Times have changed and more so over the past year and a half given the global scenario of the Pandemic. It’s an age when retail is thriving through the digital model with e-commerce sales expected to exceed #3.5 trillion by the end of 2021. Reports also reveal that over 72% of online sales are set to be through mobile and other handheld devices in 2021.
Having a business website alone is just not enough to cut through the hard layer of competition all around. If you really want to take your small or mid-sized business to higher heights, it’s time that you get a business mobile app to reach out to target consumer groups and also retain existing customers. Not having a mobile business app means losing out on potential business and growth opportunities.
Here’s all you need to know about why having a mobile app for your online business is the need of the hour!
1. Buyers prefer browsing apps to browsers:
Users are always looking for easy and fluid ways to look up items and related products. It is much easier to tap an app and look up different products than open a browser, type in the items and search different URLs and browse them. Having a mobile app lets users have a glimpse of the wide range of listed products with a single tap while scrolling down with a seamlessly viewing experience. With advanced features like comparing items and related categories all available on the same page, buyers are able to pick more easily. Integration of seamless checkout system on the app with secure payment gateway all makes the 2-step buying process a breeze, increasing customer satisfaction and thus sales.
2. Reduced response time:
Internet users are an impatient lot and you have to reach them out with your products within seconds. Mobile apps do connect to serves much like websites do but with a huge difference. Mobile apps have to transfer 10x less data between the server and itself compared to a browser. This naturally makes mobile app browsing faster and giving customers the gratification of viewing products of their interest instantly. A lot of online buying is more for the sake of instant indulgence and satisfaction, and to achieve it you need to reach out to your customers fast- and what better way than having an online business app!
3. Better UX/UI experience:
The way that you present your online store to your buyers is how you impact them to buy products from you. You may have an excellent websites that is also responsive but navigating a site is totally different from browsing apps. Mobile apps have a definite and more restricted layout that defines products more easily and readily making it easy to play in the hands of customers. Mobile layouts come without all those banners and buttons giving a crisper layout that ensure better customer experience. It is also easier to checkout bringing about a full-circle satisfying experience that ensures frequent return by customers generating more business.
4. Effective marketing tool:
Once you have your customers online, it is easier to connect with them through the business mobile app. It acts as a strong marketing tool where you can personalize marketing experience for target customers giving them relevant suggestions based on their browsing history and previous shopping trends. Also, employing push notifications lets your business communicate with customers telling them about attractive offers and discounts. It is a medium through which you can address them by name and carry out personalized marketing to attract them to browse more products. All of this comes to you with no extra cost of marketing that you would otherwise have to incur with a regular e-commerce website.
5. Effective branding tool:
You have the best opportunity to build your brand among existing customers and lure newer ones to your business with its mobile app. Having a business mobile app helps build credibility and reliability among customers wary on new online ventures they wouldn’t want to trust especially when buying pricy products. Apart from being the sign of reliability, you can use the mobile app to motivate your customers to browse more when they complete certain milestones by way of accruing reward points and the like. In the long run, your business becomes a brand that customers come to identify with bring in more business and revenue conversion.
6. Boosts customer loyalty:
A business mobile app offers customers the best combination of online shopping experiences. Once your customers know what to expect from your business app, they are likely to return to it more often. As apps are easier to access as they are reachable with a single tap opening up the entire collection that an online store has to offer. Even the best of responsive e-commerce websites are certainly a tad more difficult to access and handle compared to them. In fact, statistics show that customers accessing online stores via the business app are 130% to 140% more likely to place orders than those browsing business websites.
7. Higher conversions:
A prominent feature among online shoppers is cart abandonment. It is one thing to lead buyers to add items to the shopping cart and quite another to persuade them to checkout. This is truer when it comes to e-commerce websites and lower when potential customers and browsing apps. Browsing an app helps buyers get in to the feel of things as they view them, resulting in a more persuasive selling experience. Cart abandonment in apps is far less as there is less distraction to deal with leading to higher business conversions.
Concluding thoughts
It is very difficult to pin-point what really triggers online sales but one thing is for sure, business through apps is far higher than through websites. There are several combinations of factors that influence buyers’ psychology, build their credibility and finally make them checkout through mobile apps. Businesses having mobile apps are clocking in higher conversions and more revenues than those without an app. It only makes business sense to have a strong presence across platforms through a credible mobile app.
