The more people use smartphones and make purchases using applications, the more companies are thinking about creating their own mobile service. The application can indeed be a useful tool for business, but in some areas it can only be a waste of time and budget.

Ask yourself the 10 questions in this article to help you decide if you should develop an app.

1. Maybe it’s a feeling of FOMO (Missed Profit Syndrome)?

The field of mobile development over the years of its development managed to oversaturate: with the advent of Instagram and WhatsApp, people realized that you can earn good money on applications. Now everyone wants to release their own service, but more often out of a feeling of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) – the fear of missing out on a good opportunity and benefit. Consider whether the new site will bring the expected profit. Often, companies simply need to adapt the design of the site for mobile devices.

2. Will the app be different from an optimized website?

It usually depends on the scope and type of business. In most cases, a smartphone-optimized site can be just as effective as an app, but requires less time and effort from developers. Ask yourself how much easier it will be for the customer to choose and buy from the new service, and whether it will be different from the user’s journey on the site.

3. How does creating an application affect your competitiveness?

In some areas there is a vogue for applications: few people get real benefits, but every company is obliged to create it in order to keep up with others. A business is forced to become a developer company in order to compete, and hundreds of useless services appear on the market. As a result, they solve the problem of image, not benefit for customers.

4. Are PWAs right for you?

PWAs are progressive web applications that allow you to download a website to your phone. Now companies do not need to develop separate applications for Android and iOS: it is enough to keep the website up and running.

Such services are suitable for most areas: online stores, delivery and booking services, online publications. The exception is mobile games that need special system resources for fast work, complex social networks, and highly loaded systems.

5. How often do you interact with people in person?

It happens that a business mainly sells face to face in offline stores or basically communicates with the client for a short time. Here the application is unlikely to be used. The development of a new service may be necessary only if people interact with personal data – often you have to check the status of an order and search for products using individual filters. In other cases, it is enough to create a convenient and fast website.

6. What is the lifestyle of your target audience?

If potential customers spend most of their time on a phone or tablet and work with them, a mobile application will really be more convenient for them. But if customers mostly sit at desktop computers and like to study information on a big screen, mobile service is unlikely to be popular.
In addition, the segment in which you work is of great importance – B2B or B2C. If you provide services to a business or are a wholesaler, then, as a rule, specialists will look for you, interact with you during their working hours from their office computers, and in this case, the effectiveness of the mobile application may be a big question. However, this may require some system for corporate use or a service for calculating the amount of materials, such as the TechnoNIKOL Master application, implemented by our studio.

7. Can the sales process be improved with the app?

Mobile service is a new way to buy, sell and receive information. If it does not solve any of these problems, the game is hardly worth the candle. Probably just to show off new technology to competitors. And if in order to complete a transaction, you still need to leave a request and chat with the manager in person, or maybe even come to a personal meeting – how will the application help you in sales?

8. Is it possible to do without a mobile application?

Ask yourself what problem you are trying to solve and if it can be solved without developing a new platform. If the development goal is vague and does not bring much benefit and profit, it is better to focus on something more important.

Look at your competitors, analyze what problem they are investing in applications to solve. Is it really the pain of your target audience?

Talk to your current clients. As a rule, people rarely turn to one person for a solution to their issue, they look for and choose the most advantageous offer for themselves. No one but the client will tell you better about what he needs and is important, and for sure one of them used the already existing services in your market. Will a mobile application help your client, will it solve his problem better than a website?

9. Do you offer new and valuable experiences?

If you’re already selling enough through the website and other online channels and getting positive feedback, chances are you won’t need an app. A new service is needed only if you cannot give something to users using the site.

Maybe the application will feature a loyalty program, a customer card that is always with you – this is still not a desktop tool; or, for example, the service will suggest the need to perform car maintenance or find the network store closest to the user and show the availability of goods in it at the current moment.

10. Will it simplify the user path?

Personal account login with biometrics instead of a password and reminder push notifications can improve user experience and provide a good customer service experience. This can be a link with accounts on a social network, linking payment data without the need to enter them constantly on a new one – of course, subject to a high level of security. If there are enough such functions, you can start developing the application. The main thing is understanding that your client really needs the features that you add to the application.

Our app development studio AppСraft has been operating since 2011. During this time, we have created more than 200 mobile services – from online stores to complex corporate solutions – and we know what your target audience really needs. We are ready to conduct a personal consultation, where we will tell you about all the pros and cons of creating an application for your business.