Top 2020 Business Advice: You Don’t Need an App for That!
We’ve made it to week 2 of our new VLOG series after our video last week discussed social media icon placement.
This week Daniel opens up the contents of his head to talk about mobile app development and more specifically why you may not even need an app!
You can watch the video below but if you prefer the written word then scroll on down for a quick and informative read! Enjoy.
Why a Mobile App isn’t always the best solution:
We’ve made it to week 2 of our new VLOG series after our video last week discussed social media icon placement.
This week Daniel opens up the contents of his head to talk about mobile app development and more specifically why you may not even need an app!
This isn’t always the case. Sometimes after a quick initial chat with a client we realise that an app isn’t the best way to deliver what they are hoping to achieve.
We were approached recently by a company that specialise in providing local storage solutions. They wanted to enable customers to book a local appointment slot and were convinced that an app would be a quick and convenient way to do this.
However, this is a perfect example of when an app development isn’t always the best answer.
This is the case for numerous reasons:
Don’t Use an App as a Single Touch Point:
- The booking of an appointment would be a single touch point with the company. A new customer will not find and download the app and enter all their details to then carry out a single task. In this case booking an appointment.
- Apps are intended to create long term relationships with customers that are likely to have lots of interaction. For example, Amazon customers can quickly and easily log into the app to make numerous purchases and everything is linked to their existing account.
- Don’t add speed bumps to your buying process or your customer relationship/journey. Customers want speed and efficiency. Not slow, time consuming tasks and processes.
- A mobile app is ideal for ongoing development or long term customer relationship building and retention but NOT for single touch point actions and transactions.
Are you Making Life Easier for Everyone?
When thinking about potentially designing and developing an app, take a step back and look at things from a potential customer perspective:
- Would the functionality be more efficient and successful as an addition to an existing website structure? (This could obviously still be accessed via mobile devices.)
- Will an app actually help anything? Will it improve processes, streamline customer journeys and be useful for long term relationship building?
- Is it making it easier for the customer or is it making it easier for an internal team?
If you’re answering ‘no’ to these questions, or even ‘probably not’ then that is why ‘you don’t need an app for that!’
If you’ve read this and are now more convinced you’d like to develop your app idea (or even add the functionality to your website!), then get in touch and we’ll be happy to have a chat about it.