Why your small business should have a mobile app | TechRepublic

March 9, 2013, 3:47 PM PST

Takeaway: Find out several reasons why investing in a mobile app is a smart move for your business and a benefit to your customers.

At a time when there are over 120 million U.S. smartphone users (which represents about 40 percent of the population) and with as much as 50 percent of all searches occurring on a mobile device, small businesses that ignore mobile put future growth at risk. However, mobile investments don?t come cheap.

When your small business is deciding whether to invest in purchasing, customizing, or developing a mobile app, your current business approach, your call-to-actions, your competitors, and your team?s mobility are all part of the criteria. Here?s a look at several ways your company and its customers might benefit from a mobile application.

Potential uses and benefits of a mobile app

Target local customers and provide special offers

Customers who are on the go seem more likely to engage with brands if they are localized. For example, if you operate an IT consultancy that serves a local community, you are more likely to get more leads from the people in that region if you have a mobile strategy.

Provide better customer support

Good customer support is crucial to keep getting new referrals, and a mobile app is an excellent channel for delivering support instantly and efficiently. It is also a great way to scale your customer support by introducing new channels of communication and delivery directly from the app.

Collect feedback and data about customer behavior

If you want to learn how customers are using your products and services and what they like (and possibly don?t like) about them, a mobile app can be a simple method for collecting this sort of information.

In addition, with a well designed app, you can learn more about your customers, from their locations, job roles, ages, spending limits, and much more. This data could be useful when you?re tailoring communications and potential offers to them.

Summary

All these are valid reasons for investing in a mobile app. When you start to look at mobile as an opportunity to create better solutions for your customers (and for your business), then you are on the right track.

Does your small business have a mobile app (or apps)? If so, how has it benefited your business and its customers? If you haven?t committed to a mobile strategy, what?s holding you back? Let us know in the discussion.

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Source: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/smbit/why-your-small-business-should-have-a-mobile-app/837

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