According to recent report from Compuware, mobile
applications are preferred by smartphone users over mobile web sites by 85%.
Reasons cited were that apps are more convenient, faster, and easier to
navigate than mobile websites. With
over 61% percent of people in the US now owning smartphones, it is
important that businesses now realize that the need to "dip their
toes" into mobile applications is now.
Medical, Shopping,
Banking, and More Now Mobile
No longer are customers sitting down at home in front of
their desktop computer to get their shopping, news updates, or banking done.
Now users are embracing apps that allow them to schedule an appointment, streamline
their banking, notify them of current and breaking news, and texts them when a
deposit has been made into their accounts. Having a mobile app for customers
not only allows them a quick, easy, and effective way to keep in touch with a
business, but also allows the business to collect data on who and how their app
is being used, very similar to how Google Analytics for a website. With the
ability to track analytics from a mobile app, businesses can now learn about
their "mobile customer".
Convenience Factor of
Mobile Apps vs. Mobile Websites
When asked about the benefits of using a mobile app vs. a mobile
website, the biggest factors cited were:
-
Convenience
(55%),
-
How fast they are (48%),
-
Easier to browse (45%)
-
Better user experience (28%)
Knowing
these convenience factors and implementing them into a business could offer up
essentially an endless possibility of benefits for the business owner. Faster
customer service, better customer relationships and increased opportunity for
market share through referrals are just a few of the examples that a mobile app
could help a business.
Enhance the Customer
Experience
While a mobile app will help to instill a better customer
and user experience, it is important that it is updated frequently, much like a
blog, with fresh and relevant content and information that will keep the
customer coming back to the app. Push notifications when personalized content,
special offers, perks based on interests are all great ways to ensure that this
will happen. Ways to improve downloads of your app include social sharing and referral
and review options available within the app. Mobile apps, just like desktop
websites are the image and identity of your company to both new and old users.
Failure to implement a successful brand image on either could result in loss of
clients, visitors and profit. So how do businesses ensure that a mobile app
will portray them in the best of light? Stephen Pierzchala, Technology
Strategist at Compuware said it best:
"With consumers expecting greater experiences with
mobile apps now more than ever, fulfilling those expectations doesn't just
happen -- it takes a conscious effort throughout every stage of the design and
development process to get it right. Performance is a crucial contributor to
providing a dependable mobile app user experience, so performance should be
considered a key driver in the design process. Mobile applications need to
focus on a core utility, and they need to be fast and reliable in order to be
valuable."
If you would like an in-depth look at the report, you can
download it here.
