How Do You Know If Your Business Needs an App?
It can often feel as though your business is lagging behind in some way if it doesn’t have an app. It is a choice, though, and there are a significant number of development costs that go into making an app, which means it’s not necessarily an automatic decision.
If your business is one that would benefit from this dedicated platform, the rewards might be too tempting to ignore, however. It’s all about understanding the criteria, and getting yourself in a position where you’re able to make that call with as little doubt as possible.
Read the Room
The most straightforward way that you might come to a decision here might be by seeing if your competitors are doing it. If all of your shared audiences have come to expect apps from brands in your field, then your lack of one will be glaringly obvious. At the same time, rushing to get an app out the door might make an even worse impression. You don’t want a platform that doesn’t work or is aesthetically unappealing – in a worst-case scenario, you might even be unsure of the app’s security, which could be incredibly damaging to your brand.
If you know that audiences expect an app, take time and work with your web design team to ensure that it takes the best of what’s currently available with a healthy injection of what’s unique about you. That way, the quality of the brand might be preserved and maintained here.
On-the-Go Engagement
If you feel your brand and service can or should be engaged with on the move, that might give you an answer in itself. After all, apps are going to be downloaded onto smartphones, and part of the appeal is that it’s the ideal way for customers to engage with your brand and that they can do so efficiently.
For businesses that offer food and drink, this might be so that customers can order their goods wherever they are – either to get delivered or to have them ready for a collection. If it’s another type of retail platform, you might be looking to ensure that customers are always able to purchase from you whenever the mood strikes them. If that’s the case, you might also be looking to partner with shipping companies like Shiply to ensure that the delivery quality matches this efficiency.
Website Traffic and Next Steps
Even if you are in an industry that doesn’t typically or necessarily need an app, you might feel that the success of your website (judged by how much traffic it’s getting) makes an app a logical next step.
As with other decisions that you make in business, you might decide that you want to judge interest beforehand by conducting market research and audience surveys. If enough people feel as though that an app would improve your brand, you might have a position to be a trendsetter – leading the charge rather than simply following what is expected of your business.
