7 Reasons Businesses Need Mobile Apps

1. Customer loyalty

Businesses that operate in highly competitive vertical markets need to go the extra mile to retain their customers. Mobile apps can give them an edge as it can increase their recurring business opportunities and improve referral rates. They can also increase adoption rates for new products and services.

Mobile apps provide convenient one-way and two-way communication between SMBs and their customers. Practical communication leads to ongoing engagement, which helps companies monitor customer behaviors over time and adjust their strategies based on those behaviors. In this sense, mobile applications can improve customer satisfaction at a lower cost.

When a business has a loyal customer base, it can more easily plan for short-term and long-term growth. Improved forecasting allows businesses to refine their offerings and create the products and services their bases want. Businesses can retain customers through loyalty card programs, which customers can acquire and track on the app. Loyalty programs can help SMEs attract repeat customers.

2. Marketing programs

Marketing efforts help businesses inform new and existing customers about new products and services. Mobile apps enhance marketing and promotion activities as they require potential customers to actively seek out and install the app. In other words, apps attract valuable leads into a company’s marketing reach. Marketing teams can then monitor app usage and use promotional strategies to target specific users based on their actions in the app.

Mobile apps also help SMBs launch marketing campaigns and quickly switch between multiple campaigns. Advertising on an app requires less capital than traditional methods, such as paid advertising on radio, television and print media, which can benefit SMBs with small budgets. Marketers can also use app promotions to target specific groups, which creates rapid demand and market momentum.

3. Convenient online shopping

In the digital world, customers demand flexibility when selecting and ordering products and services. Organizations can design mobile apps to inform and make in-app purchases.

Companies started letting customers place orders on mobile apps in the early 2010s. Prior to that time, customers were hesitant to place orders for products — especially the more expensive ones — on apps. However, as users became familiar with shopping on their smartphones, many of them started to prefer this channel. In fact, product orders via mobile devices increased by more than 20% between the third quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of 2021, according to a report by Statista.

4. Enables an omnichannel approach

Businesses can use an omnichannel selling approach to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience across all devices. Omnichannel access allows customers to make purchases from anywhere. SMBs can enhance their omnichannel experiences with a mobile app as it allows customers to shop and shop from their smartphones.

5. Customer relationship follow-up

Many companies struggle to understand the mindset of their customers. Companies have long relied on customer surveys to monitor customer relationships, but with the proliferation of mobile devices, they can also glean insights from apps. For example, SMBs can monitor how often customers use the app, determine which promotions might interest them, and review solicited and unsolicited feedback. This information can help build and maintain positive relationships with customers.

6. Brand awareness

Mobile apps that use push notifications can help keep customers and customers engaged over time. SMBs can reach all users or subsets of users with notifications about product news and promotions through apps. They can also perform granular targeting with information such as location and past engagement history.

With the right settings and configurations, app notifications can help businesses keep their brand or products top of mind with customers. Strong brand awareness can help businesses drive digital traffic, outperform competitors, and increase revenue.

7. Data Mining

Mobile apps offer fantastic data mining opportunities. SMBs can analyze collected data to identify customer patterns and responses to marketing tactics. Additionally, businesses may combine data from the mobile app with data from other sources, such as social media platforms and direct customer interactions. Companies can merge and analyze this information to better understand customer interests and buying trends.