An app is quickly becoming a must-have item for businesses of all sizes. Obviously, leading companies are finding that their customers have at least one function they would love to have in an app, if not more. Insurance companies are allowing mobile bill payments, pizza chains are offering mobile ordering, and hot brands have put their shops into condensed mobile forms.
But what about small businesses?
What about the neighbourhood restaurants with one location? The real estate agencies that aren’t known nationwide? The salons, law firms, and quirky local boutiques? Do they need apps?
Absolutely.
Why?
Costs have come way down.
Once upon a time, creating an app was a major expense and took a long time to get right. Everything had to be built from scratch. Now, however, custom app builders are available to all at super-low cost. In just a few minutes (with a service like, oh . . . Mobilise Solutions, say), anyone can create a unique app for their business with their own images and text, and can also select from a variety of functions to make it perfect for whatever your customers want to do.
The neighbourhood restaurant can offer a mobile loyalty program and reward regulars. The real estate agency can send notifications of new listings to its user base. The salon can let customers upload photos, the law firm can allow for mobile intake appointment scheduling, and the quirky local boutique can share videos of impromptu outrageous outfit fashion shows in-store.
Small businesses can now create a mobile app for less than the price of a newspaper ad!
Pretty much every business can afford that, especially when increased revenue from mobile strategies is taken into account. Mobile apps are no longer the province of the large enterprise.
Okay, it won’t break the bank. But that doesn’t make it mandatory. Why should I care about mobile apps?
Mobile has seen outrageous growth in recent years, and in many places and niches is now ahead of traditional desktop computing. That is, in the very near future, you can expect the majority of your business’s visitors online to be using mobile devices to connect. This means that mobile-optimized websites and apps will be the primary channels for connecting with customers online. For that reason, not having an app is already quite costly in terms of lost opportunities, and will only become more so in the coming years as trends continue.
With importance increasing rapidly and costs down to a very affordable level, apps are no longer optional. The time is right for all businesses to get in on mobile strategies and meet the users where they are: on mobile!