Why your IT team has to provide better mobile apps for you to stay competitive
Mobile apps are the new business card. They provide your brand with instant recognition and awareness, which helps you communicate more effectively with your customers.
The importance of mobile apps in business
The mobile app market is expanding rapidly. In the past decade, smartphone sales have skyrocketed all over the world. About 3.5 billion people were using smartphones globally by the end of 2020. In the same year, the estimated sale of smartphones was 1.4 billion. Resultantly, the demand for mobile apps among most big firms and businesses increased. It makes sense- because mobile apps go beyond delivering services and goods to customers, business owners use apps now to amplify their Return on Investment (ROI) in multiple ways. From learning more about your consumer base to brand promotion, there's almost no limit to how much utility you can get from them!
That's not all. An analysis by Nielsen reveals that the average U.S. smartphone user accesses at least 27 apps per month. And, contrary to popular opinion, people do not spend all their time on their phones. But, on average, they spend five and a half hours a day connecting with the world via their mobile devices. Fortunately for marketers, people use their mobile devices for much more than just chatting with friends or catching up on the latest celebrity news. They spend an average of 25 minutes per day using their phones to make purchases online, most times from companies they've never interacted with before.
As a result of this consumer behavior and the influence it has begun to have on the overall economy, mobile devices are one of the first ways consumers interact with new brands. Thus, creating mobile apps is key for companies that want to grow their businesses because it allows them to reach peoplewherever they may bewhen they're ready to buy.
The PYMNTS and Paytronix report, The Digital Divide- Minding the Loyalty Gap, is one of many research reports validating mobile apps' utility. For instance, according to this report, 48 per cent of customers used loyalty programs in at least one restaurant during a week-long survey conducted in November 2021. In addition, the report reveals that 50 per cent of loyalty program members for table-service restaurants interacted via their mobile app; 60 per cent of patrons who interacted with a loyalty program used the mobile app for quick-service restaurants (QSR).
