We can confidently say that smartphone is the product of the 21st century. Everyone has at least one, and some people take four or five phones wherever they go. One of the most important differences between mobile phones that we used ten of fifteen years ago and today’s smartphone devices lie in their connectivity capabilities.
Smartphones can connect to the internet, and allow users to reach anyone, and retrieve any information, at any time. Since connectivity is a ‘two-way lane’ this concept also allows businesses to reach the users and engage them with personalized content. That is why the biggest corporate entities have already discovered the benefits of custom mobile app development, and this trend is quickly spreading among the small and medium-sized businesses.
If you still haven’t realized the benefits of the custom mobile app development, this article will help you to systematize them and use them for improving your business operation. Even the people who run location-based business and have a loyal customer base can drastically increase their profits by releasing an app that helps their customers to make and maintain a relationship with their brand.
Custom mobile app development makes your customers’ lives easier
Business is all about the value. Consumers are loyal to brands that provide great value for money, and we are not only talking about the quality of products and services but also about the ordering and the shipping process.
For example, getting a taxi in New York City was a very annoying experience before the Uber. You could call a cab or stop it on the street, but both of these ordering ways created long delays and bad consumer experiences.
Then the Uber showed up with simple ordering and payment process, that goes through their app and the reliable reference system that allows customers to rate drivers. They have set new standards in transportation service, and almost all bigger taxi and transportation companies today, have similar apps that provide more value to consumers.
So, if you want to create your own app, focus on the value it will provide to your customers.
They bring you more customers
For consumers, the thought that they can order their favorite product or service with two clicks on their smartphone makes their decision making much easier. We have already mentioned that custom mobile app development simplifies the ordering process. Since reciprocity is one of the most important characteristics of every successful business, this move will bring you more customers and improve your profits.
With a mobile app, you can take different paths for improving your company’s sales. We shouldn’t forget that almost every app allows you to send push notifications that instantly show up on users’ displays (if they allow it, of course). This way you can target users’ with new offers, promotions, and discounts and deliver promotional messages straight to their pocket.
Apps improve your brand awareness
The competitive market requires excellent branding. That is why companies need to constantly increase their brand awareness and try to outperform their rivals. Custom mobile app development allows consumers to contact you at any time, which makes your brand more reliable in their eyes and helps you to form a trust relationship.
Consumers who trust your brand will take your offers more seriously. They will consider every sales pitch and realize the benefits of your sales, discounts and special offers. The best example for this is the Domino’s Pizza app. They were the first fast-food chain that adopted the mobile app technology, which drastically improved their sales, and helped them to become the most popular fast food brand.
Custom mobile app development allows you to gamify the customer experience
One of the best ways to improve your brand awareness is by turning the ordering process into a game that brings nice rewards to contestants. Gamification is a very popular term in marketing, during the last couple of years. Most mobile apps offer game-like experience, which can be very amusing for consumers.
The Starbucks’s app is the best example of app gamification. They have implemented a loyalty program within their app. Users get points by interacting with the Starbucks and their products. The company gives out rewards only to the app subscribers and this way popularizes both their app and their brand.
Mobile apps collect user data
We live in the age of big data. Information about your customers’ behavior, interests and preferences can help you to build better sales and marketing strategies and improve your profits in the long run. You just need to structure the data your apps extract from the users’ phones and social media accounts and draw conclusions from it. This data can be used for improving your products and making them more appealing to your targeted audience.
They are the direct marketing channel that works 24/7
Average mobile users spend more than two hours per day, looking at their phone display. More than half of this time they are browsing through various mobile apps, from the weather, to social media and e-commerce ones. If you run a location-based business, you can target consumers and make sales only during the working hours. Apps work 24/7, and they allow consumers to buy their favorite product or service in the middle of the night when your competitors are sleeping. Apart from this, they are also a direct marketing channel. That means that you can reach your whole customer base with a few clicks at any time of the day.
These are just some of the benefits mobile apps can bring to entrepreneurs. If you want to explore other niche-specific advantages they offer, contact our mobile app development team, and we will provide you more information on how Virtual Spirit services can improve your business, speed up your company’s development and increase your sales.
