Apps build trust. To have customers install your mobile app onto their phones is the most personal and direct form of a marketing channel. It’s almost as if they are telling your company that they want to be more than friends. Our mobile app platform and frameworks have the current technologies that empower you to effectively and directly engage your clients. Still, first, you have to decide whether you need it. What kind of mobile presence do you need for your business? What if you sell dog food? Do dogs use the internet? These insights may help you make an informed decision.

Do you need a Mobile App or Mobile Website? – Several customers have asked us whether they should focus on building a mobile app or a mobile site. Is your target market willing to download an app, or will a mobile website be a better option? Before investing time and money into that dog food app, make sure it will get you the return you’re looking for, whether that’s monetary, brand recognition, or any other goal. With designing just a mobile website, many functionalities from most apps could be mimicked right in a browser, leaving little use for an app. Also, the users don’t have to download an update when there are upgrades or changes in your app. However, some drawbacks are performance, user experiences, and limited user interactions.

Can you keep your app users engaged? – Getting people to install an app is one thing, but retention and keeping the user engaged is the key to success. If your app, in essence,  is a digital mobile brochure with actual content that rarely gets updated, chances are likely you will not find much success. But if you continue engaging your users and providing new and relevant content, you have a much better chance of keeping that retention rate high. Give users a reason to come back, and numerous ways encourage frequent use.

Will this app make your employees more productive? – If your employees spend a lot of time taking orders, looking up shipping information, booking appointments, or doing “on the go,” you could save a lot of work hours with a mobile app. A well-designed mobile application can handle much of such load and sync up with back-office web applications in an organized. Have your competitors or other businesses in your field adopted using mobile apps to mitigate the overhead mentioned above? If so, then you can see whether or not it would be a valuable asset to have.

Can you leverage coupons as marketing tools? – Coupons are proven marketing tools that can drive sales for many businesses. You can distribute e-coupons to the masses and offer deep discounts to attract new customers. With your mobile app, you have the power to reward and keep your customers with creative offers via e-coupons all year round. Reference the app in marketing materials by including a QR code that ultimately drives traffic and downloads. Furthermore, a location-based app can use the GPS function within the mobile device to determine if your customers are near your business premises.

Can you build a mobile community? Suppose you have a Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or YouTube website. In that case, you can bring them all under one app to connect easily with your customers and foster customer loyalty to your business. You can send them instant notifications about your special event or offers that will appear right on their mobile device. You can also push your app’s survey forms to gather precious customer feedback.

Hopefully, we could provide some more insight on whether or not a mobile app would benefit your organization. You can make the right decision and increase business development efficiently through careful analysis. And no, after doing some in-depth research, dogs have no comprehension of the internet, nor can they browse the web.