Why small businesses need their own app
Mobile application is no longer considered as a leisure feature that few companies can afford. Today mobile app is a necessity that any company should have and in the last few years it has turned into a powerful tool that is perfect for communicating with clients.
Before we discuss the importance and key advantages of mobile apps for business owners, let’s first have a look at some numbers. First of all, think about how many people use their smartphones on the daily basis? According to eMarketer report, in 2017 about 63% of total population are using smartphones and that would be around 220 million users.
Speaking about Dubai and UAE region, it’s atop other Middle East countries in terms of smartphone usage with 228.3 phones per 100 people in the 1st quarter of this year. That means there is almost two mobile per person in UAE.
Increase in the number of smartphone users in the United Arab Emirates from 2014 to 2019 (in millions)
However, before creating own mobile app, companies have to consider the following questions beforehand and conduct careful research to make sure it will pay off.
What do you want to achieve?
Before starting any business project (and mobile app is a business project indeed) your primary concern should be: what do you want to achieve with your app?
There are a lot of solutions that mobile apps offer:
- user engagement,
- retaining old users,
- attracting new ones, etc.
Depending on where your business currently stands and what your future goals are, you should clearly define your goal.
Defining your goal is needed in order to know what features your app will have and how it will function. And here comes the next question: who are your users.
Define your user
Try to portrait them and think of their possible habits, preferences and what is also important, their smartphone use behavior. The most active smartphone users are normally people between 18-35 years old and about 65% of them claim they are really excited about new apps and trying them out. This group is also the one frequently downloading the apps and actively using them every day.
No wonder this group of users is very mobile-oriented and spends about two thirds of their time with their phones. However, people between 25-45 years old also use their smartphones a lot, even though a bit less than the younger group.
With such statistics, it’s easy to predict that your app will be seen and noticed but only if you make sure to deliver the solutions to users’ needs.
What do users want?
Your app should serve a certain purpose and first of all, satisfy some sort of user need. For example, various game applications solve the problem of boredom, fitness tracking is perfect for health-oriented people and so on. And in order to build a truly useful and worthy app, first think of your average user, then assess your own services and think what benefits they can bring to the user via an app.
Say, you own a flower shop and you know that majority of your users are young adults. In this case your mobile app can be a perfect way to remind them about special occasions and holidays and give them even an opportunity to create their own bouquet so they can order it online with few taps on the phone. And that’s just one example. The ways of using an app to interact with your clients are endless, but you have to set clear strategy and goals.
According to to Clutch website , customers mostly seek “high-tech and highly personalized experience” in the apps. They want to see such features as special offers and discounts, opportunity to make in-app purchases, receive rewards (for being a loyal customer for example) and anything else that would allow them to easily and effortlessly interact with your product.
One of the brilliant examples of a mobile app that saves a lot of time and effort for its users is Smart Wallet introduced in UAE. This service is believed to reduce the departure clearance time by 9-12 seconds for a passenger. With Smart Wallet, the user does not have to carry the documents around but will only need to use the smartphone at the gate and scan fingerprints. Smart Wallet is a perfect demonstration of how smartphones are becoming the future of many services. This app is available in the App Store and has security checks to ensure your safety.
Where to get started with app development
There are thousands of android or ios app development companies in UAE and Dubai specifically and all of them offer almost same services: creation of a mobile app for your business. How to find the right company and make sure you will receive what you want?
The best way is to get a consultation from professionals. That will help you to understand your needs and what is the right solutions for you in term of creativity and technology. (Write more about that and end it by stating that Celadon is offering free consultation for business owners and startups in UAE .
Celadon is also a custom application developer company that offers individual services. We can guarantee excellent quality and truly personalized apps because every business is different and unique.
Besides we also understand the fast pace of Dubai business environment and we are doing our best to keep up with it and utilize latest tools and solutions in our work. Get in touch with our team and learn more about us, our work and what we can create together.