Mobile App for Your Business, is it worth it
Having a mobile app seems pretty obvious these days as the presence of mobile phones in the hands of most humans on the planet suggests. People workout, walks, read, do chores, work, play, and even use the restroom with their mobile phones in hand. Many people even use them as alarms for work.
There is no question that mobile phones and the apps that make them shine are important to the world we live in. The question is, are they beneficial for your business and worth investing in?
First off, you want to have a very clear understanding of your target audience and how they behave online. For example, if you owned a restaurant and customers would react favorably to an incentivized reward system, it might be worthwhile to have an app to track this data and make the user experience clean and simple (Think Starbucks App). Service industries tend to do very well with having apps on their side.
Another way mobile apps can help with sales is push notifications. Let’s say you own a bakery and your operations close at 6p. By 4p, you want to have sold most of your baked goods by that time and anything that is left, you risk having to throw out. If you had an app that pushed notifications out with discounted baked goods when available at that time of day, you would naturally bring in more sales as well as keep from having to throw away valuable food.
There are many examples of how businesses can modernize and better serve their client base, so it’s just a matter of understanding how you can create something that helps both you and the end-user.
The biggest thing (no pun intended) is the cost of developing a mobile app for your business. It is not uncommon to have development costs exceed $25K for one platform (iOS OR Android). For higher ticket products and services, this cost could be quite nominal but for many, it’s a steep entry point. You would want to conduct a break-even point analysis and if you can successfully pay for the app in 12-18 months after launch, then it is a good idea to look into developing a mobile app for your business.
A representative of Core Mobile Apps recommended that we talk to several mobile app development companies to find one that is honest and has expert knowledge and experience in the field. There are a lot of “fakers” out there and it’s important to spend the time to do the research to properly vet these companies before deciding to engage with them. Not all companies are created equally and you will want to check out their past work and speak to several references for each company you interview. This is the only way you can assure success when hiring an app development company.
In conclusion, mobile apps can be extremely helpful and profitable if done correctly. Making sure to understand your customer first and foremost is going to determine whether to build an app for your business or not. If you feel that your end-user can benefit greatly, and it can help your sales/marketing/operations then by all means, make it happen!