New ways of engaging

It's estimated that there will be 6.6 billion smartphone users by the end of 2022. This presents businesses with previously inconceivable possibilities for customer engagement, product promotions, and detailed analytics. There's no doubt mobile apps for business are a hot trend right now. But how much value do they really add? And should a mobile app really be the next step for your business?

• 24 August 2022

Does having an app increase business opportunities and revenue?

There isn't a simple answer to this question. Mobile apps can strengthen your brand, provide more value to your customers, and give you the edge over your competition. But they also require investment and maintenance, and the costs of these should be considered against the anticipated business benefits your app could yield. It really comes down to where your customers are and how frequently you want them to interact with your business. What are your customer demographics? If you primarily target 18 to 35-year-olds then a mobile app could be a wise and lucrative investment. However, if the majority of your customers are aged 45-65, research suggests that they are more likely to shop from a desktop than a mobile, in which case your investment would probably be better spent on your website than on an app.

Even if your customers' age range suggests your business would benefit from an app, there are other factors to consider. If you sell long-term purchase items, such as automobiles, your customers' engagement with your business doesn't need to be particularly frequent. It's also unlikely that a customer would purchase a car via an app, as most will want to see it and perhaps take it for a test drive before committing to a purchase. In this example an app would not really add much value, and will probably be deleted by the customer once a purchase has been made (or more likely will not be downloaded at all). In circumstances like these, focusing your attention on an optimised website might be more valuable. For investment in a business app to be worthwhile it should offer significant value to the customer that cannot be provided by your website or any other means.

Having said all this, the closure of high street stores has been hastened by the COVID-19 lockdowns, and more businesses are now online than ever before. Customers have adapted to the digital marketplace. While business apps might still seem like a "nice-to-have" for some companies, it may not be long before they are considered as essential as a website or a warehouse.

What should my business app do?

Setting and working towards goals for your business app is key to understanding and yielding the benefits it can bring. You might have just one or several goals you want your app to achieve. Either way, you should identify these and decide how you will measure progress towards these goals before development of your app begins. Not all companies will necessarily use their business apps to make money directly. Improvements to the services provided to customers will also be a consideration, and one that may promote loyalty and longevity rather than quick cash for the business.

Strengthen your brand

Exposing your customers to your brand multiple times per day used to rely on expensive television, radio, or billboard advertising campaigns. With a mobile business app, your customer is carrying your brand around with them wherever they go. The key to leveraging this potential is ensuring that all your brand elements are aligned and conveying coherent messaging about your business. Your logos, pantones, copy tone, and other branding elements should be consistent to help your business become increasingly recognisable every time your customer accesses their phone's unlock screen. Once a customer has downloaded your app, you can promote further engagement with push notifications to alert them to new offers, products, or services.

Improve your insights

Business apps give you a wealth of analytics to show you how your customers are interacting with your products or services. If your customer has location services turned on, you can also ascertain where they are geographically with accuracy that's currently impossible with website analytics. User journeys can be tracked to show when users are most engaged with the app, the navigation paths they follow, the products and services most frequently interact with, or any blockers that have led to abandoned journeys. This information helps you hone your offering and provide better value to your customers, increasing the likelihood of their loyalty to your brand. Speaking of which...

Increase customer loyalty

With all of the real-time insights you'll gain from a mobile business app, you'll be perfectly equipped to identify the products and services you customers are most interested in, and present them with offers that match their tastes. Customer trends and preferences can change quickly, but you will have all the business intelligence you need to act swiftly with recommendations for the products and services of the most recent interest to them. You can also create incentives that are exclusive to app users, such as cashback schemes, multi-purchase offers, or other promotions to encourage engagement with your app and business. With the right algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI), you can even automate all of these processes within your app, presenting offers and incentives to the right customers at the right time, depending on their browsing and purchasing behaviours. This gives you maximum customer engagement without costing you vast amounts of time.

Loyal customers are not only more likely to provide you with repeat business; they are also more likely to spread the word about good experiences they've had when they purchased from you. Make sure you give them every opportunity to do so by including social media buttons wherever it is appropriate in the user journeys.

Provide better customer service

The ways customers interact with businesses has evolved significantly in the past three years. Enquires or complaints are expected to be answered quickly, and customers are often not satisfied with having to pick up the phone or send an email: they want real-time interactions and answers, and mobile apps can be a significant benefit in providing these. Whether you want to include FAQs to help customers find answers to their queries, in-app messaging, call and call back functionality, or just options for your customers to leave feedback, providing these from your app can leave customers feeling that you have considered their needs and respected their time. How important is it to provide good customer service? Research suggests that 52% of consumers will make additional purchases from a business they have had a positive customer service experience with.

Internal apps

And we've only covered how business apps can improve your customers' experiences so far. What about internal apps? Would your staff scheduling or stock management processes be improved with an app? Could you facilitate better inter-departmental communications via an app? What about managing company events, or monitoring maintenance requirements? When considering investing in an app, many businesses immediately think of the external impact, but the scope for internal improvements that can lead to better staff satisfaction and retention, more efficient processes, and significant cost savings is often vastly underestimated.

How do I get my own app for my business?

That's the easy part! Whether you want to improve your reach and offering to customers, or think you could be promoting better cohesion and efficiency among your teams, give us a call on +44 (0) 8456 808 805 or drop us a message to discuss what a bespoke mobile app could do for your business today.

Mobile apps can strengthen your brand, provide more value to your customers, and give you the edge over your competition.