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The COVID-19 pandemic shook the world and changed the way we interact and live our lives. Due to people’s solitary confinement as a support for the government’s effort to contain the virus, everyone shifted to the virtual world. Mobile app downloads manifested an increase of 23.3% (Chan, 2020), particularly in food delivery, fitness, social media, and communication niches. Businesses have truly embraced the convenience, mobility, and accessibility that the digital platform offers. These innovations were done so that each business could stay afloat and still be connected with their consumers despite social distancing posing a threat.
Relatively, according to He (2019) adults spend an average of 3 hours and 45 minutes glued to their smartphones or devices daily. They take advantage of social media platforms and digital audio but would prefer an app experience over the two. In other words, they would pick an app over a website because of the app’s convenience. Because of these, marketers have become largely dependent on mobile apps because of their potential to yield higher engagement and achieve business goals at greater scale and ease. However, Mathew (2015) revealed that the Apple app store receives an overwhelming 1,000 mobile app submissions per day. These numbers validate the competition in the app marketplace, so careful considerations must be made in your strategy and approach. But of course, before doing the big leap to developing your own mobile app, do your research first so that you have factual data that can help you make informed decisions, and then study the key benefits you can reap from developing your mobile app.
1. Mobile apps as a marketing tool.
In today’s modern world, entrepreneurs use mobile apps to veer away from channels that their competitors have not tapped yet. While others would focus on the traditional mediums like print media — apps, and their long list of advantages can be beneficial to you. Mobile apps are not just useful, but they are the new market’s preferred channel. The next time you think of divulging or announcing new products and discounts, do not forget about how mobile apps can help in informing your market and the set of algorithm data that come with every release as an added bonus.
2. Mobile apps as your own brand ambassador.
Think of the app store as a physical store and how to purchase, or shall we say download, decisions are made there and then. Mobile users explore the shelves of the app market and also make a decision whether or not a particular app is worth the download. In their exploration, just like any regular man would, they carefully and visually select so your brand logo, images, descriptions, and other necessary information are recognized. Careful crafting of such details can help you bring more downloads while intrinsic preparations for content are another thing vital to ensure your app does not land in their phone’s recycle bin.
3. Mobile apps facilitate accessibility and in gaining loyalty.
As handy as it can be, they can also link you directly to your customers. If your app has an avenue where users can connect to you easily, product inquiries, concerns, suggestions, and even complaints can be contained and are unscattered so you can attend to them conveniently. Apps isolate and compile these things so you do not find them elsewhere and you do not get surprised when a complaint is posted on social media or a blog. It can also be a venue for you to get to know your customers as you can gather their details so you can have a strong basis for future business decisions. To nurture your clients and gain their trust and loyalty, in-app purchases, ads, email marketing, and everything else that can elicit their response, attention, and interaction can be the bull’s eye to keeping your business with them.
Technology brought us transformative changes that can help us lead our businesses with confidence. If you are not considering developing a mobile app for your business yet, that is already a backward step at a time when everyone else is going forward.
