Why Your Business Should Consider Developing an App

By Guest Author, Zoe Price:

Smartphone apps are everywhere these days. Well, no, they aren’t everywhere; they’re on your phone. But you can’t help but notice that there are QR codes everywhere. Even if you’ve never used a QR code in your life (who has?), you’re probably aware that most of those QR codes link to an app.

Businesses of all sizes and across all industries are embracing smartphone apps as a means of improving their fortunes and enhancing the experience customers have when using the business. These businesses are discovering that an app is an incredibly versatile and underappreciated tool. There is no limit to what you can achieve by developing an app for your business; it all depends on how well you utilize the concept.

Below are some of the most compelling reasons to start thinking about having a mobile app developed for your business. Even if you haven’t considered developing an app before and you can’t see any way in which an app might benefit you, we strongly recommend that you read the article and consider what it says. You never know when inspiration might strike.

Offer Better Value to Customers

With a dedicated app, you can offer your customers a much more refined experience. Increasing the level of engagement with the customer creates a much more inviting atmosphere for your business. It’s the little things you can do with an app that makes the most significant difference here.

For example, many businesses allow their customers to place orders for products and services through a proprietary app. Doing this doesn’t just make things easier for your customers; it will give you lots of useful information about each customer’s buying habits. You can use this information to present them with personalized offerings and product recommendations.

Professional Build

One of the main reasons that lots of businesses aren’t developing their own app is because they don’t have the necessary skills among their staff. Hiring a third-party developer to build your app for you has many advantages. Most significantly, if you choose a developer like Appetiser, who has previous experience in building apps for businesses, they will be able to offer useful insight into how to best approach the whole endeavor.

A professional developer will minimize your costs. It might seem expensive when you are looking at the costs of hiring a developer, but a developer who knows what they’re doing will be able to work quickly and efficiently. If you are trying to build your first app, you need to be ready to spend some time troubleshooting it and working out all the kinks; this will take time and money.

Improve Brand Visibility

Brands are all around us in the modern world. Everywhere we turn, we seem to be confronted with a kaleidoscope of logos, fonts, and icons. It has never been more difficult for a new brand to make their mark on the marketplace, as there is just so much noise that they need to cut through. An app is a good way of differentiating yourself from your competitors who are yet to embrace the potential of their smartphone app.

Within the app itself, look for subtle ways of keeping your business logo and branding prominent without being intrusive. A splash screen when the app starts up to display your brand logo is one common and effective method. You could also use your brand logo as a graphic within the app, perhaps as the menu button. There is an endless list of possibilities here, and you are the best judge of how and where to display your logo.

Enhance Customer Loyalty

As long as your customers are regularly thinking about your business and remember that it exists, as they will with your business logo among their phone apps, they will keep coming back to you. Of course, you have to also offer your customers good products and services. Otherwise, there would be no sense in them shopping with you. However, an app enables you to take your loyalty programs to the next level, offering your customers better value while you also reap the rewards of increased business.

Loyalty schemes are used by many businesses today as a way of encouraging customers to keep coming back. There are several forms that a loyalty scheme can take; the best formulation will depend on the specifics of your business. If you are selling products to customers, your loyalty scheme might reward them by awarding them points for the money they spend. Alternatively, if you sell services rather than products, your loyalty scheme might take the form of straight discounts on your offerings.

These are just some of the reasons that businesses of all types should consider developing their own mobile app. You can use an app to greatly improve your customer’s sense of loyalty to your business while also ramping up your sales.

By Guest Author, Zoe Price

Guest Contributor