The proliferation of mobile devices and their usage has many businesses wondering if they need to supplement their web presence with a mobile app. At LTCS we get asked this question a lot, and our best answers is it depends on your situation. All business do not require a mobile app, but you should at least make sure your website is mobile friendly. For information on mobile friendly websites please visit our responsive web-design page. We will dedicate the rest of this page to help you decide if a mobile app is what your business needs.
Mobile App Pros
A mobile app is specifically built to run on phones and tablets, unlike a website that runs through your computer's browser. This allows an app to access some of the built in hardware of mobile devices. The most notable of these being the camera and GPS features.
The nature of an app as a standalone application brings the user's experience into focus on your message and avoids the distractions of competing tabs on a browser. This allows apps to have a more captive audience.
In most cases mobile apps are required to be downloaded from an App store. This allows your business to charge a fee to each user of your app. The app store presents your business the opportunity to reach millions of users and can be very valuable if your app becomes popular and prominently featured. This will help increase your brand awareness.
Mobile apps go through a rigorous approval process before they are placed in the app store. This adds an extra layer of security to protect your proprietary data.
Mobile Apps Pros Summary
- More features like access to camera and GPS
- Revenue generator
- Captive audience
- Increase brand awareness
- Security
Mobile App Cons
Developing a mobile app is a more complex and involved process than building a website. A mobile app requires a development team to build apps for both the iOS (Apple) and Android (Google) platforms. There are also a great number of devices and screen sizes that app developers must consider. There are tools to minimize these efforts but you are still submitting and maintaining an app for each platform. All of this requires a bigger investment than a traditional website.
You will need to promote you mobile app once it is launched to allow customers to find and download it. This will add costs to your marketing efforts, whether they be print, online or other.
Gathering and parsing data about your mobile app's usage is different than a standard website. Your SEO efforts for your website will not translate over to your app. You will have to learn how to uses these new tools and understand how to leverage the data.
Mobile Apps Cons Summary
- Complex development process
- Development and maintenance costs
- Additional marketing costs
- Analytics and tracking challenges
Mobile App Conclusion
Deciding if your service or product requires a mobile app is a big decision that comes with considerable cost and effort. LTCS hopes this page has provided you some guidance. If you would like to learn more about the mobile development process please click here. We know you still might have many questions so fell free to contact us for a free consultation by filling out of FREE estimate form.