Increasingly, the online market really means the mobile market. More than 60 percent of internet traffic is now from mobile devices, up from 30 percent in 2015. Depending on the type of website and the audience, it could be a lot higher. Smartphone penetration is now as high as 90 percent in some countries, and the average smartphone has 40 apps on it.
When you mix all those facts and statistics together as a small or medium sized business owner, you’re likely to come to one conclusion. We need an app and we need one now. That might be true, but before you start shovelling dollar bills into your app developer’s bank account, take a step back and ask yourself a few questions.
What will an app achieve?
Think again about those 40 apps on your phone. Which ones do you use all the time, and why are they so useful? Even more to the point, which ones did you install because you thought you would use them, but actually sit idle on your home screen?
An app is ideal when it contains personalized content that is specific to you. We use social media, banking and loyalty apps to scan for points in a coffee shop or supermarket all the time, for example.
Will your customers use an app?
This question immediately leads to another – who are your customers? If yours is a B2C business that mostly serves millennials and Generation Z, then the likelihood is that they would embrace an app, provided it serves a useful purpose.
Conversely, research has shown that older consumers are less likely to use an app, and even if they engage with a business via smartphone, they prefer to do so from a mobile browser. This brings us on to the next point.
What will the app achieve that a mobile website does not?
Mobile browsers are now practically the same as desktop ones, and the days of wap are long behind us. Some businesses decide that building and maintaining a native app is more trouble than it is worth, and will not add extra value to the customer. This even happens in some industries that are heavily reliant on mobile engagement.
For example, take a look at the online casinos listed at onlinecasinolist.com. The online casino space is massively competitive, and platforms are always looking for the slightest edge to put themselves ahead of the pack. More than 60 percent of their customers use their services on mobile. Yet the majority do not have a native app and are simply accessed through the browser. This is because lengthy research has found that creating a native app and ensuring customers receive the necessary updates and so on is simply not worth it. Also, it is worth noting that the majority of online casino players are aged 45 and above.
Take a pragmatic approach
The above is not intended to deter you from developing an app. For many businesses, it is the right thing to do to foster better customer engagement. However, before you start, take time to think through the above questions, just to reassure yourself that you will not be investing time, effort and capital into a solution that will be desperately looking for a problem to solve.
