By now, it is widely accepted that mobile applications are the future of all business.
We understand that your web provider has more than likely added a mobile responsive feature to your web view as they absolutely should. At iMobile Solutions, we develop and maintain websites for our clients, as well as build custom mobile applications, and we always will build to mobile responsive specifications. In this day and age, it’s simply fundamental. However, we still hear people asking questions like, “Why do I need a mobile app if I already have a mobile website?” when all the best data from industry experts actually points to a necessity for both.
At this point, it’s not a matter of choosing which one is better, but a balance of knowing how to best use both to increase your business’ ROI.
As a business administrator, your first order of business is to attract new customers, and the second is getting them to come back for more.
Your website is responsible for the first part, your mobile app for the second.
A few important points regarding what a mobile application does that a mobile website does not:
- Conversion rates through an app outperform mobile web.
(http://www.criteo.com/media/5333/criteo-mobilecommercereport-h12016-us.pdf) - Brand Presence – Mobile app icons can work like innovative ad-banners.
- Ease of Sending Notifications – The ability to send instant, non-intrusive, instant notifications to users is so desired that it is one of the major reasons why many businesses want to have a mobile app in the first place.
- SEO Presence and Ranking – Having a presence in the Google Play and Apple App Store can increase a business’ Google search ranking. Google already takes in to account if your website is mobile friendly, it is also now beginning to take in to account whether or not your business is present in the App Stores. So being in the app stores will boost your visibility on search engines. Browsers looking for a business like yours in the App Stores will find your app using keywords that we include in your app description. Smartphone users are increasingly going to the App Store to find what they are looking for.
- Social Integration – Users that download your app can share it through social media, post reviews and comments as well as check-in through various social websites.
We know that if we want to succeed in business, we have to be where our customers are. Being on both the Internet (mobile site) and on the home screen of their mobile device (mobile app) is imperative, just at different times.
After a customer finds your business on the Internet and makes a purchase, there is usually nothing about a mobile site that gets your customers to stick around or come back for more.
This is where your mobile app comes into play.
Your app, unlike your website, goes home with your customers – it lives on their phone and so lives with them. Which is why you should do everything you can to get people to download your mobile app as soon as they come in contact with your business.
Mobile apps offer a variety of features to retain customers. Your app can offer your customers exclusive app benefits such as coupons, loyalty reward cards, and much more. This way, you’re giving them good reasons to download and use your app.
| Mobile Site | Mobile App | |
|---|---|---|
| Advantages | Obtaining new customers | Retaining customers |
| Customer Access | User opens a browser, uses a search engine or types a specific URL to enter a website. | User opens app with a simple tap on mobile device. |
| Customer Engagement | User visits site, performs an action and leaves. | App is always with your customer. Can be reached via push notifications and geo targeting. |
| Reason for Use | Answers their search for a service or product they need. | Instantly rewards them for their business. Gives them immediate access to the content they want. |
When people install your business’ app on their smartphone, the device they check the most, you’ve earned unfiltered access. To keep them coming back, you can now utilize all the features that are exclusive to mobile applications. After all, it can cost five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one!