Mobile App Growth Strategy For Your Business

Mobile App Growth Strategy For Your Business

Mobile phones are becoming the central nervous system of human beings. What does this mean for your business? If you’re already an app developer like our mobile app agency in New York, it means that this is your moment to shine.

However, it’s not too late if you don’t have an app yet. You can still take advantage of the massive growth opportunity having a mobile app will provide to your business. Here are some of the best strategies out there to grow and monetize an app so that it will be profitable for your business.

1. Understand Your Customers

You can’t build a great product without understanding who your users are, what their needs are, and how they act. Understand their demographics and psychographics like age, gender, location, and language. These all play a role in creating an informed user base for your app and cultivating a rewarding experience.

Think about how your users will use your app. What kind of apps do they use now? Do they download new apps regularly? Have they ever downloaded an app by you before? These questions provide insight into the type of person interested in downloading one of your products and leading your mobile app development decisions.

2. Define the Purpose & Functionality

Now that you know your target audience, it’s time to sit down and talk about what benefits they expect from your app. Ideally, these are things that will convince them to download and use it. This could be ordering food from a restaurant for delivery or scheduling an appointment with a massage therapist.

It’s essential to think through what features you want to include and what purpose they will serve. Resist the urge to overcomplicate. Don’t add features that don’t add value or aren’t already available in other apps.

3. Prioritize Design & Study Competitors

An excellent way to get started is to research your competitors’ apps. You can do this by visiting the app stores, looking at their descriptions and screenshots, and reading reviews. This will give you a sense of what is working for them and what isn’t.

The three features of a mobile app that will have the most impact on your business are speed, performance, and design. These three features work together to create the experience for your users. Finding a way to deliver a quality experience within these three features of mobile app development will ensure higher user engagement.

4. Use a Mobile App Development Company with Experience

While there are a lot of strategies to consider when looking at how to grow your mobile app, one thing is clear – the goal should be to create an app that is useful and valuable for users. If you can take the time to understand what your users want, then it will be easier for you to grow your mobile app into something that everyone loves.

That is why it is crucial to work with a partner like our mobile app agency in New York. Griffon Webstudios has spent years perfecting mobile app design and development. We have successfully launched apps across numerous industries in one of the most competitive markets in the world, NYC. Schedule a consultation today with our professional team, and let’s find a pathway forward to an enhanced mobile app your target audience will use all of the time.

What Does It Take To Develop A Native Mobile App?

What Does it Take to Develop a Native Mobile App?

Figuring out what kind of mobile application will work best for your business can be a challenge. If you have never done any type of app development before, the learning curve to creating something new can be a little steep.

That is why it is crucial to hire a professional app development company. They will have the expertise to help you build, streamline, and launch a powerful mobile app.

What is a Native App?

A native mobile application is built using a specific language or platform for use with a particular device. These apps are installed directly through that device’s branded store like Apple’s App Store or Google Play. They operate directly on the mobile device and access specific device features like GPS for location data. So if you want an iOS app, you would use a language like Swift and design your application specifically to work on iPhones or iPads.

Where to Begin

Native app development is highly sought after because it is faster, more secure, and reliable than cross-platform or hybrid applications. The downside is they take a bit longer than other development and usually involve a higher price tag to complete. The best way to get your mobile app launched is to hire an app designer who works within the framework of your target device. They will have the experience and know-how to manage every step of the process, including:

  • Defining strategic goals
  • Analysis & Planning
  • UI/UX Design
  • Actual Native App Development
  • Testing
  • Deployment & Support

mobile app statistics

Every one of these stages is essential in developing your own native application. Of course, some design houses may use a modified version of these steps depending on the scope and price tag of your specific requirements, but for the most part, this is the basic outline of what to expect.

 

Why Using Native Apps Helps

Let’s go back to our original example. We are a New York-based florist with multiple locations around the city and have just completed a native app build. How does this help our business?

First, we know our clients tend to use Apple products more than anything else. So we have created a brand extension that associates our business with their favorite device. Now they are making an association between our company and one of the most trustworthy brands in the world.

Next, we can start leveraging their iOS features to our advantage. Say we launch a new ad campaign where we use push notifications through our native app so that consumers see coupon codes whenever there is an upcoming holiday or a birthday listed on their calendar.

This will encourage them to reach out and purchase some of our flower arrangements for their next special date. We can also use our native app to send notifications whenever they are within a certain perimeter of our store that says something like, “Have you sent your mom flowers recently?”

Finally, we are creating a faster connection with our target market. Native app design is all about using the device features to accelerate our customer relationships. It may cost a bit more upfront, but the benefits over the long term are well worth the investment. If you have an app idea ready to go for your business, using native app development to target your most engaged consumers is a great way to go.

Role-of-Mobile-App-for-your-business

The Role of Mobile Apps for Your Business

Mobile Apps represent a range of opportunities for companies of all industries and audiences. From fostering customer interest and loyalty to deploying marketing to the masses. Building an app worthy of the customer’s time and attention should be a primary focus for all businesses.

Mobile apps are projected to hit $188.9 billion in revenue by 2020.

mobile apps griffonwebstudios

Mobile marketing on your own platform is cost-effective. Aiming advertisements at customers that are already aware of your brand can increase sales within an existing customer base. Invigorating those around them to take notice. Offering benefits attached to those sales can further incentivize word of mouth. Allowing you to reach additional customers.

When properly utilized Mobile applications can unlock exponential growth potential while encouraging continued support from an existing customer base.

Mobile Apps

There is an app for that!

Mobile apps invaded our way of life, offering convivence, entertainment and engaging content on all our favorite devices. In a climate that has an app for everything we think exploring the space could yield desirable results for companies interested in dipping their toes in the water. Increase your presence and outreach with enticing and exciting content for your customers.

mobile apps

Working with mobile app developers can be incredibly beneficial. They offer personalized solutions designed to meet your needs and requirements. Whether encouraging promotional content or remain in touch with your community, a well-implemented mobile app can invigorate growth and development. Search for the Mobile App Company that suites your needs and discover the potential.

Customer Loyalty

Many mobile applications utilize loyalty programs to incentivize customers. Rewards programs or deal alerts are common functions drawing the attention of a lapsed customer in order to motivate a purchase. Then subsequently rewarding the purchase. Leading to a perpetual cycle while separating your company from competitors.

In 2017, there were 178 billion app downloads. That number is projected to grow to 205 billion this year, and 258 billion in 2022—a 45% increase over five years.

This method has proven beneficial to a multitude of scenarios. Increasing visitation frequency. Such apps also rely on the fear of being left out. Inspiring customers to constantly check in on inventory status. Customer interaction is at the core of a well-built mobile app.

Direct Communication

Door to door salesmen thrived on their ability to turn customer interaction into sales. Utilizing sales methods to inspire customer confidence. Building a rapport with pleasant chit chat. Engaging the customer as an attentive helper focused on fixing an issue. Mobile Applications are the modern-day door to door salesman.

Presentation is crucial to establishing and maintaining interest. A well-designed app can be very endearing to customers looking for an entertaining and beneficial way to engage. The quality of the app establishes the customer’s concept of perceived value. Informing their assessment of the company behind the app.

Applications offer a direct line of communication. Allowing companies to express their values and goals directly to the customer. Building a relationship and rapport helps foster a sense of brand loyalty. Which in turn becomes a habit. Applications offer a truly one of a kind opportunity for modern business owners. Allowing them to connect with every household directly.

mobile-app-engagement

5 Practices to Increase Mobile App Engagement

Companies have embraced mobile app marketing, and they need to ensure that mobile device users are using their applications. As a business, you must ensure that Mobile app development consultants adopt the following methods to achieve an increase in mobile app engagement.

Focus on App Usability and Improved UX

The first impression of the user when using your mobile app will greatly determine whether he/she will revisit again. If the application creates a bad impression, the user will instantly uninstall it.

UI Design
To ensure that the user keeps using the application, ask your mobile app development consultant to make certain that he creates an app that allows a great user experience from the moment the app is downloaded.

During mobile app development stages, your developers should target simplifying all the aspects so that mobile app user does not have to read a lot of instructions to be able to use your mobile app. The application should be easy to use with minimal need for support.

Embrace Push Notification in Applications

Push notifications act as reminders to the mobile app users and therefore will improve app engagement. To increase mobile app engagement, use push notifications appropriately. Don’t send too many notifications, but send them moderately.

Push notifications mobile appMobile app users are easily annoyed with apps sending too many unnecessary and irrelevant push notifications. During mobile app development, always make sure that your developer gives the users an option of subscribing to app notifications. It is good to ensure the notifications are helpful and not just junk information that mobile users may not be interested in.

Social Media Sharing

Make use of the social media links on the application. This has to be done during mobile app development so that users can share the information in your app with their social media networks.

social media sharing

This will generate some extra traffic to your application. This option will be better if you consider asking new users who find your mobile application through the link to install it before or after reading the material sent through the app.

Advertising

Creating marketing campaigns for your application will greatly drive installs for your mobile application and increase user engagement. You can advertise through social media or in other applications. The motive of your ads should be to engage advertisement of your products should at least direct customers to download the application and let them know that it can be used to communicate with you.

fbThe best alternative way to achieve mobile app user engagement is through display ads on search results and websites. Offer discounts for the first items bought through your mobile application to attract users.

App Tracking Tools

After mobile app development, it is important that you install tracking code so that you are able to track what users do and how they engage through your app. Using this you can send customized push notifications reminding the users to come back and resume sessions. 

Mobile Apps have become increasingly competitive today. Companies across industries are targeting users through mobile app marketing. Apps account for 89% of the mobile media time, with the other 11% spent on websites. Follow the guidelines above to keep the mobile app users engaged.

3-Simple-strategies-for-mobile-marketing-success

3 Simple Strategies for Mobile Marketing Success.

Having a mobile website or an app will not guarantee the success of a mobile marketing campaign. There are already 2.5 million apps in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store combined. Without app store optimization through SEO, ASO and SEM, people will not be able to find the app.

mobile marketing success
Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization has four factors such as relevance, honesty, popularity, and indexation. There are SEO tools that can help with the indexation of the mobile app, such as Google Keyword Planner. Popularity is measured by the number of backlinks to the web app.

Quality content will not only deliver more value to the community and attract other websites; it will also bring more relevance. Being honest by not trying to cheat Google is important to avoid disappearing from the search engine’s index.

App Store Optimization

App store optimization or ASO works the same for Apple App Store and Google Play Store. It is important that you give a good user experience when they land on your app page. In the Apple App Store, the title must be short and descriptive. Keep it around 25 characters at most. The description should include the keywords, but it must be short and direct to the point. Keep in mind that Google indexes iTunes pages, and you should optimize your description with the best SEO practices.

The app page must have five screenshots and a preview video of around 15 to 30 seconds long. The Apple App Store allows users to define keywords for the app, so you should make the most out of the 100 characters. You should avoid using misleading keywords. For the reviews, use the feedback to improve the app. However, your goal is to get good ratings.

App store optimization ASO

For the Google Play Store, it is important that you also keep the title short. The guide on descriptions is the same as that of the Apple App Store. Make sure that it includes all the features and important keywords because it affects the search engine ranking of the app.

The icon of the app is the first thing that users see when they search for it, and that’s why a lot of effort must be used to make it stand out from the competition. Google Play Store allows users to upload up to eight screenshots and a YouTube video up to 120 seconds long.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing or SEM is paid ads placed in search engine result pages. It should be part of your mobile marketing strategies. Before any SEM campaigns, you should first define your objectives, select the keywords, make create ads, create landing pages, and decide on your budget.

These are the things that you need to keep in mind if you want to launch a successful mobile marketing campaign. Search engine optimization, app store optimization and search engine marketing are important if you want your mobile app to gain a lot of users.

5-reasons-why-small-businesses-need-a-mobile-app

5 Reasons why small businesses need a mobile app

Small business needs a mobile app- Not Kidding!

Small businesses were once very easy to run. You just have to set up a shop, place an ad in the local newspaper, wait for the businesses to come through. Though it took a few days, it wasn’t a complex process. But as days went by, the Internet became an essential element in running any business.

Small business owners now have to keep up with technological advancements in order to run their businesses successfully.

The difficult part starts with setting up a website as small businesses seriously need one. Earlier, only large corporations had a website on their own, but it was time for the small business owners to become familiar with web designing, hosting, etc. Once the website is ready, it doesn’t end with that. You should also get familiar with SEO, Ads, tackling issues related to social media, offline and online marketing, etc.

As all these became essential for a small business, it looks like you now need to function like an MNC.

shopping-with-mobile-phonesDoes it all end here. Absolutely not. Now it’s all about mobile phones. Gone are those days where we used mobile phones only to talk to each other. Smartphones have revolutionized the way we do business. Even large corporations from all over the world, have shifted from their routine work of printing ads, billboards, and giving out leaflets, to the world of mobile marketing and ads. And of course, there are enough reasons why small businesses should embrace the change but almost all small businesses have one common perception in their minds.

A mobile App? We don’t see a need for that at the moment.

Yes, You might not see a need but there are plenty of stats and research findings that reveal what the consumers expect. Here are a few surprising mobile app stats.

  • Of the 1.8 hours average users spend online on their smartphones each day, mobile apps account for 89 percent of this media time (Social Media Today).
  • Almost 60 percent of marketers say mobile apps are crucial to creating a cohesive customer journey (Salesforce).
  • Around 88 percent of customers who search for local businesses online will actually visit or call these businesses within a day (Social Media Today).
  • 269 billion apps will be downloaded in 2017 (Statista)

Number of mobile app downloads worldwide in 2016, 2017 and 2021 (in billions)

Mobile app stats

You need an “extra” to become extraordinary. The survival rate of small businesses depends upon the extraordinary effort and innovative ideas they bring to the table. Here are few ideas that show how small businesses can benefit from mobile apps.

1. More Value to Your Customers

Business is all about giving. When you open up and offer your product, it should create value for your customers. If they find your product/service to be great, the market/customers will be ready with their wallets. Mobile App is a great way to increase your customers’ interaction with your brand. And not only that, you can add a lot of offers and loyalty programs inside your app in such a way that when the user opens the app, they have great deals either while ordering online or be it in the shop. One great example is The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, They offer free brewed coffee/hot tea to customers who install their mobile app.

2. Better Brand Engagement

Customer service is not always about communicating through emails or having a conversation over the telephone. Nowadays, it has become much more than that. A recent survey brings an interesting fact that 63.5% of the entire U.S population is expected to use a smartphone.

The real challenge for businesses is to create a rapport with their target audience and the best way to deal with this would be with the help of a mobile app. Design the mobile app in such a way that it interacts with your customers seamlessly. It should give a feel as if they are interacting with you in person. If you can win this challenge, you can resolve all your sales and customer service issues.

mobile app for small business

Another huge advantage of building a mobile app is when a customer wants to know something about your business at his convenience, say middle of the night, all he has to do is unlock his mobile and download the app. Very simple. Even buying a product is very simple. The customer doesn’t have to wait for the opening hours. He can just order it through the mobile app even when the working hours are over. For example, big boys like Amazon, eBay, etc allow you to order anything you need, from anywhere and at any time.

3. More Revenue, More Profit

A mobile app has enough features to generate additional income. By 2020, there will be 6.1 billion smartphone users globally.

When you create a user-friendly mobile app, the customers tend to spend more time browsing your product/services. When there’s more personalized content, there is a higher chance of an increase in sales. Recent data from Yahoo’s Flurry analytics shows that 90% of consumer’s mobile time is spent on apps.

It’s an App world, the web just lives in it.

percent-time-spent-on-mobile-apps-2017

CMO by Adobe recorded every e-commerce transaction during the 2016 holiday shopping. It reveals that a staggering $46 billion worth of sales came through mobile devices.

Here’s a very interesting statistic from Domino’s Pizza. When they introduced the mobile app for ordering pizzas, they saw a quick rise of 28% in sales in just half-year. As of today, 51% of their online orders come through mobile apps.

4. Customer Experience

A well-designed mobile app can perform faster than a mobile website as it does not require a web server. Mobile App stores all its data on the local device thus making it perform faster.

Minimal UI design combined with personalized content is more likely to engage your audience.

 Sleek Design

5. Extended Marketing Tool

More than just a mobile app, it can act as a tool adding a lot more value to your marketing efforts. If your app helps the users save time or keeps them engaged, they would definitely recommend it to their friends and share glowing reviews.

mobile-marketing-Griffon WebstudiosAs a business, Instead of reaching out to the customers through the traditional medium of phone/email, you could try conveying your message in the form of a mobile app.

Your downloads will increase when you promote the app with special deals and coupons. The users would enjoy the experience rather than avoiding the brand.

You must remember that today’s customers are constantly moving and addicted to their mobile devices.

72% of adult internet users use Facebook.

Your app can be easily integrated with Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. That allows the users to share your app with their network and review your business if they enjoy the experience. This gives you free publicity.

Forbes states that “building and delivering great mobile experiences will be the beating heart of your customer engagement strategy for the next 10 years.”

Push Notifications

One of the most important features the small businesses can make use of is push notifications. Push notifications are alerts that pop up on a user’s screen and informs them of the latest news, deals, offers and so on, which are available through your app.

Frequency, Timing, Content, and Deep linking are the important strategies to master when it comes to push notifications.

5 reasons for small business to have a mobile_push_notifications

Frequency: Push notifications can keep your customers well informed and interested but too many notifications would frustrate the customer and they end up trashing the app. There are no universally correct solutions for frequency but don’t overdo it. It all depends on your audience and their expectation.

Timing: Right place at the right time always works. Timing is very crucial in sending push notifications. The best way to determine the optimal timing for your business is by A/B testing. The same message at different hours will give you the user pattern and their engagement rate.

Content: Make sure that you offer real value, every single time. Content that drives urgency and relevancy would drive them to your app.

78% of users tend to immediately delete the app or disable notifications if they are unhappy with the content.

Deep Linking: Push notifications with links can redirect your audience to a specific screen or pages in the app. As a result, It provides a seamless experience and increases the engagement level of the viewers due to less distraction.

Mobile App stats

As you know, Mobile apps play such a huge role in the world of small business but there are two major things that make or break your app strategy. The quality of your app and the way it is marketed to the audience determines your success.