Why Create a Mobile App for Your Small Business?

If you are wondering why to create an app for your business, this article is a must-read for you. Moreover, if you’re convinced that your business doing well without an app, this article, again, is a must-read for you. Follow me!:

Mobile apps became a common part of our life. We wake up from the sound of an alarm clock, check out the weather for the day, read the news during the breakfast, take a taxi if we’re late to work, order a lunch right to the office and much more - all of that through mobile apps. So it’s no wonder that small and enterprise business owners are trying to take an advantage as their consumers spend more time and money in their mobile phones.

If you’re still not sure whether it’s really worth to put your investments into creating an app for your business, keep on reading. I have 10 smart and rational reasons that will definitely convince you!

🔟 Reasons to Create a Mobile App for your Small Business

№ 1: Rise your sales and boost your income 💸

First and foremost, mobile apps for small business fulfil the most important goal of any entrepreneur - they increase sales. And the more profitable your business is, the better it is for you!

In order not to sound unfounded, I can refer to market leaders’ experience. Thus, for example:

• Domino’s Pizza online sales in the UK faced a growth of 28% after the mobile app was released. Now it’s responsible for as much as more than the half of online orders.
• Taco Bell’s app also boosted sales of the company. Moreover, it was reported that orders made through the mobile app were usually 20% higher than ones made in person.
• Zara’s app increased sales of the company by unbelievable 60% (why do you think he became the richest person in the world? 🙂).

As you can see, the app development may turn out to be a very perspective decision if planned and done in a proper way.

A simple exercise for you: take a look at your income. Increase it by 20-60% (or even more). That’s what you can potentially achieve with a mobile app!

№ 2: Always stay in sight 🕶️

One of the biggest problems of small businesses is the tough competition from global brands. Everyone knows Starbucks and H&M networks. Yet, it’s a usual situation for a local coffee house or clothes shop that they’re well-known only in their neighbourhood.

Having an own mobile app will provide you with a more visible presence at different levels. Let me explain.

1. The bright button with your logo on screens of your customers is a great way to constantly stay in their sight. Simply put, it works as a reminder. What does it mean for you? It means they will remember your store, visit it or make online purchases more often.
2. This also works with friends of your customers. They may be not aware of you but after seeing your icon on their friends’ screens they will probably become interested in learning more about your app and store.

№ 3: Almost everyone has a smartphone 📱

With every third person of four being a mobile user it’s getting obvious that your business should be adapted for such people. According to Statista, back in 2016 every third person worldwide was a mobile user.

By 2019, it’s reported that up to 67% of the world population (about 5.07 billion) will have and use mobile phones. Try to guess: how many of your customers are mobile users? I guess this number is about 95% or higher!

And if all your customers are smartphone users, why not to build a mobile app for your business and take an advantage of it?

№ 4: Retargeting - turn your customers back 🤳

Mobile apps are not only about getting new consumers for you. One of the most significant advantages of an app comparing to a website is the great retargeting potential.

How does it work?

Using push notifications an app can communicate with users and encourage them to perform certain actions. For example:

• if a user has started an online order but left it unfinished, the app may remind him to complete it after a few days;
• every time user passes near (within, for example, 100-300 meters) your offline store you may send him an invitation to visit, updated with actual hot offers;
• if a user was interested in specific goods, you may notify him about discounts and special offers regarding these goods later.

Finally, instead of annoying generic push notifications or even SMS-Messages (honestly, is anybody still using them?), your users will receive only relevant ones. This simple but effective solution will allow you to keep customers more engaged with your app and increase the number of abandoned but eventually finished orders from 8% to at least 26% (according to Digital Information World).

№ 5: Personalization 👑

People like apps because they make them feel special. When visiting a website, you always feel like a guest. When opening an app, it feels more like you’re finally at home. Why this emotional feedback we get is so different? Because of personalization!

The app is able to remember your privacy settings. This makes it easier to get the experience you want and need without even logging in. Think about shopping or wish lists, rewards and progress in loyalty programs. Yet, add here other personal info that can be used by machine learning algorithms to generate even more user-specific experience.

№ 6: Join the competition before it’s too late ⏳

Frankly speaking, if you’re reading this article now, you’re already a bit late. Or going to be in the nearest feature. Why? As of 2017, the survey reports that 42% of interviewed small businesses already have and use mobile apps. By the end of the year, this figure is expected to reach 67% which means that 2 of 3 small businesses will successfully employ an app.

Thus, nowadays you can hardly surprise someone just by having an app. It’s no more an advantage - it’s a necessity. So are you ready to lose a lot of potential customers for the sake of your competitors? Up for you to decide!

№ 7: Better CX - Customer Experience 👍

You and your consumers look at the app from different sides. While you consider small business mobile apps as marketing tools, a part of overall branding strategy, communication channels with clients, a source of additional income and much more, the core value of the app for your customers lays in the improved experience.

We’ve already talked about personalization, yet, there are a lot of other examples of the exceptional UX. From the smooth navigation to the better in-store experience.

By the way, you can learn 4 amazing features that can radically change the in-store experience of your users for the better in the article about retail app development:

The superior UX is the value that you can offer your users and receive even more loyal and repeat customers in return.

№ 8: Use it as an effective marketing tool 📢

If you’re looking for an additional promotion, mobile apps for small business can be a great tool for this as well. Think about social networks. Some people spend hours there chatting with friends, surfing through the feed and sharing their thoughts and feelings. And this is the huge advantage for you as it means that your customers are ready to promote your business for free!

Providing your consumers with a qualitative staff or service is the easiest way to get thankful reviews and create some hype in social media. For better results, you may implement a marketing strategy that involves the social integration. For example, offer your clients a discount or a nice small gift in exchange for a repost or for every friend which they have turned into your customer and the both sides will benefit!

This kind of advertising (it’s also known as word-of-mouth marketing) is extremely profitable for small businesses as it doesn’t involve high expenses (comparing to the TV or radio ones) but may be noticeably effective.

№ 9: Build brand loyalty 🎁

Yet, strong promotion is not all you need. If you want to succeed, you should pay enough attention to repeat customers. Or, in other words, clients that will use your services or buy your goods on a regular basis. And this is the situation where using loyalty programs is inevitable.

What kinds of programs may you implement to encourage your consumers to be more loyal to you? Feel free to use these ideas when you develop a mobile app for small business:

• Points system. A “classic” solution with a simple logic: for purchases or/and actions users receive points that can be later exchanged for gifts, goods, discounts or other benefits.
• Tiers system. Pretty similar to points one but not the same. Collected points let users level up and get permanent bonuses that become more profitable with every next level.
• Coupons. Hot time-limited offers that everybody likes. All these “buy one, get one free”, “order a cappuccino and get a free donut” and so on really encourage people to visit your store more often and become your repeat customers.

Also, loyalty programs are often implemented in small business mobile apps in a very interactive and engaging way. We call it a “gamification element” that makes it more interesting for users to use your app.

№ 10: Analyze data and know your customer 📊

Another reason to make an app for business is the customer data. Your app will gather different stats that can be used later to make calculated data-driven business decisions to improve UX and increase your revenue.

What kind of information can you extract from the app? For example:

• What goods and services are the most popular among your consumers.
• At which time period users are most active.
• What their typical behavioural patterns in your app look like.

These and other answers will allow you to build and optimize a powerful sales strategy to get higher results over a short period of time.

So, these were 10 compelling reasons that should dispel all doubts about creating an app for your business. Yet, I promised to tell you not only why to create an app for your business but also about the possible costs of such a decision. Let’s move on to the monetary part!

💰 Сost to develop an app for small business: the most popular cases

It’s important to understand that each case should be treated individually since all apps are different and development costs may vary from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars and more.

When entrepreneurs decide to develop a mobile app for small business, among the most popular request we can usually find retail, restaurant, food delivery and hotel apps. We decided to estimate the cost of apps in each category for you, so read on!

Important note: the following estimations are approximate and rough. For an exact calculation, please, contact us!

Retail and E-Commerce Apps

The category of retail apps is the widest one as it includes different kinds of small businesses: clothes, book, furniture, tech, cosmetics and other shops. So costs to make an app for a business like these are the following:

¹ - not including BackEnd

² - About 12-14 work weeks

If you want to read more about retail app’s features and development costs, we have the great article for you on this topic:

Restaurant Apps

This category is popular among entrepreneurs because it includes a vast array of different eateries: from fast food cafes to luxury restaurants. What is the average budget needed to build such an app? Take a look:

¹ - not including BackEnd

² - about 14-16 work weeks

Luckily for you, we also have the article which covers all possible questions about restaurant app developers. You can find it here:

Food Delivery Apps

Some start-ups aim at providing users with fast & cheap food delivery services without having own restaurants (Postmates, for instance). Successful examples of such services prove that it’s a great idea for a small business in 2017.

Yet, our developers recommend to build 2 versions of the app (customer & courier) and an Admin Web-Panel, so the approximate cost to develop an app for small business in this field is as follows:

¹ - not including BackEnd

² - about 23-25 workweeks

If you’re interested in a deeper research on this topic, I recommend you to check this related article:

Hotel Booking Apps

Hotels and guesthouses as kind of small business are extremely popular in resorts and big cities. With the increasing number of requests to build such an app we decided to provide you with the hotel booking app development estimation as well:

¹ - not including BackEnd

² - about 11-14 workweeks

As you may guess, we also have a separate article on this topic, so feel free to check it out if you’re interested:

💡 Conclusion

Together we learned 10 amazing reasons to build a mobile app for your business. I hope now you clearly understand how profitable it can be for you in the long run!

We also did not avoid the money part. The average development costs start from 15,000$ but final expenses significantly depend on the complexity of your app.

Have any questions or need help with your app development? Write us. We will answer them all and help you create an app for your business!