If you’re unsure if your small business needs a mobile app, the answer is quite simple: it does. Notice that several businesses, whether they offer products, services, or both, now use mobile apps. These businesses include banks, restaurants, delivery services, and many more.
In the U.S., there are 167.77 million mobile buyers. And in 2019, a survey found that 57% of consumers prefer shopping from mobile apps. Based on these numbers, having a mobile app is crucial for your small business to grow. But if you’re still not convinced, let’s take a closer look at the benefits of having a mobile app:
Better Communication Between Your Brand and Customers
A mobile application is a great way to communicate with your customers seamlessly. Through the app, your customers can get updates about your latest products, promos, and services.
The app can also become a platform for them to reach out to you. A live chat option within the app will be very useful for your customers. This feature will demonstrate that you value your customers enough to be easily accessible to them.
If a live chat option is not feasible, you can include other ways for a customer to reach you. For example, one law firm made an app with information about their services, and a single click will enable a user to reach out to their attorneys. If a client needs to talk to an estate planning lawyer or a collections attorney, the client only needs to press one button to talk to a professional.
You can also add a feedback feature where your customers can rate your products and services. This way, you’ll be able to identify things you need to maintain and improve to keep your customers and attract new ones as well.
Stronger Customer Loyalty
Having a mobile app will help you nurture your customers and encourage them to stay loyal to your small business. For instance, you can offer discounts if customers buy a product or hire a service using your app. One common practice of fashion brands is to give a discount voucher after a customer makes their first app purchase; the voucher can be used in their next purchase. This gives customers an incentive to keep the app on their phones and encourages them to make another purchase.
Increase in Sales
One of the most amazing benefits of having a mobile app is to increase your sales. If your customers have your app, they will be more inclined to purchase due to the convenience. They can stay logged in on the app all the time, so they simply need to open your app, click a few buttons, and then check out. This is much simpler than having to buy through your website, which will involve more steps.
You can also take advantage of push notifications and send your customers updates about your products. In marketing, there is such a thing called the Rule of 7. It posits that a potential customer needs to see or hear an ad at least seven times before they decide to buy. Given this rule, if you use push notifications and proper targeting in your social media strategy, you can convince new customers to buy something from you and encourage return customers as well.
Better Understanding of Customer Behavior
A mobile app is also a great way for you to understand your customers’ behavior so that you can revise and improve your marketing strategies. For instance, you can enable a navigation path in your app so that you can track where your customers go when they first open an app. You can also start the path from a different page or link. For example, you can check where your customers go if they don’t complete a payment or after they pay.
This strategy will help you see which products in your app are popular with users. You will also understand why they might not continue with their purchase or even stop using the app.
Extra Edge Against Your Competitors
Your mobile app can be the one thing that separates you from your competitors. Mobile apps are not that common among small businesses due to cost. A mobile app is a huge investment, and small business owners may not have the resources for it from the get go. Thus, if you have one, you become one step ahead of your competitors in the market.
Investing in a mobile app for your small business will help you grow your small business in the years to come, especially with consumers migrating from the brick-and-mortar stores to the e-commerce space.
