5 Ways an App Can Bring Better Business in 2021

Today, you can do just about anything from your phone. You can pay the cashier, order new shoes, take a yoga class, or even call for lunch.

Having all you need from the phone in your pocket has made it imperative for small businesses to ride the trend and develop their own apps.

In the US, 32% of small businesses currently have a mobile app, and 41% say they will build one for their business to grow.

The motivation behind small businesses wanting to develop an app is to improve customer service and boost branding efforts, but there are a plethora of added benefits to having an app.

1. Allows for new marketing opportunities

Apps hold a lot of information in a unique and user-friendly way, making it easy to find general info, prices, sales and promotions, locations, and more.

A considerable benefit of having an app is push notifications. As email marketing has saturated all our inboxes, mobile app notifications –either in or out of the app– save the day, creating an instant interaction between you and your customer so you can quickly remind them of your services or products.

Many companies also design their apps with marketing tools. Starbucks offers a loyalty system through its app where customers can earn rewards for frequent purchasing.

The company launched its app more than ten years ago, and now 30% of their transactions come from mobile payments. The app also gives customers a quicker process to pick up their coffee by allowing them to pre-order and pay through the app, which will enable them to reduce transaction costs since there was no longer a need for third-party credit card companies.

2. Improves customer service

Apps allow for a more efficient process of a sale or service. A mobile app has a greater chance of performing much faster than a mobile website, leaving a smoother transition for the customer when they decide to shop or make a purchase.

Additionally, having a messaging feature within your app can keep customers engaged with your brand by answering their questions quickly outside business hours.

Take Resy for example, the app allows customers to reserve a table at a restaurant without having to call and speak to a hostess. The process is faster and can be done from any place at any time.

3. Grabs mobile user’s attention

Apps grab the attention of mobile users much more than mobile websites. Mobile users spend 86% of their time on mobile apps and only 14% on mobile websites.

4. Increases brand visibility

Users are checking their phones 96 times a day – that’s once every 10 minutes. With a brand’s logo and name displayed on the app icon on their phone, users will be reminded of the brand every time they see the icon, acting as free advertising.

5. Develops a more personal interaction

When users download an app they have the opportunity to put their preferences in. With the user's consent, businesses can also record and detect a customer's engagement when they are using an app and apply the data to their business model or offer recommendations to each customer based on their preferences. Businesses can also identify the location of each user to provide area-specific content.

Users are more likely to buy from a service that provides personalized content as opposed to generic content.

Businesses can even build their own app with BuildFire, a mobile app builder that doesn’t require any coding.