It’s the buzz about town. Everything is going mobile.
These are some of the things you are hearing, and now you are starting to ask yourself, “does my business need a mobile application?” I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet, but chances are you can benefit from having a mobile app. Here are three quick reasons why you might consider building an app.
1. Visibility
Mobile apps allow you and your business to be seen. It’s a new form of branding and you can be creative with your app to leave an impression on your customers. You can create an image with a mobile app.
2. Features
Mobile apps allow you to integrate more features, such as pictures and location services. Without an app, people will have to open a different app, take the picture, return to your website and browse to upload the picture. Help your customers get to your store by finding their current location and performing a radial search to find the nearest location.
3. Engage your customer
What happens, however, when a person perusing the web saw your site, liked it, and forgot about it? Retaining customers is so hard these days with the plethora of choices out there. Having them download an app keeps them linked to you. Your app can send a notification once a week or once a month to remind the customer about your app. You even can offer them special discounts.
4. Allow your customer to engage you
Finally, apps allow you to provide mechanisms for quick feedback. Offer customer support or ratings through your app. Allow your customers to contact you directly, and show that you truly care about their input and concerns.
I challenge you to go through this list, and see if you can come up with creative ways to brand your app. Make your customers remember you, show them that you care. Hopefully, you are no longer asking “should I build an app?” but rather, “how do I get started building an app?” If you need any assistance walking through these four steps and seeing how you can benefit from an app, please use the contact form at the bottom of this post for a free initial consultation with Bit9Labs.