Mobile app development for business – Benefits and cost

You all have something in your pockets. It is a device that you can’t forget to carry with you. Even when you sleep, it is with you. Yes, I am talking about mobile phones. Earlier, people used mobile devices to make phone calls and send text messages.   

Now, this tiny mobile device helps you to browse the internet and access thousands of applications with just a click.   

The world is evolving, and businesses, too, are changing from top to bottom. And as companies are growing, the number of mobile apps is also increasing day by day. Now if you can move your neck around, you will see thousands of shops in your local area not investing in it.   

Are you someone who is still thinking about why you need to have a mobile app?   

This article explains the importance of mobile app development for business.   

What is Mobile app development for business? 

Mobile app development creates software (applications) that can run on smartphones and tablets. Users can access these applications through a smartphone or web browser. Today, Mobile applications have changed how we live, bringing everyone together with just a button click.   

Developing a mobile application is no longer a choice. If you want to become a successful mobile app development company, then creating a mobile app is a must requirement.   

Mobile applications make the life of your customers much more manageable. They can easily access information and consume loads of content just a click away.   

How can mobile apps benefit your business?  

1. Reach your audience   

Now with the introduction of mobile apps, your customers are with you. When you compare the launch of mobile applications with the traditional mode of advertisements, such as hoardings or banners. In that case, it takes a lot of work for companies to target their customers. There is no direct communication involved.   

But today you can stay on the top of your mind through mobile applications.   

As customers change their preferences then and now, it becomes important for your business to reach them. How you can reach out to them? It is through a powerful asset – Mobile applications.   

2. Keep a standout in the market.    

You must create a competitive edge in the market to beat the competition. In recent times, customer behaviors have become somewhat unpredictable. Now, consumers want the best customer experience and there should be a speedy flow of communication.   

More and more customers have started relying on smartphones, aka mobile devices. In this case, Mobile apps can do wonders for you.   

3. Connect with your customers at the closest level   

Everything reciprocates over time. If you expect your customers to buy from you and not your competitors, you need to provide value, connect with them, and give them something for free.   

Developing a mobile app is the go-to solution in this case. Having a mobile app always puts you at the top of the funnel.   

Customers have shifted from offline shopping to getting everything with just a click. Therefore, having a mobile application is a customer’s first and last contact.   

4. Increase your conversion rates   

As the number of smartphones has increased significantly, it will push more customers to stay on mobile. The conversion rates ( 2%) of mobile apps are much higher than any other marketing channel.  

A simple and easy-to-use mobile application convinces customers to use it repeatedly, making them feel more dependable. Increasing dependency will boost your conversion rates.   

5. Access to customer insights   

If you are keen to win the heart of your customers, then creating a mobile app can help you do so. You must know them better in order to serve them. Therefore, developing a mobile application can give your business access to customer insights.   

As a business owner, you can gather data through the customer insights section, and track of a few things –  

• Number of daily, weekly, and monthly users   
• Number of downloads and installs   
• Access to use demographics  

When you access customer insights, this data proves to be a goldmine for your business as you can quickly formulate your marketing strategies.   

6. Become your direct marketing channel   

Launching a mobile app is the go-to solution for designing your marketing strategies, managing your communication from one place, and creating a long-lasting impression in your customer’s minds.   

Additionally, you can send push notifications to your customers, reminding them about the ongoing offers and discounts available on your app.   

7. Increase your user engagement   

Developing a mobile app for business allows you to build brand loyalty, boost engagement, and increase ROI. But to make the users engage more with your content, you need to do user segmentation targeting.   

User segmentation targeting means that you are segmenting users into various categories and delivering the content accordingly. It is more about sending personalized content to specific user segments.    

8. Develops your brand presence   

Make your app look aesthetic and include the basic yet necessary features. The customer would love to use that app which is easy to use.   

When customers feel involved with your brand, they will likely buy products from you, which builds brand recognition.   

Your mobile app is the best way to gauge your customer’s interests and let them aware that your business exists.   

9. Builds customer loyalty  

There is a give-and-take relationship involved everywhere. The more you satisfy your customers, the closer they will get to sales.   

When you develop a mobile app for business, it can help you build customer loyalty. Whenever any customer purchases from your app, offer them rewards or cashback that can benefit them for a future purchase.   

Take the example of Taco: Taco uses its mobile application for conducting loyalty programs. This way, Taco converted its customers into loyal subscribers.   

10. Provides the best-in-class customer support   

The mobile application development for business serves as the first point of contact for buying a product or visiting a store. On the contrary, it serves as a last point of contact when a customer wants to reach out to you in case of a query or an issue.   

Developing a mobile application can provide the best-in-class support to your customers. It becomes easy for your business to collect customer feedback or create a form on the app that lets the users fill in.     

What are the steps involved in developing a mobile app?  

1. Decide your purpose and set up a strategy   

This is the first stage of developing a mobile application. Here, you need to set SMART goals and create a defined strategy.   

You need to have a clear WHY in your mind as to how this mobile app will benefit your customers, what problems it will solve, and how it can make their life easy.   

 Let’s take an example.   

Suppose you wanted to build an app for eCommerce and your underlying objective is to reduce the cart abandonment rate. So, you must have current metrics with you so that you can evaluate and compare.   

In this stage, ask yourself these 4 questions before developing a mobile app –  

•  What is the purpose of launching this app?  
•  Who is your target audience?   
• Who are your competitors?  
• What are your app goals and objectives?  

2. Do the target market research   

The previous stage was putting emphasis on idea generation and creating a need that your app will solve.   

In this stage, you will dig deeper to do target audience research. Here, you will start collecting more information about your customers, leading players in the market, reviews of top apps, user demographics, and the type of devices your customers use.   

3. Performing analysis 

This stage is more about converting your raw idea into a project. Once you have figured out key requirements, it’s time to build a product roadmap. Here, you need to identify tech stacks that are needed for developing a mobile application and who should work on this project.   

For example – There are different tech stacks for android and IOS. If you want to create a mobile application for android and IOS, you need to include android and IOS developers.   

4. Add features to your mobile app  

The time has come when you need to add basic features without which your app would be useless. The basic features will be integrated into your app.  

 Remember! The more features you add to your app, the higher the cost.   

 Make sure to add those basic functionalities in your app that will help the user to easily navigate the app.   

5. Select user interface / User experience (UI/UX)  

The no 1 concern that most customers have – this app is not intuitive, and the look of this app is relatively poor. The focus of your app should be to deliver a seamless user experience.   

Before that, there are some crucial components that are involved in this stage –  

• Deciding the architecture and workflows   

It comprises of designing a workflow diagram of what type of data will be displayed to users and how users will interact with your app.  

• Style guide   

In this stage, you will formulate an app design strategy. Here you need to decide the color scheme of your mobile app and the graphics you will embed in it.   

• Mockups   

At this stage, designers come up with design and visual elements. Mockup is like creating a model that looks like a similar product. 2 tools are used for creating mockups – Figma and Adobe XD.    

6. Develop your mobile application   

Here, you will develop your mobile application. Now designers will work and implement the features your customers need in your mobile app.    

While developing a mobile application for business, there are 3 things you need to take care of –  

• Front-end – This is the interactive user interface of your mobile app. It is the outer look that your customers interact with. Front-end is more about how your app is visible to end customers.   
• API Integration – It allows seamless communication between your front-end and back-end.    
• Back-end – Back-end is more about code, database servers, and frameworks. The back-end plays a significant role in improving the functionality of your app.   

7. Test your mobile application   

After you develop your application, you need to do Testing of this. Quality analysts (Q/A) will perform their Testing on the application. Testing an app is necessary to ensure that your app is working seamlessly.   

Also, Testing is essential to identify bugs before your mobile app goes live.    

8. Deploy your mobile application  

Now the right time has come when your app will go live. Here you need to think about distribution. Whether you want your app to be live on the app store or play store? Deploy your app there, and your mobile app development process is completed.   

How much does it cost to develop your mobile app?  

It is a very subjective answer. There is no defined or exact answer for this. Usually, the cost of mobile app development can range between $25000 to $200000, or it could go even higher.   

This is just a rough estimate. However, the cost of your mobile app depends on various factors –  

1. Size of mobile development agency  

2. Complexity of project   

3. The timeline required for developing an app  

4. Geographic location    

How can Big Oh tech help you in your mobile app development Journey?  

Big Oh tech helped tens of thousands of clients by creating a scalable mobile application that their customers would love.   

For example – We helped our client “Ferns and petals” by developing a mobile app for business that allows them to showcase wedding venues in one go. This app helped our client boost sales as everything was digitized through a mobile application.  

Want to convert your idea into a dream app? Then, let us know by connecting us via the contact page. Our experienced mobile app developers will convert your dream into a live mobile application.   

If you want to know about the latest mobile app development trends in 2023 then read this guide to know more.