Mobile App or Mobile Website: Which one you Will Choose for your Business

Are you an entrepreneur or the owner of an already established business??

Then, the above question must have caused a lot of headache for you. Launching a mobile app or stick to the mobile optimized website, is definitely a reason of dilemma for enterprises today.

A revolution, long started in the telecom industry, was initiated by the introduction of Mobile handsets. Simple and portable, this device was, initially, meant for communication. However, over the years it has proven to be a lot more than a mere communicative device. Presently, it has become imperative to own a mobile phone or our whole world will come crashing down. From the day-to-day activities to conducting important tasks, we are highly dependable on this small device. So if you own a business organization, it is very important for you to either develop an app or a mobile optimized website for your enterprise. However, which one will suit your purpose depends entirely on your understanding.

The war- ‘Mobile Application vs Mobile Website’, will continue but we can at least have an understanding which one you can opt for.

Let us try to understand the benefits drawn from both the smartphone application and website.

Advantages of owning a mobile app and mobile optimized website for your business:

• Establish brand value- Developing a highly informative, innovative and attractive mobile optimized website or an app speaks a lot about your company and develop your brand value.

• Cater to consumer demands- Are you aware of the buying behavior and characteristics of your target customers?? if the answer is no, then you need to do your homework first. It is highly favorable if you identify the target user base first and then develop either an app or website based on their requirement.

• Linked to social media for promotion- Social media is, undoubtedly, one of the best business promotional tool. You can easily add a social media button on either of the two option.

• Easy updates- Periodic updates is crucial for your website an app to survive in the continuous changing world of technology. This will keep your customers happy by offering them real-time solutions. Quick and hassle free update is possible for both options.

• Customer interaction for quality customer service- Live chat window is an option that is available for both Mobile app and it’s counterpart. This is the quickest way to get a customer response or feedback and immediately addressing the same.

• Security to the users- Security is the top priority for both the business operations and users. It must be protected through a strong password especially if it contains confidential user information. Both Mobile app and website can be made highly secured and fortified.

You can enjoy the above-mentioned advantages from both the phone app and website. However, there are certain distinct beneficial attributes of mobile application that is not possible to introduce in a website. Let us discover those features.

You can also read: Mobile App or Mobile Website: What to use in 2017 for business growth?

Benefits drawn only from your business Mobile App:

• Quick access and cut out waiting time- Our generation is highly impatient and if they have to wait a little longer for your mobile website to load, then they will immediately switch over to another site. Web browsing, usually, requires a user to launch a web browser, enter a URL and wait for the site to load, depending on the server. On the other hand,  it only takes a second to launch a mobile app because the majority of the information is stored in the application itself making it possible to function offline.

• Better customer engagement- It is always easy to locate the exact application on playstore that can best match the user requirement. This is not possible with mobile websites. User need to input the matching keyword and the multiple options will show up on the web page, and each of them need to be visited individually to make the right choice. Businesses uses apps over websites to instantly connect with their end users.  The point of a mobile app is to seamlessly connect and interact with customers.

• Location based component like Uber/OLA Application- Provide your users with location-based relevant information. Specially if you plan to offer service similar to Uber or OLA, then Mobile application is the right option for you.

• Deliver real-time information- Some app like Lift, helps users grow habits by tracking their behaviors. If your business idea is anywhere closer to this particular app, then you can think of programming a unique mobile application.

• Key competitive advantages- If you are an entrepreneur and your idea does have few relatively similar competitors who have already launched their websites, then you must find out whether they are available on the play stores. If not, then  launching a mobile app immediately for business will give you a key advantage over your competitors. Or else, build your app that can be distinct enough to catch the user attention. Ex: Mailbox is an email app designed only for mobile devices.

 

Summing Up

Developing a website for an organization has always been the perfect option to reach out to the target viewers. With the advent of Mobile phones, just creating a website is not enough. You have to build a mobile optimized website and more importantly, an application for the user smartphone. Then again the conflict remains here- which one will you choose for your business. No doubt you can perform many functions both on the website and the application. But there are few advantages that push smart handset apps way ahead in the competition to mobile optimized applications.

Current stats says that revenue of the mobile app market is enhancing and is somewhere exceed to around $189 billion by 2020.

However, If you develop both for a company, then you will get double benefit. You can receive traffic for your website from your mobile application. Example, if you own an app and a mobile website for your retail business, then you can request your app users to access your site through the app itself. The percentage of web traffic from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets is increasing at a rapid pace. Currently, it stands at 25% of all web traffic.