s complete! 

This all seems cool and nice, but in reality, it isn’t that easy to create an app, let alone a successful one that many people will use. 

There is a lot of work that goes into creating a user-friendly app, and it can cost you valuable time and resources to create it. That is why you first need to ask yourself this question, “Does your business need a mobile app?” Many businesses create mobile apps thinking they need one when they don’t need one. What benefits would your business get from having a mobile app?

What Markets Would a Mobile App Benefit Most?

There are many business markets out there that can create a mobile app. The question is finding out which of those businesses can benefit from having a mobile app. Mobile apps simply don’t work for everybody. They only work if a business has a need for them such as improving processes or creating new ones.

The following markets can benefit from having a mobile app.

Finance

According to one study, 63% of smartphone users use some kind of mobile finance app. These activities include the transfer of money, paying bills, getting financial quotes, and budgeting. One example of a successful finance app is Mint. Mint helps users balance their finances by acting as a helpful money manager. The ease of use helped it skyrocket in popularity and remains one of the top finance apps in use today.

Tourism

When it comes to tourism, mobile apps are probably the easiest and best way to book and plan trips. You had to rely on a travel agency before when it came to planning a vacation, but with the emergence of the smartphone, you can simply book a trip all through an app. Need help finding a place to stay for a trip? Try booking a place on Airbnb. Are you trying to book an affordable flight? Check out Priceline! You can book an entire family vacation using just a smartphone and your fingertips. 

Healthcare

Nowadays, you can access all of your health information on your smartphone. This is possible because many healthcare providers have dedicated apps that keep track of your health screenings as well as insurance information. This is useful for people who want to be on top of their health and don’t want to contact a doctor’s office to mail them a copy of their results. Some healthcare apps also give you the option to book appointments with the provider’s office. Healthcare markets are a prime target for developing a mobile app.

Music and Video Entertainment

The average smartphone user spends about 21% of their time listening to music or watching a video. What this means for music and video businesses is that there is a pretty high demand for media consumption. If your business is part of the media entertainment business, then you should look into developing a mobile app if you haven’t already done so. 

Restaurant

When it comes to restaurants, you can experience many new benefits with a mobile app such as a delivery service. Today, a lot of people like to order delivery to their home or have the ease of placing an order on an app and picking it up at their leisure. That is why it seems like most restaurants have a delivery or pickup option for their customers as there is a demand for those options. 

Fitness

Many people today like to be able to have a workout on the go. People need to travel, whether it be for work or leisure, it doesn’t matter. Taking a home gym with them is just not an option. That is why there are many popular fitness apps out there, like the Nike app. The Nike app recommends different workouts to each individual depending on their needs. Have no equipment? Then do a bodyweight workout! Only got a yoga mat to workout with? Then do some mat work! With fitness apps, there are no more excuses to not get into a workout routine. 

All of the aforementioned markets are prime targets for developing a mobile app. They can benefit greatly from having them and can get them a step above their competitors. What are some reasons for your business to develop a mobile app?  

Reasons to Develop a Mobile App 

Now that you know of the benefits that having a mobile app can provide for your business, depending on the market of course, what are some reasons you should consider developing an app? Here are some reasons why you should consider developing a mobile app. 

Increase Sales (Obviously)

With a mobile app, there is a new channel available to your business from which you can start increasing your profit! To encourage users to hopefully make a conversion on your mobile app, you can include various discounts and sale promotions to entice them. These discounts and promotions will be only exclusive to the people who have the mobile app. This can lead to more people potentially using your app! 

Optimizing Processes

Let’s say you run a small restaurant business that provides a delivery service and you already have nailed down your own delivery process. You’ve nailed it down to a T, but you still feel like the process is still a bit slower than you’d like it to be. Then you come up with an idea for a mobile app that helps automate the delivery process. With the app, your customers appreciate the ease with which they can order delivery, and you are more organized in receiving and delivering orders. Mobile apps can optimize your current processes, and even future processes as well. 

Gather Analytics

With a mobile app, you have the ability to analyze various analytics about your business. Inside this app, you can see how many people have used your app, what parts of the app they frequent, what they are buying, and other analytics depending on what type of business you’re in. This can provide your business with invaluable feedback that it otherwise would not have gotten if you hadn’t developed a mobile app.

Establish and Build Audience Relationships

With an app, you can potentially reach out to new people that you normally would not be able to reach. For example, say your business is primarily in retail fashion. You have your physical store that people frequently visit, and your sales are pretty good. You think that your store can sell more if more people were able to order from it, so then you come up with the idea of an app. This app will help people who can’t reach your store, make an order from it and have it shipped to them. Not only are you able to reach more people, but current and new customers will be very appreciative of this new feature that your store provides. From there you can keep building these relationships and continue working on them.  

Create Loyalty Programs

One of the best aspects of a mobile app is the ability to nurture some brand loyalty with loyalty programs. Some good examples are Chick-fil-A’s loyalty rewards program. It works by rewarding people who constantly use the app with points. With enough earned points, you earn free menu items such as a chicken sandwich and Cobb salad. These potential rewards encourage people to keep using the app for more points. This helps nurture brand loyalty and can attract more users. 

Tips to Building Your First Mobile App

So, now that you have heard everything about the benefits and reasons why you should build an app, you might be thinking to yourself, “I think we should develop a mobile app!” If you plan on doing so, here are some tips for you to help develop your mobile app.

• Identify why you need an app and what it would address.
• Look at other apps that are within your market to see what people like and don’t like about them. 
• Set realistic goals for your mobile app’s development.
• Layout the features of the app as well as ensuring it is scalable with growth.
• Develop the prototype and get feedback from your users to improve it.
• Once you’ve gotten the feedback, work on your app some more until you reach an optimal finished product. 
• Once you’ve finished your app, be sure to consistently monitor its performance as well as other analytics you deem important. 

The most important thing to keep in mind is that developing a mobile app for your business isn’t going to be easy. It might work out, but many apps end up failing just because of the vast amount of them that are out there. Make sure to keep your goals realistic for your mobile app and that it can be of good value to people who use it. If they do, then chances are your app might be quite successful in the long term. 

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