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App Development

Mobile application for business: what the customer needs to know

What will we talk 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 be vague advice from the series “How to make an application: three easy steps.” But there will be the experience we have accumulated over more than five years of work in the mobile development market, examples from practice and a guide to action.

How to know if your business needs a mobile app

We are developing mobile applications, but sometimes we have to dissuade customers from doing our service. For example, when we understand that the customer does not need it. The customer may not always be aware of this at the start of work. He confidently starts the project, pays for the work, and then at the development stage he realizes that the application does not solve his problems. Or a client releases an application, but soon abandons it: does not allocate money for promotion, the application is not downloaded, no one needs it.

We invest in the creation of each application, so we want it to be useful, live and develop, and help grow your business. When we are not sure that this will be the case, we talk about it directly. If the customer does not develop and improve the application, it ends up on the back of the stores, and this is not at all interesting. It is much better to do something that you can then be happy to show to colleagues in the shop or mom. A million installs is an ambitious goal for a good developer and a reasonable customer.

To understand if you need an app, ask yourself these questions.

1. Will the application help automate processes?

If you want to increase the productivity of your employees, improve the workflow in departments or increase profits, make a mobile application that automates business processes. Mobile is actively developing in this direction, allowing you to perform more and more complex and diverse tasks – from repetitive daily operations and document management to making complex decisions and working with personnel.

2. Is your site accessed from mobile devices?

Does Google Analytics show that the site is accessed from smartphones and tablets? Give users a more convenient tool for interacting with the brand than the mobile version. Users spend 20 times more time on a mobile app than on a mobile-friendly website. The longer a client is with you, the more opportunities you have to engage him, learn about his habits, and give him what he wants.

App conversion rates are more than 3x higher than mobile browsers.

Apps generate 47% of all mobile sales for retailers that have both a mobile site and an app.

3. Do you have repeat sales?

The application helps to keep those who are used to buying from you. Have you decided to launch a promotion for regular customers? Send them a push notification with a call to action. Are you planning a Christmas sale? Give users a promo code that will give them a discount on items in their cart. The more attractive the offer at the right moment, the higher the likelihood that a person will buy it.

In the application, the client is already yours. You just need to form a habit of buying here.

4. Will the application solve customer problems?

Think about customer pain points and how the application can solve them. For example, a wholesale warehouse customer needs to send data for a new shipment to the warehouse. To obtain this data, he must manually collect information from various sources and systematize it on a computer. Or you can use the application: the client scans the barcodes on the packages, the data is automatically summarized and sent to the warehouse employee.

5. Do you have a loyalty system?

If you offer customers a profitable loyalty system, the application will allow you to refuse plastic cards once and for all. You will not need to spend money on design and production, and customers will not need to carry plastic with them. Integrate a loyalty program into a mobile application and share useful promotions, discounts and bonuses electronically.

Unlike a plastic card, the application communicates with customers. It collects knowledge about each customer that you can use to personalize sales.

6. The application will allow you to do what the site cannot do now?

Ask yourself what new business opportunities the app will bring. For example, you are an interior designer. In the mobile version, it is not very convenient to view large photos from the portfolio, and you can’t use the latest mobile trends. But in the application, using augmented reality technology, customers will be able to figure out how the apartment will look like after renovation according to your design project. If you understand that the application opens up new points of contact with the audience and makes the user experience more successful, then you should consider developing the application.

7. Do competitors have applications?

It is important to understand what competitors are doing, whether they have mobile applications, what they can do and whether they are really so useful for the buyer. Look at the statistics in the App Store and Google Play. The number of downloads and reviews will tell you how customers are using competitors’ apps. If their services are so convenient and needed, then you will be left behind without making an application with the same or better functionality.

Short

If you answered yes to at least one of the questions, it’s time to go mobile. In the next article, we will tell you which business areas this is especially relevant for.

Book

This article series is based on a book we recently made for our clients. In this book, we have tried to answer the main questions that they have:

  • how to understand that my business needs a mobile application;
  • why companies make their mobile services;
  • how much does development cost and how to save on it;
  • how the work on the mobile application is built;
  • with whom it is better to work – with a freelancer or a studio;
  • what to do after the application is ready.
  • Do you have any questions? Disagree with us? Do you want to express your point of view or share your experience? Write in the comments. Let’s discuss!