Technology has brought a drastic change in every field. Even for the corporate world, it's imperiative businesses quickly acclimate to the latest development based on advanced technologies. And mobile applications are noticeably taking over the market like a storm.
Every business focuses on three basic concepts; boosting sales, building a reliable customer base, and improving the efficiency levels of the company. Mobile apps have helped in achieving these goals to a great extent. According to a survey, there's an average of 2.7 billion smartphones in the world.
Are you running a business, and still don't have a mobile app? If not, you could be missing opportunities for business. The mobile platform is an excellent opportunity for businesses to reach their customers. The increasing popularity of mobile phones has made it easy to reach customers in various ways.
Here are the 8 best ways mobile apps are helping small businesses grow.
Increases customer engagement
No matter what products and services you deal with, having a mobile app can help strengthen your customer engagement strategy. The customers look for quick and instant access to the brands they love. They appreciate it if they don't need to to travel to stores and can access what they needed on their smartphones. Also, syncing mobile apps with social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media grounds could add some extra mileage to the marketing of your business.
Boosts the visibility of your brand
According to a survey, adults in America spend approximately 2 hours and 51 minutes on smartphones every day. This is the time when the companies get an opportunity to get noticed by the customers.
With the help of impressive text, app icons, images and short videos, companies can grab the attention of the users.
Builds brand awareness
This might surprise you, but mobile apps are helpful in building brand recognition for small businesses. Mobile apps work similarly to billboard signs for small brands. Apps give businesses a conventional, stylish, informative, and functional look into customer behavior. A beautifully designed app which has attractive features is absolutely going to add to the target segment. With the help of effective frequency, small businesses can benefit by building a strong brand for the customers.
Direct channel for marketing
Many functions are carried out with mobile apps. They provide user accounts, general information, messengers, booking forms, a news feed, prices, search futures, and various other functions in the palm of your hand. This makes it easy for brands to provide customers with every detail needed to prompt the customers through the app. Again, mobile apps can help in the promotion of various offers, sales, and other promotive offers with the help of flash messages.
Additionally, functions like push notifications can bring you closer to the audience through direct interaction. Hence, with the help of mobile apps, brands can remind the customers about the services, products, and other promotional offers when required.
Generates additional income
Mobile applications come with standardized features and fulfilment capability. These features provide an additional channel to earn revenue outside of earnings from the website and brick-and-mortar stores. With the help of functions like calls to action for goods and services, you can engage your customers in a few easy clicks. Small businesses can also earn additional revenue by charging app users for no-ad options and with in-app modes or upgrade the phone, etc.
Adds value to business
The most significant advantage small businesses could gain through developing a mobile app is adding value to the business. Apps have proven to be a powerful platform which allow customers to interact with the business. Mobile apps provide customers with loyalty systems and referral programs which help in the promotion of the app and the business as well.
Along with adding value to the business, mobile apps integrate the latest technologies and convenience for the users. By upgrading mobile apps, users can be made aware new promotional offers which push customers toward engaging with businesses. Hence, mobile apps add value to the business, which boosts the development of the small businesses.
Boosts operational efficiency
Operational efficiency is one of the principal elements of small businesses. When mobile apps are introduced to small businesses, it's going to boost the operational efficiency levels. Operational costs may ruin the entire budget of the business anytime.
With the help of mobile apps and following the right mobile app development process steps, companies can reduce associated operational costs. Mobile apps can fill the massive gaps between the business and the channel and provide a smooth effective channel of communication, which adds to the operational efficiency of the small businesses. So, for small businesses looking for boosting their operational efficiencies, mobile apps prove to be lifesavers.
Building on-demand marketplace
Apps like Lyft, Postmates, Grubhub, and Uber are quite trendy these days. Such on-demand apps have grabbed the interests of the customers. It is not necessary for the companies to launch on-demand marketplaces in the form of a unique new line. And this makes it suitable for small businesses.
For businesses, having a well-established online presence and creating an on-demand marketplace for expanding the business is easy and straightforward. This helps in the expansion of the business merely with the help of the mobile apps owned by the company itself.
After understanding all these basic benefits of mobile apps, it's clear apps can provide long-term benefits. It proves to be a standard element for small businesses and expands their chances of meeting their goals in the future. Unfortunately, there are still some small businesses which haven’t yet recognized the potential benefits of using mobile apps. So, what are you waiting for? Gear up and allow your business to walk along with trends to the path of success.
Nirav Shastri is a Sr. Digital Marketing Strategist at Space-O Canada, the enterprise application development company. He has 7+ years of experience in the Information Technology industry that inspires him to share his knowledge through articles. Nirav also works with a team of experienced creative digital strategists to generate unique and data-driven campaigns. He spends his time reading about new technology and trends.