Does Your Small Business Really Need A Mobile App?

More than 42% of small businesses have a mobile app.

As small businesses everywhere are embracing technology to power most of their operations, there are very few sectors that wouldn’t require an app to be competitive in the near future. When people hear online shopping, they might assume shopping is being done on a desktop computer or laptop. This notion is incorrect, as more than half of online shopping traffic comes from mobile devices. Mobile devices dominates online shopping and is set to continue to grow. Small business owners may look at an app as an unnecessary expense, but a mobile app is an appreciating asset for a business due to its extensive benefits. Here are some of the key benefits mobile apps provide for small businesses:

Source: Google

Improve Customer Relations:

Small business customers barely engage with their relative small business because they are constricted by location and hours of operation
An app allows small businesses to personalize the customer experience and improve marketing efforts significantly
Apps allow customers to provide feedback. A mobile app can give small business owners insight like what products customers want, suggestions, complaints and more.

Expand Consumer Base:

Small businesses are often confined to their physical location, thus capping the potential amount of customers
An app allows small businesses to add e-commerce to their business; this expands the potential customer base exponentially to everyone who is able to receive shipping
Mobile apps can be integrated with any existing social media for small businesses. This allows small businesses to establish and expand their digital footprint

Untapped Marketing Opportunities:

Mobile apps provide detailed data about users which allows you to make informed marketing decisions for any given campaign
Personalization is taken to another level in marketing campaigns. Since mobile gives insight into demographic and geographic information, your customers can receive tailored marketing offers
Mobile has features that make it possible for your business to have a loyalty program. Mobile loyalty programs allow you to increase brand awareness, reduce attrition and improve the customer life cycle significantly.

Build Community:

Mobile allows you to create a sense of community due to its ability to create and integrate with social platforms
In-app features like photo-sharing, messaging and comments drive customer engagement significantly
When a business can build community, it can monetize in retention, repeated sales and engagement

If you’d like to learn more about mobile app development for your business, talk to one of our experts today!