Absolutely Not.
(But avoiding them certainly seems to be!)
Okay, we’re a bit biased since one of our businesses is creating great apps for small businesses, but our opinion is based on solid facts. Businesses that use apps to boost internal operations and interact with customers are reporting major benefits that have a direct impact on their bottom line.
According to a report by the Small Business and Entrepreneur Council, 78% of small business owners polled said they save time by using apps. On average, these owners estimate they save more than 5 hours each week. Monetized, this leads to an estimated yearly savings of over $14,000 each year! (And for the larger small businesses, this figure could be much higher.)
The takeaway is simple: apps save you money. But that’s just in-house. What about customer relationships?
Well, users are spending 127 minutes in apps on average each day. It’s safe to say that people love apps. Businesses that capitalize on this fact can enjoy a number of benefits. Mobile apps let businesses reach customers anytime, anywhere, and offer a world of useful, creative functions that cement and improve the relationship between parties. This leads to happier customers, increased sales, and excellent referrals.
How are they doing it? There are many ways to use apps to connect with customers:
• Push notifications with promotional offers or invitations to events
• Reservation or appointment scheduling
• Mobile shopping
• Support requests
• Feedback
• and more!
So, why are some businesses ignoring these benefits? For most, it’s simply a lack of understanding, and the fear that the effort will be costly and irritating to maintain. But with simple solutions now available, these fears are largely unrealized. And with many billions of apps now being downloaded each year, it’s clear that apps will be with us, and will remain quite important, for some time to come.
Sorry, no fads here!
If you want to make sure your business is the one taking advantage of mobile technology, instead of being taken advantage of, we can help.