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App Development

Mobile application for business: what the customer needs to know, part two

What are we talking about

What exactly is involved in creating an application? The most frequently asked question by our clients. They want to know how much money and time will be required from them, how the work is built, where to start and how to earn money as a result, not lose it.

This important question, which cannot be answered in a nutshell, inspired us to publish this series of articles. They will not contain vague advice from the series “how to make an application: three easy steps.” But there will be experience gained over more than five years of work in the mobile development market, examples from practice and a guide to action.

In the first material of the series, we talked about how to understand that your business needs an application. And now let’s talk about how applications make life easier for companies from different industries.

How businesses use mobile apps

With the help of mobile, companies seek to automate processes, simplify the work of employees and partners, attract new customers and increase the share of mobile sales.

According to Gartner, mobile services will have the biggest impact on business success in 2020. Thus, 90% of companies from different industries have already invested in the development of mobile applications.

By 2021, the share of mobile commerce in all e-commerce will grow to 72.9%.

Appinventiv predicts $3.5 trillion in global mobile sales revenue by 2021.

We are most often approached by clients from retail, e-commerce, education, medicine, construction, industry – our experience of working with such customers is especially indicative. That’s what they do mobile services for.

Retail

The application helps sellers of goods and services to retain customers and optimize the work of employees.

Loyalty system. Large chains, small workshops, restaurants and barbershops seek to study existing customers, engage and retain them, rather than chasing new ones. To do this, companies refuse plastic cards and transfer the loyalty system to smartphones.

84% of shoppers make impulsive purchases. With a convenient loyalty system in mobile, this figure is growing.

Usually. Sasha comes to the hardware store to buy some headphones. He sees a toaster – this is what his friend wanted. Today there is a -25% discount for loyalty card holders on this toaster. Sasha takes headphones, a toaster and goes to the cash register. When the cashier asks to see the card, the young man realizes that he forgot it at home. Sasha refuses the toaster and decides to buy it next time – when he takes a plastic card with him.

In mobile. The loyalty card is always at hand, in the smartphone application. It is impossible to forget it at home, but you can get a good discount on the right product. You just need to open the application and show the barcode to the cashier – the cost of the purchase will automatically decrease.

Debugging processes within the company

Mobile business process automation is a good opportunity to simplify daily and repetitive tasks.

Usually. A sales representative or manager who is involved in sales spends about 65% of his working time on data entry and other minor activities that do not directly affect profit.

In mobile. The mobile application automates routine operations. As soon as a person enters data into a mobile application, they are transferred to Google Docs or CRM. This saves the employee time, which he usually spent on several records on different platforms – and he can be more active in doing what brings the company money.

Large retailers usually have a staff of analysts who test applications, check user scenarios and new features, tell developers what and how to fix to make it even more convenient.

Smaller companies can’t afford it – it’s expensive. If you want to make a working and convenient application, be guided by the experience of market leaders. In this article, we analyzed the applications of well-known retailers.

E-commerce

Companies from this field often use mobile service to stand out from competitors and attract the attention of the user.

Usually. Katya wants to buy a desk. She takes a smartphone, writes a search query in a mobile browser and sees a lot of links with offers. The girl goes through them, looks through the goods, compares the offers of different sellers. This month you did not give contextual advertising, so you did not get into the first lines of the issue. Katya did not remember you, and bought a table from competitors.

In mobile. Last year, Katya bought a wardrobe and even then installed your mobile application. When she needed a table, she remembered you, clicked on the icon and found what suits her. In ten minutes, the girl placed an order, not even remembering that you can look for other options in a mobile browser.

By opening a mobile application, the client interacts only with you – you have no one to compete with for his attention and money.

Education

Those who work with students have to constantly use different sources of information, devices and gadgets. The app offers a seamless user experience and saves time on repetitive tasks.

Usually. The school teacher records attendance in a journal, transfers this data to an Excel spreadsheet on a computer after class, and at the end of each month prepares reports for each student and manually sends them by e-mail to parents.

In mobile. The teacher notes attendance in the mobile application. This data is automatically transferred to the school’s accounting system and added to the reports, which are sent to the parents of each student at the appointed time. Instead of a lot of actions, the teacher only needs to mark the attendance – everything else happens without his participation.

The medicine

Mobile makes clinics more modern and customer-oriented. A medical institution that has a mobile application offers patients a more convenient appointment.

Usually. Anton has a fever, he decided to make an appointment with a doctor. Finding the phone number of the clinic, Anton could not get through the first time. Toward evening, he succeeded, but the administrator said that the appointment with the doctor for tomorrow was already closed. The young man had to make an appointment for another day, but for now self-medicate.

In mobile. Taking a smartphone, Anton opened the clinic’s application and made an appointment online. The application displays the current schedule of doctors, you can see their profiles and competencies, choose the right specialist and convenient appointment time. And you don’t even need to talk on the phone.