How your own business app can make a difference with customers and employees
Apps are omnipresent these days. The average smartphone owner uses 10 apps a day and 30 a month, showing the potential to get a foot in the door as well as illuminating the competition.
Apps have revolutionised the way we play, message, learn, and simply pass the time. And now they’re starting to change the way we work as well.
Custom apps can make specific tasks far easier for your employees, and allow them to perform their jobs more efficiently. They can also be used to engage, delight, and reward your customers. But if you want an app to do any of that, you need to build it right.
Custom apps can boost productivity
Your business is unique. It comes with its own opportunities and challenges, and it may need a custom solution to ensure your employees are working at their full potential. Productivity improves by up to 25% when employees can connect effectively.
Creating an app that focuses on the best ways for your employees to communicate can streamline how your business operates. You can create workflows that ensure the right people get the right messages when they need them, instead of important information getting lost in chains of emails.
Custom apps can also speed up, or even fully automate, mundane tasks that need to be carried out in your business. An obvious example is data entry. If your employees regularly record any sort of data, this can be a slow, boring, ineffective process with the wrong tools.
The last thing you want is employees making a mistake when entering data because they’re bored to tears while doing so! Custom apps can reduce data entry errors by 71%, making it far easier to keep information up to date and accurate within your organisation.
Unique apps can keep customers engaged
Customers have a lot of competition for their attention. Most small business owners and managers will be well aware of how competitive ranking on search engines is.
And while the majority of online searching is performed from mobile, most of the time, phone users aren’t in their browsers. We’re spending longer than ever on our phones, and almost 90% of that time is spent on apps.
Customers are more likely to engage through an app that’s more present on their phone than repeatedly visit your website without an incentive to do so. All that’s needed is for them to download your app once, and you can reach them whenever you like.
Of course, take that statement with a pinch of salt. Spamming customers with push notifications is likely only to result in them deleting your app. But done infrequently, at the right time and with relevant content, you have a free method to re-engage warm leads.
Reaching out via an app is more cost effective than targeting previous customers through social media channels. If your app can be configured to make repeat orders quick and simple for your customers, you’ll likely see great results too.
Do your research to plan custom apps
Before you head off to build your own custom app and make millions, it’s important to understand the steps needed to do so effectively. After all, only one in 200 apps are financially successful. You don’t want yours to join the scrap heap.
Ensure you have a clear idea of what your app will do before you start any development. This is true whether you’re building a customer-facing app or one for your employees.
Custom apps for employees should solve a specific business problem, so talk to your staff and find out what they could use to make their roles easier.
For B2C apps, you want to provide a clear reason for your patrons to use your app. And while your business is unique, researching similar apps from competitors may help you define your goals and the ways you can make your app appeal.
Put the fundamentals in place
Before you even start development, there are things you can do to improve the chances of your app being successful. One of these is making sure the name you have in mind is free! Especially if you’re launching a big commercial app, you’ll want a unique name that isn’t already being used.
Having a domain name similar to the app could also be an important factor. You may also need a registered business name before you can launch your app to certain stores.
Build your custom app
Whether you hire a developer or create your own app using a low-code solution, be sure to invest sufficient time and funds into your app. Successful business apps can generate great ROI, so the business case for completing your app should be compelling.
Don’t be afraid to launch a minimum viable product (MVP) to a small testing group to gather feedback, and then make incremental improvements. Before you know it, you could have an app that changes the game for your small business.