Today, everyone uses their smartphones. A mobile app is a great way to stay in touch if businesses want to keep up with their customers. People use mobile apps for everything, from banking to shopping to entertainment.
With apps becoming cheaper and easier to produce, a lot of small businesses are reaping the rewards of having an app available for their customers. For a small to medium business, an app can help increase your visibility, build your brand, market directly to your customers, engage with your customers, and increase your revenue.
The following is a list of the top 5 benefits of building an app for your business.
1. Increased Visibility
When you have an app for your business that showcases what your organization offers, it is like having a digital billboard for your business. You can program different functions into your app such as games, direct chat, and news feed; you can engage with your customers. An app is also a great way to inform your customers about the new things going on with your brand.
You can customize your app for your specific niche and target customers who will want to use your business. It also provides an easy way for your customers to scroll through the products and services you offer in just a few minutes.
When it comes to the time it takes to develop an app for your business, you will want to find a qualified professional to build one. You can find a top app developer in NYC among others to help you develop a custom app for your business.
2. Build Your Brand
An app for your business will help you build your brand by keeping your business at the forefront of your customers’ minds. The icon for an app is generally your business logo, and that logo will be in front of your customer’s eyes every time they unlock their phone.
An app is a great way to establish your brand by showcasing what your business stands for, what you are doing to meet your customer’s demands while interacting with your customers regularly. This makes customers more likely to become repeat customers and more likely to talk about your business with their friends and family. You can also build in a way for customers to share information about your business on their personal social media pages.
Word-of-mouth marketing done via digital channels can enhance brand awareness among those you target. If there is a provision for this in your app, it will surely be a big help.
3. Direct Marketing Channel
Marketing is one of the most crucial budget items for a lot of small businesses. Running advertisements on social media, radio, television, and other traditional avenues can be hit or miss. With an app for your specific industry, your ads will be targeting your customers without paying for ad space. Since you are targeting your particular customers, the rate of return is much higher.
You can also customize marketing campaigns to specific groups of customers, depending on the information you collect through your app. For instance, if you have an app where customers can scan their receipts and track every purchase in your coffee shop, you can target those who don’t usually purchase baked goods with a baked goods coupon. Or, target customers who only order small drinks with incentives to buy larger drinks.
These are all possible with an app that is strategically designed to work well with your marketing initiatives.
4. Engage With Customers
Customer loyalty is one of the biggest factors in successful businesses. Building an app for your business can provide an easy way to build customer loyalty through rewards programs. Think of the punch cards from the past: “Buy 10 car washes, get 1 FREE.” Now, you can have the same system built into your app. Customers can earn points for visits or purchases then use those points towards discounts, free items, or services.
You can also add features that make it easy for customers to share your branded content on social media for points or entries into contests. The app can easily keep track of the entries and points without any additional thought from you or your customers.
Now, aside from having an app that allows you to engage with your customers and inspire loyalty among them, there is no better way to do it than also having the capability through your app to manage customer concerns in one place.
5. Reduce Costs and Increase Revenue
While apps are not free for a business to maintain, they are generally cheaper to use for marketing and customer interaction. When you have an app built specifically for your business, you do not have to pay a third party for the ad space on their app. It can also help reduce costs through online ordering.
By allowing customers to place their orders through an app, you can reduce labor costs while increasing efficiency. The app can also help increase revenue because customers who have your app on their phones are more likely to make purchases and more likely to browse what you have while they are ordering and place larger orders.
Mobile App for Your Business is the Key to Success
There are several routes you can take to start your business and to boost it once you are open. A mobile app is a great way to take advantage of today’s technology to target specific customers.
With over 2.7 billion smartphone users around the world, there is no surprise that this particular industry of mobile apps is thriving. There is a huge chance that your customers are mostly mobile, especially if you have long offered your products or services online and they already have transacted with you via your website on several occasions. You can leverage the use of a mobile app to your business’s advantage.
There are many advantages to having a mobile app, and your business will reap the benefits of the technology your customers use every day. If you still don’t have an app yet for your business, go find a reliable developer now.