To appeal to today’s fast-growing world, businesses have started to consider the value of developing a dedicated mobile app for their customers. In fact, it is a great idea to grow your business through what people like the most. However, if you don’t want your users to abandon your app after a few uses, then you must give them a good reason to stay and come back. But how can you ensure that? We mean, how can you take your business online with a mobile app? Well! There are many ways and benefits of doing so.
Today, many businesses have understood what it takes to create an app that is engaging and long-lasting. And it is high time for those who still hesitate to go online. If you’re thinking about ways to take your business online with a mobile app, this article will greatly help you.
In this blog, we will share some valuable steps and tips every business should consider while building their mobile apps to ensure users will keep coming back. So, let’s get started.
What is a Mobile App?
Mobile App is a specialized software application designed to work on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Unlike computer software, which usually works on desktop or laptop computers, mobile apps are developed to offer advanced functionality customized to the capabilities and limitations of these wireless computing devices.
The first mobile app was developed in the 1990s, and it was no other than Nokia’s popular ‘Snake’ game. However, they became mainstream after the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and the Google Play Store in 2008.
This evolution allowed several third-party developers to build and distribute apps, which led to an explosion in the number of available apps. Over the years, mobile apps have evolved from simple games and utilities to complex ones that are capable of performing crucial tasks, such as banking, social networking, and even health monitoring.
Market Analysis: Key Statistics on the Mobile App Industry
- The mobile app market is valued at $522.67 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $781.70 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 7.84%. (Source: Statista)
- Users spent 3.8 trillion hours on mobile phones in 2022, with an average person spending 75 hours per month on mobile apps. (Source: MobiLoud)
- There are over 2.87 million apps available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. (Source: MobiLoud)
- 21% of millennials averagely open a mobile app 50+ a day, while 49% of them open 11+ times each day. (Source: Buildfire)
How Can A Mobile App Help Your Business to Grow Online?
Before we move on to discuss our main topic, let’s first discuss the potential benefits of mobile apps for your business growth. It will help you decide whether you should go with mobile app development or not. So, let’s take a look at the benefits of investing in mobile app development:
Boost Brand Awareness
What would be the first thing you expect from your mobile app? Of course a strong brand awareness. No one will prefer to get your products or services if they don’t know about your brand, as people prioritize shopping from renowned brands to get quality products and services. Therefore, investing in mobile app development can be a smart business move fo those looking to go online.
With the help of a dedicated mobile app, you can showcase your distinct brand and show people how your products can be a solution to their needs. Imagine what would happen when no one knows your brand. There will be no sales and, ultimately, no growth. In short, while mobile app development requires a significant investment, it is worth every penny in the long run.
Increase Customer Engagement
Undeniably, today’s GenX wants instant access to their favorite brands, meaning they want to shop from their favorite brands but without going to a physical store. And that’s all happen through a mobile app.
No matter whether you offer a product or a service, a mobile app can help strengthen your user engagement. Additionally, using social media integrations, you can fuel your marketing strategies. Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offer great exposure to businesses.
A user-centric experience and interface will definitely outperform all other offline marketing strategies. In short, users can use the mobile app anywhere, anytime, which increases their engagement with the brand.
Maximize Productivity And Minimize Cost
Production monitoring is a long and hassleful process that takes a lot of time and effort. However, mobile applications have emerged as a great option to keep track of business productivity in real-time. Additionally, you can save thousands of dollars by consolidating all your details, records, checklists, employee details, documents, and other data into a business mobile app.
Conversely, businesses spend a lot of money and time on documenting everything. While it is equally necessary, it may not spare enough time for other high-priority tasks. But with a business app at hand, you can increase your productivity through employee communication.
Offer Data Security
Users nowadays use digital ways for literally everything. And what is better than shopping while sitting at home without the hassle of going out? But what about the safety of your online transactions? That is why many people are wary of using websites for online purchases. They rely on mobile apps as they know all their information is being stored on their mobile device.
This not only makes the process secure but less time-consuming. Besides this, mobile apps often have authentication security and biometric authentication functions that offer an extra degree of data safety and privacy.
Drive Sales And Revenue
It is no secret that customers do like your products and services if they are satisfied with them. They will keep coming back, resulting in increased demand and improved sales. While a responsive website is crucial for businesses, a high-performing, feature-rich mobile will surely be a game changer.
Think about the convenience that a mobile app offers to users in terms of shopping, booking for a service, or during an online transaction with just a few taps. Therefore, mobile apps can help enhance your customer experience, leading to enhanced sales and revenues.
Act as a Direct Marketing Channel
A mobile app is more than just an application; it can turn out to be an effective digital marketing tool. Wondering how? As it is clear mobile apps put everything in your fingers, such as account information, booking forms, messages, news feeds, prices, and more. This makes it easier for users to get all the information at a prompt.
Besides, mobile apps are a more straightforward method of marketing than other ways. As you have insightful user data, you can use it to fuel your marketing strategies. It can help you understand your user’s preferences, customize the content according to them, and even send push notifications related to new offers and discounts.
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Building An On-Demand Marketplace
Considering building on-demand mobile apps can be a game-changing idea for your business - Look how successful these popular on-demand apps like Grubhub, Uber, Lyft, etc. These apps not only solve what users need but also require less investment, making them suitable for startups and SMBs.
Businesses don’t need to set up on-demand markets as a different new line. They just have to launch their app by developing a strong online presence. This helps businesses to increase their area of operations.
Innovation Through UX/UI
Organic traffic to a website is due to the continuous involvement of users. On the other hand, users consciously download and install a mobile app. And if they find it useful, they frequently use them and prioritize it whenever they need anything. So, what makes users quickly attracted to an app?
UI and UX designs are what a user first interacts with after downloading the app. Therefore, they should be seamless, stunning, and user-centric. A perfect mobile app is one that is built with a collaboration between clients, developers, UX designers, and user insights. They are the ones who bring unique ideas to the businesses. They prioritize incorporating modern UI elements like animation and machine learning. In short, a mobile app with stunning visuals and advanced features is the one that stays relevant to the user’s demand.
14 Ways to Take Your Business Online with a Mobile App
Below are some of the most important steps and tips that help you create a mobile application that will take your business online and ensure its long-term success.
#1. Offer Exclusive Content
Nowadays, people spend most of their time on smartphones, so creating a mobile app can be a smart way to connect with your target audience wherever they are. However, people don’t like to clutter their phones with apps they rarely use! To make a difference, your app should not only reflect your brand but also provide exclusive content or benefits that are only available on the mobile platform.
#2. Create A Community
A key step to developing a business mobile app that attracts and retains customers is fostering a community. If users can engage with each other, and produce and exchange useful information, then that will be a big win.
#3. Solve A Pain Point
Develop an app that delivers value and addresses a problem for your potential clients and their customers. If it’s just a fun thing that is a reflection of your brand but doesn’t capture their attention or offer any benefit, you’ll probably lose them because there are too many apps out there.
#4. Properly Leverage Notifications
Use appropriate and timely notifications, either through email or push notifications, to keep your customers engaged. However, don’t overdo it, as it can annoy them. Begin with a few notifications for the most crucial updates customers may be interested in, such as forming a new connection, having funds in their account, and any other things you believe are relevant to them.
#5. Focus On Creating Convenience
Convenience is king in this digitally growing world. Users prefer convenience when shopping online, and that’s why mobile apps help them. It is imperative to make your app less complicated, by adding functions like easy payments, content navigation, and showing relevant information. The less complicated your app is, the more users will prefer coming back.
#6. Design With Your User Persona In Mind
Businesses should know their audience before building a mobile app. It will help discover the purpose of the app, its targeted audience, and the central pain point they expect your app to address. It not only helps you design the app’s UI/UX but also aids in customizing every aspect of your business app.
#7. Well-optimized and User-friendly
Many businesses will choose the fast and easy way of mobile app development, where they just use a mobile version of their website. If you want to retain users, it’s essential to improve your app from start to finish with features that make the most of the mobile platform: endless vertical scrolling, touch functionality, and big text that doesn’t mess up your formatting.
#8. Design Efficient, Intuitive Navigation
A business mobile app that wants to retain its users should have a user-friendly navigation system. The app’s interface should allow users to easily switch between different pages and features. This will enhance the user experience and increase the chances of users coming back.
#9. Ensure Compatibility Across Operating Systems
Mobile apps may not look or function the same on different phones. A good mobile development company should be able to handle this, but you should also do your own testing. Mobile design is useless if it cannot adapt to various devices, and app development can cost a lot.
#10. Invest In Quality App Development
Some businesses assume that apps are a cheap and easy way to reach their customers or boost their profits. Apps can be a great tool to enhance visibility and convenience, but only if the app is of high quality. Apps that have glitches can damage a brand more than having no app.
#11. Use Gamification To Build Habits
Design an app that encourages users to form a habit, one where they are rewarded for returning every day to continue their habit. A good mobile app design will make the UX more fun and interactive so that users earn points or access perks or discounts by using the app frequently. The influence of habit is immense, and creating an app that fosters habitual actions can keep your users loyal for a long time.
#12. Make Sure The App Runs Seamlessly
To keep your mobile app users happy, you need to make sure that your mobile app operates flawlessly. This means avoiding any problems with downloading, fixing any bugs, and making sure that all of the pages load quickly. Users often quit apps that are faulty or slow.
#13. Ensure It Serves A Purpose
It is essential to ensure you have done good market research before developing a mobile app that provides results and sales. Even if you create a high-end, feature-rich app, it will not matter if no user wants it. So, it is important that your mobile app serves a purpose.
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The Step-by-step Process to Mobile App Development
Building a mobile app might seem complicated, but let's break it down into simple, easy-to-understand steps. Here’s an overview of the entire process from start to finish:
Step 1. Planning and Research
The planning phase should take place right after you've thought of your app idea. In this stage, you're not focusing on how the app will look or how it will be coded. Instead, you should address several high-level questions about whether your idea is viable in the current market.
This planning generally involves market research and conducting a feasibility study on the app’s goals, features, needs, and value proposition. You also need to decide which platforms your app will be available on (iOS, Android, Web, etc.). If you’re developing for multiple platforms, you must decide whether to take a hybrid approach or develop a native app for each one.
Step 2. Prototyping
Prototyping is the phase where you begin quickly creating wireframes and refining them based on user feedback. Think of a wireframe as a basic blueprint for the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) of your app. It provides a broad idea of the app's features and navigation without delving into specific details like colors or styles.
Your wireframes don’t need to be completely detailed. Instead, they should highlight the essential features (or the minimal viable product, MVP) of your app, allowing you to gather valuable feedback on the core functionalities.
Step 3. Design
The design phase of app development involves several critical components, so let's touch on the most important ones. First, UX and UI designers take the approved wireframes and refine them further. This involves arranging and creating UI elements, establishing user flow, and recognizing the significance of element hierarchy.
At this stage, designers should create high-fidelity mockups that developers can transform into functional apps. These mockups should include details about the behavior of interactive elements, such as what happens when they are tapped, swiped, or dragged.
Step 4. Development
The development stage is when you start coding the "final" version of your app. At this point, you incorporate the feedback gathered from the wireframes and make some critical, potentially major, decisions.
During this phase, you can apply methodologies like waterfall or agile. An agile approach is often preferred for mobile app development. These methods provide structured ways to manage the development process efficiently, ensuring the final product meets user needs.
Step 5. Testing
Testing should ideally run alongside the development phase. Consistent testing throughout development is crucial to minimizing costs after the app is released. Implementing unit tests, UI tests, and integration tests helps identify and fix major bugs or issues early on.
While thorough testing might extend the development timeline, it significantly cuts down on long-term maintenance and support costs. Additionally, robust testing efforts pay off later during the app’s maintenance phase, ensuring smoother updates and user satisfaction.
Step 6. Release
Once your app is ready, the next step is to submit it to the App Store or Play Store for approval. Understanding this process is crucial because you will repeat it every time you release a new version of your app. By this stage, you should have addressed most of the significant issues identified during testing, ensuring your app meets the store's guidelines.
Congratulations! Your app is now available to the public. However, your journey doesn't end here. Post-launch, you return to the prototyping stage. You'll gather user feedback, potentially add new features, and then release updated versions. This cycle of collecting feedback, refining your app, and re-releasing it helps you continually improve your app to meet user needs over time better.
Step 7. Maintenance
The maintenance phase starts simultaneously with the release of your app and continues in parallel. This stage involves keeping an eye on the app's performance, addressing any bugs that may arise, and ensuring that the app functions smoothly. It's also essential to update your app to be compatible with new operating system versions and support new devices.
Maintenance is a continuous process. You will need to maintain your app indefinitely unless you decide to stop supporting it, which could potentially inconvenience your users. Regular maintenance ensures that your app remains reliable, secure, and up-to-date.
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How Much Does It Cost to Build a Mobile App in 2025?
The mobile app development cost is the most significant expense in a business’s digital transformation journey. It can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $500,000 or more, depending on various factors. Here's a simple breakdown:
- Simple Apps: Basic apps with 3-4 screens cost around $1,000 to $10,000.
- Medium Complexity Apps: Apps with more features like user registration and data storage cost $10,000 to $50,000.
- Complex Apps: Apps with custom UI, databases, and multiple features can cost $20,000 to $500,000.
- Games: Simple games cost $5,000 to $250,000, while complex games can exceed $250,000.
The final cost to develop a mobile app depends on the app's features, design, development time, and platform (iOS, Android, or both).
Conclusion
Taking your business online is a significant step in ensuring its long-term growth. Mobile apps have emerged as the easiest and most effective way to do so. While the mobile app has become an essential part of business success, it comes with a variety of benefits.
Additionally, keeping all the points and tips we discussed above in mind, you can ensure a seamless and effective digital transformation of your business from offline to online with a dedicated mobile app.
But if you are still in doubt? It’s time to talk to the experts! Contact Mtoag Technologies and speak to our expert mobile app developers to discuss your requirements. Who knows, your app idea could be the next big thing.
FAQs
Is It Worth It to Build a Mobile App for Your Business?
Yes, building a mobile app can significantly enhance customer engagement, streamline operations, and boost sales. With the growing use of smartphones, an app can provide a competitive edge and meet the needs of modern consumers.
How to Start a Business with an App?
To start a business with an app, first identify a unique idea that solves a problem or meets a need. Plan and research your target market. Design and develop the app, then test it thoroughly. Launch it on app stores and use marketing strategies to attract users.
What Mobile App is Most Useful to Your Business?
The most useful app depends on your business type. E-commerce businesses benefit from shopping apps, while service-based businesses might need booking or scheduling apps. Customer relationship management (CRM) apps are valuable for maintaining customer interactions and data.
How Profitable are Mobile Apps?
Mobile apps can be highly profitable if they provide value to users and have a good monetization strategy. Revenue can come from in-app purchases, subscriptions, ads, or premium features. Successful apps can generate significant income.
How Much Does It Cost to Pay a Company to Build an App?
The cost to hire a company to build an app can range from $1,000 to $500,000. Simple apps are cheaper, while complex apps with advanced features are more expensive. The final cost depends on the app’s features, design, and development time.
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