A mobile app is the best way to keep your customers engaged with your product – they act like soft reminders to pull them back to your product or service, while also creating new customers in the process.
With more than 1.5 million apps in the iOS App Store and 1.6 million available in Google Play, it can seem at times that absolutely everyone has an app – except you.
As a small-business owner, choosing whether to join the universe of app-development can be a difficult decision. You may feel like you have to build an app and ‘go mobile’ to stay competitive, but you’ve probably heard that apps are high in cost and plagued with issues.
A mobile app is the best way to keep your customers engaged with your product – they act like soft reminders to pull them back to your product or service, while also creating new customers in the process. It is an undisputed fact that mobile apps do benefit small businesses in a big way.
Increasingly even the smallest businesses are jumping on the ‘app train’. For those who do go forward with a mobile strategy, two approaches are commonplace: You can build a mobile-optimised website, or develop a full-blown, stand-alone app.
Here are five questions to ask yourself before you develop an app for your business:
Who is my target audience?
App development starts with creating a strategy that slots in with your overall business goals. The first step is assessing whether a mobile app is right for your business. You need to think about your target audience. Who are the people you are targeting as potential customers, and how many among them use apps?
What’s my budget?
Making an app isn’t cheap – developers can charge anything from $1000 to $10,000, depending on your requirements and scalability. There is DIY app development software available but for those with limited programming experience, it’s advised that you hire a professional developer – be aware that you will be charged on a per hour basis.
Do I have enough content?
Mobile apps need to be updated frequently to attract more and more customers and viewers, while also retaining the old ones. Mobile users have notoriously short attention spans and forever need something interesting to engage them. If you fail to update your app often enough, your users will soon move away from you and onto another product.
Can my app work effectively on different devices?
Once you develop your basic app, you next need to think of cross-platform formatting, so that it can be compatible with the various other mobile devices that you think they would prefer. Software like Telerik Platform equips developers with all the necessary technologies to develop cross-platform mobile apps and empowers them to choose the best approach, whether web, hybrid or native, based on existing skills and the needs of the app.
What is the cost versus profit?
Ultimately, you have to make your decision on the most vital aspect of stemming profit from your mobile app. You need to ask yourself if your net profit would be able to surpass your costs. In case you plan to hire professional developers to create your app, you first need to take an estimate of the cost and then compare prices to the services offered. A cost profit analysis will shape the entire production, development, promotion and success of your app.
Craig Law, Managing Director Australia & New Zealand, Progress
