For any business that is serious in its respective field, it has become mandatory to get a mobile phone app made for itself. When considering an E-commerce store, it is but natural that the consumer might be using either his/her laptop/PC or mobile phone/tablet to access it. Mobile phone users are already outnumbering PC users. Even while using a cellphone, 78% users said they’d prefer using a mobile app over a mobile site to access an E-commerce store. This can be a primary reason why an E-commerce website must allocate its resources to develop an application for itself.
Other benefits of using a Mobile App to access an E-commerce store:
1.Faster
Mobile phone apps are almost 5 times faster than PC or even mobile phone websites. This enhances the user experience and retains the customer for a longer period of time.
2.Tailor- made content
It’s been noted that users love personalized or tailored content provided by E-commerce apps. This is because mobile shopping apps have dedicated algorithms to produce the list according to the user’s taste which makes searching for the desired products less time taking and hence more satisfying.
3.Convenient tools in the apps
Mobile phone apps have in built devices like camera that can scan PFDs, QR and Bar codes and NFC to use for payments, GPS to connect with maps, etc. These help in supplementing the shopping experience by decreasing the time and effort put in by customers in searching for and purchasing the item that they need, thus increasing customer satisfaction as well as the company’s score in various customer satisfaction surveys. The absence of these tools in PC and mobile phone websites deprive their users of the rich shopping experience enjoyed by the mobile phone users.
4.Higher user engagement
Mobile phone apps encourage smartphone users to spend more time because of better user experience and tools that facilitate this experience even further.
5.Cheaper, more creative marketing strategy
The enhanced functionality of mobile apps allows e-commerce websites to device marketing strategy that is unique to their customer base. Marketing done via mobile phone apps is also very cheap. It also leaves more room for loyal customers to self publicize the products they liked via sharing it amongst their friend circle.
6.Notification
Many a times customers open an E-commerce app and purchase items when they receive a flash/mega sale notification. Mobile phone apps have the feature of receiving notifications and customized notifications regardless of whether a user opens an app or not. Notifications essentially work as an endless publicity tool for the E-commerce website that keeps the customers updated on their favourite products, wishlist, new launches, etc. Both the parties win through notification.
7.Better communication
Mobile phone apps allow better and faster communication. Instant notification is a means of unilateral communication, but there are other mechanisms like feedback, reporting, call or email that can be done from the customer’s side to facilitate redressal. Easy contact increases customer satisfaction scores and also has the potential of turning random visitors into loyal customers.
8.Tap the loyal customers
The people who download E-commerce apps are usually serious buyers. They download the app to buy products on the first place. Over a period of time, these customers can turn into loyal customers. These loyal customers can be awarded by reward points, cashback, special discount etc. and can even be converted into brand ambassadors.
Shibi, search analyst at Wiinnova Software Labs. She has more than 5 years of experience in digital marketing filed.