There are 30 million small businesses in the United States. Every year, that number leaps upwards significantly.
In order to stand out among all that business clutter, it’s important that your organization understand the avenues it can take when it comes to marketing.
Things like buying digital ads, investing in web design, and other “internet-first” marketing methods are commonplace across most business niches. A strong marketing tactic that not many businesses utilize though is building a dedicated mobile app.
Mobile applications for businesses offer a lot of functionality to customers that they can’t get from their web browser. If you’re considering investing in the creation of a mobile app, consider the following to determine if building makes sense.
1. Check Your Priorities
Building a mobile app can be a great move given the fact that 95% of the US population have phones and most support “smartphone” applications. Just because it may make sense to build mobile applications from that numbers point of view though doesn’t mean that you should hop on the bandwagon just yet.
If you don’t already have a mobile-friendly website that offers robust features to your customers, experts say that’s where your focus should be.
Why?
Because most customers engage with companies via their websites before downloading applications. If your website doesn’t impress, consumers will likely forgo looking into you on app stores.
2. Analyze Your Competition
If your website is in good shape, the next thing to consider is if a mobile app even makes sense in your business niche.
Do your competitors use mobile apps? Will a mobile app really give your customers an experience that they can’t attain through your website?
Seeing how other people are servicing customers in your niche can give you a big clue as to whether or not mobile applications for businesses make sense in conjunction with the product/service you provide.
3. Build a Strong Value Proposition
Mobile applications represent a steep investment. Before taking the leap and building one out, you’ll want to make sure that you understand the kind of value one is going to bring to your bottom line.
Mobile applications work wonderfully when it comes to creating a more seamless checkout process. They’re also handy when it comes to syncing consumer data between applications like many Zapier alternatives are capable of doing.
If your business’ services relate with a phone’s native features (for example, taking photos) that’s another great reason why having a mobile application might make sense.
Having trouble coming up with reasons why a mobile application makes sense for you and/or your customers? Hold off on making the investment until your justifications become clear.
Are Mobile Applications for Businesses Worth Your Investment?
If all of the things we’ve mentioned above check out, yes! Mobile applications for businesses are absolutely worth looking into.
You’ll still want to weigh how much developers are quoting you for your application. Then, weigh that cost against prospective benefits. If that looks advantageous, you have our blessing to build!
How your customers perceive your brand is important. To get a better understanding of what your online reputation is like, check out our free tools on Reputation Results today!