Is it worth building a mobile app for your business?
Andrew Speight • 4 January 2021 |
If you’re here, you’re probably wondering whether it is actually worth it for your business to have a mobile app.
Well, the good news is it’s 2021 and our technology has never been more advanced! This year is a great time to start building a mobile app for your business.
And yes, we’ve got the stats to back that up, so read on!
Mobile apps are the land of opportunity. While there have never been more apps in the App Store (2.2 million apps) and Play Store (2.8 million apps) than there are today, creating a useful and popular app is no mean feat. You have to wade through a lot of bad ones to get to the good, and then you need to convince users your app provides enough value to buy or download.
But don’t let these hurdles intimidate you. With the right team, it’s possible to create an app that works for your business. After all, 57% of digital media usage comes from mobile apps, and the average smartphone users use more than 30 apps each month.
So, here’s where you need to weigh the pros and cons to decide whether it’s worth it for your business to have a mobile app.
Start with your WHY: Why do you want to create an app?
Maybe it’s the cool factor or maybe you want to make money. Either way, your “why” needs to justify the value of the app you’re about to embark on creating.
Here are some of the top reasons people create apps:
- Increase sales
- Improve the user experience
- Remain competitive
- Build a community
- Strengthen the brand
Of course, the cost of building an app needs to be justified in the potential return on investment. Mobile apps for businesses can do this in a number of ways.
They can make you more efficient (saving time and money long-term). Though, this can be hard to measure and often isn’t measurable until after the app has been created.
Mobile apps can also enhance the customer service and community aspect between your customers and employees. Allowing you to provide a better experience for your community, leading to happier customers and more profits.
Apps can also directly generate revenue through a number of methods like selling products, charging for app upgrades with special features, and improving your brand reputation with more facetime (leading to more purchases).
If you have an eCommerce store and your customers are already browsing on their phone (they are!), creating an app could provide many benefits for your business.
Apps have a direct impact on the purchasing behaviour of consumers
Just look at the facts:
- App users view more products than mobile website browsers
- App conversion rates are 3x higher than mobile site conversion rates (1.5x higher than desktop)
- App orders are 140% higher average order value than mobile sites and 130% higher than desktop
Whoa! If those aren’t good enough reasons for eCommerce sites to consider apps, we don’t know what are.
That said, if your average order value is currently $10, an app would increase this to $24. Still a huge jump but maybe not one that justifies the cost of development.
Which brings us to our next question.
What are the options for developing an app for your business?
It’s true, more small businesses than ever before are creating apps.
But they’re not all created equal. The way we see it, there are three options for app development for your business.
- Custom
- Code it yourself
- White-label
Each of these options has a different impact on the cost of the app development process. Check out the impact on cost below:
Custom app development
This is by far the most expensive option and one of the most time-consuming options. Typically, custom app development can take anywhere from $50K into the hundreds of thousands of dollars range. And on average, will take anywhere from 7 months to multiple years to create.
If there are absolutely no other options for your business and you’re at the point where this can only improve your sales, we say, go for it!
You may want to consider a white-label option in the interim, to see if it could work for you.
Prices will vary depending on who you get to develop the app for you. You could go with a development shop, a freelancer, or a team of freelancers. Either way, hiring a project manager or appointing one to research and manage this project is probably a good idea.
“Code it yourself” app development
Whether you already know how to code or you want to learn, this option will probably take the longest (unless you have a team helping you).
It’s the least expensive dollar-wise, but remember, you’re paying with your time, too.
Learning to code is certainly a neat experience and will be a useful skill if you plan on completing more projects. However, learning to code your own app properly could take years.
You may also need to hire an expert to help with any problems you encounter. Consider, can you wait that long?
White-label app development
There are a few options when it comes to white-label app development.
You could use an online app builder (kind of like a drag and drop no-code builder). You’ve probably seen these when you’re creating your newsletters or marketing emails through services like MailChimp. They exist for apps, too!
Another option is to pay for an out-of-the-box service for a specific feature, like a customer loyalty app.
If you aren’t too picky with things like layout or overall design, and just need a little customization and a way to communicate with your customers, this could be a great option.
It’s cheaper and you get support from the service that manages the app. So now that you know your options, let’s revisit our initial question.
Is it worth it for your business to have an app?
We say, yes!
Need help figuring out the best option for your businesses’ app? Give us a shout here. We’d love to help walk you through it.
