This is a question we often get asked. Does my business need a phone app? To begin answering this question for a particular client, we often come up with a few preliminary questions ourselves:
- How often will customers be likely to interact with your app? There has to be a solid business reason for why users will regularly interact with the app. Maybe you sell something they need to buy regularly? Maybe they need to check in often?
- Would it be significantly different than a mobile optimised website? In many cases, a mobile-optimised website can be just as effective as an app, but this varies from industry to industry.
- What’s the problem you are trying to solve? We always ask potential clients, “What’s the problem you’re trying to solve, and could you solve it without a mobile app?” Developing and maintaining an app is not a cheap investment so it should be created to solve a problem for your business.
After some conversations, clients tend to put off the development of a mobile app. Having said this, for some businesses there is actually a rush to launch an app, as an essential part of their business strategy. For example, from past experience, entrants into the money remittance industry soft launch with a web version and then soon realise customers are demanding a mobile app; this is because all other competitors have and promote one. Their target audience would regularly interact with the app (to send money often) and would much prefer using an app.
The Bottom Line
In most cases, unless there is a solid business case most businesses do not need a mobile app and should otherwise focus on optimising their website for mobile. Most people visit websites via mobile nowadays anyway (75-80%) so this advice is true in any case.
Do you have a project in mind and are considering launching a mobile app? Our technical team can go through a preliminary workshop style session with you to determine whether you actually need an app and if so, provide recommendations on how to set about developing one. Get in touch with our team if this sounds relevant for your business.
