One of the most important economic trends of the past decade is the business world’s focus on developing custom mobile applications. Companies have slowly come to believe that smartphone apps are the best way to reach new consumers and increase loyalty from existing customers.
The data supports this strategy. Experts predict that mobile applications will generate an incredible $188.9 billion in annual revenue by 2020. However, this number doesn’t tell the full story either. It fails to account for increased customer loyalty, the importance of the data collected from these apps, and the boosted efficiency found as a result of better internal communication.
As a result of this movement, many of the world’s biggest companies are investing heavily in building in-house development teams. They’re also collaborating with outsourcing & quality assurance partners to find key experts as-needed and to ensure that their software is up to standard.
The Benefits of Building a Mobile App
Companies, both large and small, are turning to mobile app development and collaborating with software development and QA testing services in order to increase customer loyalty, boost online traffic, and grow the overall sales volume. In addition, mobile apps help businesses collect valuable information about their customers and improve internal processes through enterprise applications.
Boost Online Traffic & Sales Volume
One of the most important benefits associated with mobile applications is their ability to increase online traffic and the time customers spend with a given brand. By producing a high-quality mobile app that captures the customer’s attention, businesses can boost sales through the sheer time a customer spends browsing the brand’s offerings.
This focus on mobile app and mobile browser sales is a major reason why mobile e-commerce now makes up 40% of digital revenue–and will soon outperform desktop sales. Experts have also found that mobile applications increase online sales as well. When a customer accesses a company’s mobile app they not only make more e-commerce purchases–they also make more offline purchases.
Creating a successful mobile application also gives companies an advantage over competitors. Research has found that 46% of consumers are “less likely to shop around for other options when they’re using a company’s mobile app.”
Grow Customer Loyalty
Another way that mobile apps help businesses grow is by increasing customer loyalty. As seen, mobile applications can help increase the time customers spend with an individual brand–and can reduce the time they spend with competing brands.
This is incredibly important in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace since many companies now view these apps as “the new battleground for brand loyalty.”
One way that mobile apps increase customer loyalty is by offering personalized content based on the customer’s unique demographic data and interests, as well as their past browsing habits. By providing more accurate product recommendations, businesses can increase the time spent on the app and the overall customer loyalty.
In addition, mobile apps can use push notifications that alert customers to new deals, product offerings, and other shopping specials that encourage new purchases. This helps keep the company at the front of customers’ minds and the consumers engaged with the brand.
Collect Valuable Data for Business Analytics
Perhaps the most important benefit associated with mobile applications is the ability to collect vast amounts of useful data about customers, including their purchase history, spending habits, income, and other interests.
This data allows companies to offer a more personalized shopping experience for their customers. In addition, businesses can use that information to develop better products and marketing campaigns, as well as to predict how the market is likely to change in the future.
One of the leaders in mobile data collection is Amazon. The company’s mobile app is one of the most popular e-commerce apps in the Google Play and Apple app stores. They use the vast amount of data collected from the app to offer better product offerings, improve their logistics programs, and predict which products customers are likely to purchase.
Improve Internal Communication
While most of the news articles and conversation about mobile apps revolve around customer-facing options, many companies are collaborating with trusted development and QA companies to produce high-quality mobile applications for internal use.
Businesses are turning to mobile apps in order to save money, increase productivity, and improve communication between employees. Popular communication software like Slack is being used as an example for custom app development, allowing employees to quickly and easily communicate by text from anywhere in the world.
In addition, custom mobile apps make it easy to download files and respond to internal inquiries while on the road. Employees who use these apps enjoy being able to answer emails, make edits to files, and share valuable information from their smartphone.
Finally, sales and client relations teams are using mobile apps to improve the business development process. These forward-facing professionals are now able to use mobile customer relationship management platforms to access information about their contacts as they head into meetings–and to quickly access data that allows them to answer client questions and proactively address concerns.
Looking Forward
Mobile app development will continue to be a major focus for companies of all sizes over the next several years. Expect to see businesses large and small expand their in-house development teams and continue to collaborate with experienced QA testing services in order to produce high-quality apps that customers love.
Businesses will continue to invest heavily in mobile applications because they help companies increase sales volume, improve their online traffic, and cultivate customer loyalty. Finally, it’s estimated that more companies integrate data mining into their mobile apps and develop custom applications solely for internal use.
