Apps are a very big business. According to recent statistics, there are 1.8 million apps on iOS alone! Even amid all this competition, having an app for your small business can help you stand out and improve the customer experience!
App development for small businesses can seem like a very complicated topic but it doesn't need to be. In this guide, we're going to take a look at the key benefits of building an app for your business and why it's not as daunting a prospect as it may seem.
Are you ready to learn more and start planning your app? Then read on!
1. You Can Offer Customers More With An App
A business app for your customers can offer them features that other forms of marketing can't. For instance, you could run app-exclusive promotions or a loyalty program.
Customers can keep track of their purchases, orders, and any loyalty points all in one place. There's no need for them to check their emails or take a card out of their wallet: it's all there in the app.
The Starbucks app is a great example of what an app can do. They offer customers exclusive deals and a loyalty program from within the app, which gives your customers more of a reason to install it and, crucially, check it often.
If you can get your customers looking at the app often, you can work marketing magic on them and potentially boost your sales.
2. Your App Reinforces Your Company Branding
Branding is absolutely vital for businesses. How your business presents itself is something that customers take serious notice of, for instance, if you are a law firm, you don't want to promote yourself as a quirky and fun-loving enterprise. Similarly, if you are an events planning company, having a dull and reserved brand image is unlikely to work too well for you.
When you create an app, you get a whole new world of branding possibilities. The design, look, feel, and language used in your app will all help reinforce your company's image if done right.
Use your branding to support the rest of your marketing and advertising, as well as to forge stronger bonds with customers. If you don't have an app, you're limiting the reach of your branding efforts.
3. More Ways to Reach Out to Customers
When you build an app, you get many more ways to reach out to customers and increase your sales. The most significant boost that you get is the ability to send notifications out to your customers.
Let's say that you're running a promotion or have new stock in at your store. Notifications that appear on the user's smartphone or tablet will ensure that your store is front-and-center on your customer's device.
This means that the customer is more likely to see the notification and engage with it. It's advertising that your customers have a much greater chance of seeing, which in turn means that it's more likely to have an impact than other methods.
Unlike a website or email marketing, an app means that your business will always be with your customer and can always contact them.
4. A Business App Helps You Stand Out
How many small businesses do you know that have apps? The chances are, not many of them near you do. Digital adoption has historically been a problem for small businesses, with a huge 36 percent of small businesses still not having a website!
Apps and smart devices aren't going anywhere and getting yourself in on the ground floor is still possible. This gives you a tremendous advantage over your competition, as you'll have access to marketing techniques that they just don't.
Take advantage of the fact that small business apps are still quite rare and make yourself stand out from the competition!
5. Increased Reach
People spend an average of over three hours per day on their phones. How are you reaching these customers? Building a mobile website is absolutely vital but an app offers some significant advantages too.
If you have a well-designed app that has a lot of features, your customers will want to download it as it will improve their shopping experience. If you want to harness this kind of reach, having an app is essential.
6. Better Customer Service
How can your customers get in touch with you? Being open to communication with customers is very important: you need to at least offer an email and a contact phone number or customers may feel isolated.
An app gives you other ways for your customers to get in touch with you, too. Why not feature live support chat in your app, to give customers a means to get in touch with you fast while getting on with their day?
You should offer your customers as many different contact methods as possible and an app can help you out.
7. Easy to Offer Personalized Recommendations
Earlier we mentioned the fact that it's easy for customers to keep track of their purchases from within the app. They also give you the ability to track customer's purchases and offer them personalized recommendations based on their buying habits!
This means you can offer your customers special deals and certain products that they're more likely to buy which can result in increased profits and a better bottom line.
There Are Many Benefits of Building An App for Your Business
There are a ton of different benefits of building an app for your business. Most importantly, they can boost profits and give your customers a better experience.
We're experts at helping companies boost their marketing and would love to help you. For more information about our services, take a look around our site or get in contact with us!
