Mobile applications are no longer optional for businesses. According to Pew Research, today 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone, and that number is up from 35 percent in 2011, with no growth letup in sight. Obviously, mobile marketing is here now and definitely the wave of the future as well. While you are thinking about talking to a mobile app development company, your competitors are already gaining market share and stealing away loyal customers by using mobile strategy and app marketing. It is time to get with the program and start enjoying the benefits that mobile app design can afford your business.
Mobile apps can help you engage with your customers more easily, keep your employees connected and boost your bottom line. Three good starter reasons — and here are some more:
For sales and marketing, geo-targeting makes it easier than ever before to target users with location-specific messages. This means that people who have your app might get a text with a special offer when in the vicinity of one of your stores. This type of attention makes them feel special and might cause them to stop in and make a few purchases. “By using this approach, small businesses can decrease spend, narrow their focus and deliver targeted ads to consumers at the right time and place,” explains Roger Hurni, chief creative officer & managing partner, Off Madison Ave.
Do you have a customer loyalty program? Why not take it mobile? Give your customers that download your mobile application access to special deals and specials. Survey them through the app or otherwise to find out their favourite loyalty rewards, then serve them up. Instead of using punch cards, which are often misplaced or forgotten, similar mobile solutions work better for both businesses and customers. You can add incentives like special birthday coupons, or give a punch on their card for checking in on social media. This type of engagement increases loyalty and revenue overall.
Customer service is another area where app developers can help your business keep your customers loyal. To maximise your reputation for great customer service, reply to questions or comments in the shortest amount of time possible. Your mobile app can offer you that flexibility by allowing your team of customer service representatives to access these from anywhere. Put one of your CSRs “on-call” for customer queries, and you can cover them round-the-clock as needed.
CRM and sales support cannot be understated, and the top mobile app development company can create a mobile CRM application that can handle it all, and connect seamlessly to the company’s main database. No extra data entry, no lost slips of paper, no misspellings and incorrect information.
“When it comes to customer relationship management, mobile CRM gives business owners a wide range of capabilities right at their fingertips,” says Anthony Smith, founder and CEO, Insightly. “Keeping track of tasks, contacts, organisations, opportunities, projects, emails and your calendar can all happen instantly within a mobile application. This alleviates the need to write down important details on old receipts or worse, trying to recall straight from memory.”
Mobile CRM means scanning business cards and automatically adding the information straight into the CRM, with the capability to add notes and follow-ups. Sales professionals can check into places they visit, check their sales pipelines, and access client information, emails, quotes and orders, all while talking to customers. This make your company look more professional, saves time and gives your sales pros actionable data to use on every visit. Expect to close more sales!
You have probably seen people use the tiny white Square cube for mobile payments at places as diverse as nightclubs and farmers markets; this mobile payment solution, and others like it, allows businesses to swipe credit cards right on a phone, tablet or point-of-sale stand. This enables companies to take payments on the go in just minutes, and can help with sales and deposits, and even collecting COD invoices. This is a great advantage for businesses, as app development can include integration with other apps via the cloud. Transactions records go straight into your accounting, tax and marketing apps to make your business run more smoothly with less manipulation and human intervention.
For service businesses, one of the best things mobile app design companies can do is offer scheduling capabilities, follow-ups and reminders. This allows customers to make appointments, change things as needed or ask questions. You can use text messages to remind customers when they have a class or a medical appointment, and do it automatically.
For communications between team members, there is nothing better than custom mobile app designs. It allows representatives in the field to stay connected to those in the office and get assistance as needed. Your team members can transfer documents, instructions and even contracts over the mobile app when someone is at a client site and asks for help. The best mobile app companies can set up a program for you to interact, collaborate and share, no matter where each employee is.
Mobile devices are in all of our pockets these days, so why not take full advantage of their functionality with a customised mobile application developed for your design? At their core, these applications make it easy to do business, both for the customer and the company. While your business might not need a mobile app to sell to your loyal customers, you can increase the number of loyal customers you have, and your sales and revenue, by using mobile apps.
If you’d like to know more, we invite you to send us an enquiry. We’ll get back with you promptly with answers to all your questions about how to improve your mobile app strategy.