If you are the owner of a small business and your business has yet to purchase or build a mobile application, now is be the right time to get one. Having a web presence alone is no longer enough regarding online solutions for businesses. Online business models continually shifts, and over the past several years it has very dramatically shifted to mobile devices. Basically, mobile phone applications have turned out to be an extremely critical advertising and marketing tool that helps small business owners to carry out their business activities successfully.

This rapid rise in the usage of mobile phones implies that mobile applications have turned into a key advertising device for organizations of all sizes, including small businesses. Mobile applications help to increment customer engagement. They help to boost repeat visits, and allow a wide assortment of online transactions, including the deployment of push notification promotions, mobile based loyalty programs, and mobile e-commerce business transactions.

If you are still not certain why you need to develop a mobile application for your business, here are some of the ways in which mobile application can benefit the growth and progress of your business:

Gain an Edge in Your Market and Against Your Competitors.

As a small business owner, if you want your business to be able to compete in your geography, with your addressable market, and in your industry, you must be ready to adapt to these changes at the speed at which business is evolving. Conceptually, this includes maintaining a solid presence on a mobile device since many or all of your prospects and customers today are constantly on the go. With a mobile application as an additional marketing tool in your arsenal, you are able to extend your reach more effectively.

Increase Sales

While it sounds cliché, and regardless of your bias, a mobile application can help you to increase sales in your business. A mobile application helps you create an additional channel that allows your customers to do business with you.  For instance a restaurant can provide not only their menu, but a short, optimized purchase path for speedy checkout. In some verticals such as restaurants and food ordering, it has been shown that customers actually order more food for delivery from mobile presence than over the phone.

Mobile applications usually offer a more advantageous approach to shop and browse, simply because it is more convenient. This provides your customers with the opportunity of making purchases or ordering your goods and services from right from anyplace, at their convenience. Organizations can even alert their clients for new events, deals, products, and lots more with push notifications, event alerts, etc..

Improved the Customer Experience

A mobile application can provide for your business a unified and always updated presence on phones of customers. This offers effectively, the most relevant information when they want it right at their fingertips. In the “now” economy, customers make split second decisions and if you don’t own the real estate on the customer’s phone, you’re secondary to a Google search, where you may not rank in the customer’s search at all.

Mobile Customer Loyalty Programs

Mobile applications for small businesses are under rated, and are very appropriate for client retention,  and such loyalty solutions help to increase customer engagement. Aside from the privilege of owning the real estate on your customer’s phone, mobile applications are more about rewarding clients who are loyal to the business. Not only can the customer do business with you while they are on the go, the mobile application also feels more valued and esteemed too.

Mobile Bookings and Reminders.

If you are a service business, for example, a salon or a practice studio, by making use of a mobile application, it will permit your clients to make appointments and reservations, easily sign up or enroll in classes by means of their mobile phones or tablet. At that point, you can easily utilize text or push notifications to affirm classes or appointments as well as to send updates and reminders.

Mobile Payments / Mobile Commerce

In the age of smartphones, walking down to banks to make a deposit now looks obsolete. Mobile applications provide your clients the opportunity of making payments for good and services right from their phone. With a mobile application, your clients can use PayPal or their Credit Card and handle different business transactions by means of their smartphone.  For instance, a company can sell a gift card via their mobile application, a restaurant can take a take-out/delivery food order, or a monthly membership to a gym.

Using a mobile application to make payment is a major timesaver for the customer, and a major leg up on the competition for the business owner. A mobile application permits businesses to accept payment on the go within seconds.

Integration of Data

Another preferred standpoint of utilizing a mobile application for small business is that it is quite easy to integrate mobile data with different applications by means of the cloud. Should you have unique needs, It is an alternative that can be a cost effective solution that can provide a significant return on investment (ROI) when compared to standard methods and business strategies of collecting data, reporting, or managing customer relations.

Mobile Collaboration and Communication

As we all know, connectivity and communication are very vital for businesses, especially in today’s business environment. With the mobile application, you can easily create a communication platform either internal between your employees or even external between the company and clients. This will help to enhance collaboration and minimize back and forth communications.  Communications use cases with mobile applications are literally endless.

Creating a mobile application for your small business will permit you to remain associated with both your employees and customers wherever you are. It’s incredibly savvy for buisnesses such as trucking companies, home security installation companies, and many other businesses that must track time, materials, and labor efforts, as well. With mobile applications, collaboration and communication just got easier for everyone.

Sales Support

Monitoring tasks, contacts, projects, messages and your schedule can all happen in a split second just by making use of a mobile application. This reduces the need to record critical details on old receipts or more daunting, attempting to recall straight from memory when you’re busy and on the go.

Rather than stashing business cards in a drawer, managers and business owners can consequently output and include contact information straight into their mobile application and include vital notes about their new associate.

By utilizing a mobile application, your sales representatives can promptly check-in, get to their business pipeline, customer data, past correspondence, quotes, and requests and do lots of other sales support activity.

Is your business contemplating developing a mobile application? Now may be an ideal opportunity to get it done. As the adoption of tablet and smartphone is almost reaching near ubiquity, small business owners and manager are understanding that a mobile presence is turning into a need.

It’s vital to remember that there is a big difference between a mobile-friendly website and a mobile application. Numerous unique features within your mobile application can  create a better user experience, keep you customers more loyal, bring them back to you more often, can create new business opportunities, grow your social media engagement, and grow your online reputation and testimonials..