Virtually all business owners by now know that if you’re not online, you’re not gonna last. The ones that failed to recognize this – well, the majority of them are likely no longer running a business. The world exists online – what with social media, online shopping, banking, ordering food. There really isn’t much of our lives that can’t be done more quickly and conveniently through the web.
To return to the first point – businesses needing an online presence and all – simply having a website and the chance for consumers to communicate with you directly was enough for a while. But as our lives continue to be shaped by convenience, much of our browsing – you guessed it – is done through our mobile phones. So, in 2021, the latest do-or-die question business owners need to face is: ‘How long will my business survive if I’m not mobile-friendly?’
Sure, optimizing your website to be mobile-friendly is a smart move – it’s something all business owners should do, whether you sell cybersecurity software or run your own bakery. How much thought have you put into creating your own app, though? Apps are the in thing, and they’re the true marker of making your mission mobile-friendly. You might be thinking you don’t need one, but do you really want to end up like the companies that thought they could survive without a website?
Read on to see why putting together your own app will boost your online presence as well as promote better sales opportunities.
Brand loyalty
We all know that visiting a website doesn’t mean much – it certainly doesn’t prove brand loyalty. Sometimes we end up on a site by mistake, don’t like what we see, or the answers we need aren’t available immediately, so we move on. If someone downloads your app, however, that stands for a lot more than just a step in the wrong direction. It shows that people are interested in what you have to offer – they want to more conveniently make use of your services.
Coming back to the example of the bakery, if those sweet, sweet cinnamon rolls you make have picked up traction in the neighborhood, and the locals want to place their orders so they don’t miss out even one more time, you’re giving them the chance to get the most out of your creations without them having to pick up the phone or turn up and be potentially disappointed. And let’s be honest here – nearly every person that downloads your app has done so because they’re loyal to what you do.
Self-promotion
Though social media is an invaluable tool for marketing your products and/or services, it doesn’t take much to turn both prospective and existing customers the other way. There really is a fine line between self-promotion and just being plain annoying. And as much as your friends support your enterprise, posting too much will only annoy them too.
The beautiful thing about using an app is that you can cross-sell new or less popular products while ensuring your top-sellers remain comfortably in pride of place. What’s more, you can notify about sales, big up your brand’s journey, and push just about anything you want because of one key factor: people are coming to you, not the other way around. If you’re struggling to gain traction, you can increase your app’s visibility in a number of ways.
Easy to manage
Making an app, or at least one that’ll appeal to customers isn’t something we’re all capable of or currently have the skills to take on ourselves. But you have a website already, right? So whether you made that yourself or you outsourced the creation, getting an app together isn’t exactly impossible. Ask yourself: if editing your site feels like an effort, do you really think it’ll be any worse to edit the content on your app? Actually, it’ll be much easier. And the simplicity is something your customers will recognize too.
Your new app will be a breeze to manage, and anyone that uses it, so long as it works properly and the UI is tidy, will find that engaging with your brand is much easier than before.
