Being an entrepreneur, if a question like ‘Does my business needs a mobile app?’ is not biting you then something is wrong. It's the eternal dilemma that every business, no matter its size, faces.

Before you start to overthink it, let us look at some facts.

Obviously, you know that millennials have taken up and Gen-Z are next. According to statista, The number of mobile phone users in the world is expected to pass the five billion mark by 2019. After the mobile purchase, they consume the internet. They download anything that pleases their eyes, use apps and leverages the information available out there. By 2020, mobile apps are forecast to generate around 189 billion U.S. dollars in revenues via app stores and in-app advertising.

Reasons Why Startups Should Invest in Mobile Apps

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#1 Accessibility

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I am going to ask a few questions and you need to choose between a Mobile app and Mobile Website.

Let’s Go...

• Which one is easier, entering the URL of a website in a browser or tapping on the app icon?
• Which one loads faster and is user-friendly?
• Which one is available Offline?
  

You are right, Congratulations!

Ease of access matters a lot when the human brain is wired to conserve the energy and perform the task which requires minimum mental energy.

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#2 Customer Engagement

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With mobile apps, direct communication with users is possible. Consumers love when an app provides what they want at their fingertips. The mobile app creates a direct personalised channel with millions of users at a time. That forms a deep relationship which increases brand loyalty and trust. Thus, one can nurture the leads and provide more value to the users. Mobile apps can attract precious attention of the user by various techniques like-

• Rewards programs
• Special Offers
• Gamification
• Refer & earn
• Sharing in-app awards & achievements
  

Don't worry if any method doesn't work out. We have mobile analytics to monitor user behaviour in the app. Just measure, optimize, rinse and repeat!

On top of that, Millennials have fear of missing out (‘FOMO’ as they call it). Mobile apps can leverage that fear by throwing push notifications at the right time & place by Geo-targeting.

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#3 Branding

In this competitive age, building a strong brand is no easy task. One has to prove why a brand stands for what it stands. ‘Trust’ and ‘Authenticity’ is what a customer seeks. Developing a mobile app helps a business to get a label of the brand. If your company’s app resides on the consumer’s mobile phone then a connection is established. Now you can establish the trust by loyalty programs, intuitive design, incentives and monetizing their curiosity.

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#4 Customer Satisfaction

Small business runs on a tight budget. They focus more on the core product/ service and sometimes miss out on support. Nowadays, the user expects to get 24/7 support and providing poor customer service may push away them away. With mobile apps, it is easy to know what a customer thinks about the service. Interactive mobile design helps to infuse surveys & feedbacks. That really helps a company to know the loopholes and can improvise them later.

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#5 Social Media and Finding new audiences

Brands need to make sure that their message, their ideology and story reaches every part of the user base. To keep the brand up & awake, social media plays a key role. Integrating these channels with an app maximizes its potential. Programmes, like refer & earn and rewards system, helps to create a buzz which increases the app download. Hence, the chances of more sales and engagement. Once integrated, user-behaviour can be noted from their social media which helps to understand what the user is looking for.

As the application store in Android & IOS has less competition to rank for a keyword as compared to web, App Store Optimization helps. ASO can improve the visibility in the app store increasing the organic traffic.

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#6 Maximize ROI

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Time, energy and money once invested in a startup, entrepreneurs crave for the ROI.

If the customers like the product (which is sometimes the application itself), they are ready to pay the price. Popular app monetisation methods include in-app purchase, one-time-only purchase and subscription models.

Canadian online investment management service focused on making "investing easier for millennials." If the application is not the product, then in-app advertising is a great source of filling the pockets.

Let's understand with a real-time example, you might have come across about the startup WealthSimple. Its a Canada based online investment management service focused on making investing easier for millennials. Basically, it allows users to trade stocks and conduct electronic funds transfers (EFTs) from their smartphones. Extending the feature set from the web-portal to Mobile apps is when they made it big. Wealthsimple has also been recognized as a top Canadian start-up by the University of Toronto’s Impact Centre and Startup Canada.

“It’s not like we’re dreaming up products in a boardroom somewhere for 12 months, launching them into the world hoping that people will like it, We work with our clients, rely on their feedback, and are constantly reiterating ourselves to deliver even more value to meet their needs.”

-Michael Katchen, CEO at Wealthsimple

Wrapping Up

Regardless of the industry, mobile apps are extremely useful for attracting new customers and retaining old ones. If you are still skeptical about mobile apps, think of it as a new branch extension of your current business. A new extension is more flexible, all-time open and is in demand. Launching your app in any one store (Android or IOS) can be a good move depending upon your target audience. Then you can sit back & wait for a demand to sore up in another store.