Posted on June 13, 2022 / by Webmaster / in IT knowledge base

How your business and customers can benefit from a mobile app?

In the past decade, many of us had witnessed how mobile phones radically changed the world we live in. With every new release, they come with more compelling computational power. New devices do not just come with faster CPU and GPU, but also technological breakthroughs in camera, connectivity and security. Today we are able to capture crispier images in much low-light conditions, stream our favorable 4k video smoothly and send payment securely. And by the same token, AI and cloud computing are also advancing. A number of business mobile apps have well gone beyond merely recognizing voice commands, analyzing textual and visual data. They can anticipate user behavior, make forecasts, recommendations and decisions.

The possibilities for the future are seemingly endless. But then what does this mean to your business? While we are able to make mobile apps that are far more sophisticated and intelligent than their ancestors. Have you ever given any thoughts how possibly you business and customers can benefit from one?

A Mobile App Must Have A Purpose

As a matter of fact, more and more businesses which never would have needed a mobile app of their own are getting into the game. Some of them might be doing it with an eye toward staying ahead of the tech curve. In essence this is a terrific means to differentiate themselves from their competitions. Or many are simply trying to make the lives of their customers and staff easier and happier.

If you don’t yet any idea. You may unlock your mobile phone and ask yourself. What do you usually use your mobile apps for?

Call a friend, or chat with them? Check your account balance, make a transfer? Look up a stock price? Book a ticket, or read a book?

No matter what you are doing with your mobile phone. There is one thing in common. The apps you open or their services are connected with the value it is providing for you. So in regardless of how fancy the design of an app may be, if it isn’t something people need, no one will be interested in using it.

Common Types of Business Mobile Apps

At the time of writing, there are more than 30 and 20 different app categories in Google Play and Apple’s App Store respectively. Somehow these categorizations are more about ‘what’ those apps are. You might not see how they are related to your business unless it belongs to that particular category. From the business point of view, we might rather ask ‘why’ customers were using them.

In this respect, we could use 7 other more defining categories. These are the categories you need to understand before you start working on your business app idea. Your app can be created with one or a combination of them in mind. But there is one rule in mobile app development that you have to take note of. That only rule is you have to keep the app intuitive and easy to use. You do not want to scare the users off with a complex UI or an array of overwhelmed/ unnecessary functionalities.

Let’s examine each type of the mobile app. See how your business and counterparts can benefit from them.

1. Information Sharing Apps

Sometimes finding a piece of information about a company or its products could be frustrated. To make it a painless experience, one thing you can do with a mobile app is to make an information hub for your business. An authoritative and reliable source that shares useful information and make them easily accessible to customers and employees.

We do mention employees specifically. You should not limit your vision to serve customers only. A workplace contains a network of people. Nobody works alone but need to work as a team to get things done. The sharing and collaborating part of the setup is always awfully time-consuming.

Once you have the app set up, the app is effectively becoming a centralized information kiosk. User manuals, internal guidelines and customer documents of various media/ file formats can be presented in an organized flow. The app will answer many of the important questions automatically and provide with users the guidance they need right where they need it.

2. Customer Service Apps

Providing the very best customer service is what an admirable enterprise must do. Instead of asking your customers to look for the information by themselves. You can take your customer service to the next level by offering an interactive channel for customers to send their queries, submit a support ticket or speak with your Customer Service Representative one-on-one.

This hotline function can work interchangeably and seamlessly with the above information hub. Imagine when a customer is not able to find what they need, how wonderful it would be to put them in touch with your customer service representative directly. They don’t even have to leave the screen for a personal assistance.

3. News/ Content Apps

Enhancing user experience through personalized content is one of the best ways to get customers to engage with your business. With this in mind, you can consider to create and share exclusive content in your mobile app to bring in more subscription and genuine user engagement.

Content Sharing Apps are subtly different to the Information Sharing Apps we discussed above. It does not necessarily need to provide users with answers to their questions. Rather you have to put the customers in the spotlight, focus on privileges, emotions and excitements.

4. Task Resolution/ Self-Service Apps

Can you imagine you would have to call and wait for someone to reset your account password for you? A task resolution/ self-service mobile app gives users the freedom to manage their account and transact business with your company on their mobile device.

Nowadays customers want the control and reassurance of being able to access to customer service 24 hours a day, without having to wait. Even supermarkets are encouraging customers to do self check-outs. With this type of apps, you can delegate a lot of simple and repetitive tasks to customers. The benefits are apparent. Effective self-service delivers increased efficiency, lower operational costs, deeper insight into customer needs, higher satisfaction for both the customers and staff.

5. Customer Rewards/ Loyalty Apps

Customer Rewards/ Loyalty apps let you customers earn and keep track of their loyalty points on their mobile device. Customers can earn their points in a number of different ways. Customers can earn points not just by shopping from you. They can earn points by referring friends, sharing their experience on social media, taking a survey or completing a simple task on the app.

The adoption of mobile loyalty programs have been growing over the past years. The reason behind it is that loyalty programs can easily help a business to boost sales, improve customer engagement and increase customer retention rates.

6. Lifestyle Apps

Lifestyle apps may not be for every business. In a way that is easier, sexier and more interesting, these apps are made to improve the quality of one’s life. These apps covers a wide range of day-t0-day activities:

- Dating/ romance
- Food
- Music
- Travel
- Fitness and health

These are the apps that people use on a regular basis. The magic is when they become a part of user’s life, they are likely to stay there for good.

One very successful example is Nike’s Run Club app. Through the app, Nike has information ranging from people’s height and weight to locations, browsing and running habits. Nike can tap into these details for products research and crafting ads to attract target customers.

7. Games/ Entertainment Apps

It is a growing trend for businesses to employ game-like elements in staff training, branding and customer loyalty building. The result is simply boosted enjoyment and stickiness for everyone involved. The chemicals in the brain make people feel good when they play games. You’ll be surprised to see how much gamification incentivizes users to become more active and connected to your business.

Wrapping Up

Along with a few added features, mobile apps generally offer greater personalization and operational efficiency. When done right, you will be able to interact and engage a whole new customer segment. And at the same time, a business mobile app can provide employees new tools to improve their efficiency and perhaps, identify opportunities to create new revenue streams.

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