How Mobile Apps Can Increase Sales? – Android App Development

ANDROID APP DEVELOPMENT

Android App Development

The rise and rise of mobile apps is undeniable and today worldwide mobile app revenue stands at a staggering $41.1 billion (Statista 2016). Yet with 1.6 million apps available within the Google Play Store competition is tough and now, more than ever, any app that you launch needs to compete within what is an increasingly crowded market (Statista 2016). To not only contend within an app marketplace, but moreover to truly ensure that your app investment delivers an attractive ROI, you need to have the right strategy, as well as a solid understanding of how it is that an app can increase sales. To this end here we present a breakdown of the ways in which apps deliver profit, what strategies can lead to success and conclude by exploring the benefits of Android app development.

A mobile app can drive customers direct to your door?

Geo-targeted Push notifications is a fancy term for displaying information that’s relevant to those who are near to your store or business with information – such as deals, in-store event news or updates on the weather. Central to your approach to app development is that it provides an additional communication channel – serving an extra tool within your marketing itinerary.

Auto-fill in for forms drives down bounce rates?

A mobile app can overcome an age old eCommerce issue: the amount of customers who leave a site without purchasing when confronted with a form to fill in. A leading example of which is where food delivery apps utilise the user’s GPS in order to serve up a list of restaurants who deliver to the area.

Push notifications can ping users at the right times?

For those who seek to drive revenue from their application, pinging a message to consumers through push notification is far by one of the most effective ways to increase sales. Since the dawn of internet enabled phones, consumers have used their devices to fill spare time with internet browsing – such as reading the news during the morning commute. These peak periods of time can be harnessed via mobile apps to send users notifications that can drive consumers back into the purchasing process. Simple messages about abandoned carts through an app that has the user logged in, can present the perfect opportunity to finalise a sale that would otherwise have been lost.

The ability for online retailers to compete whilst a consumer is within a competitor’s physical premises?

Mobile applications present a chance for online retailers to serve up information, such as competitor pricing, from within their competitor’s brick and mortar stores. Amazon is a prime example of this, where they offered users $5 for scanning items whilst shopping to check whether the price that is before them is worth paying, or whether they should move online to buy.

Successful Strategies

Focus upon solving a pain point for your customers, NOT on an app that is purely promoting your products

As any reputable Mobile Application Developer will tell you, an application must hone in on your customer’s problem, and elegantly solve it. A few examples would then be a pet store that provides a dog training app; a restaurant that offers in-app cooking masterclasses or a retailer app that provides on-trend tips.

Ensure that there’s a reason to frequently use your application

If your user becomes reliant upon your app and has a reason to use it regularly, then you’ve managed to become indispensable and a brand that is entwined within your target market’s life, albeit to a limited degree, on a consistent basis.

Go for a Beta test run to gain invaluable feedback for the next version

Beta runs can provide you with feedback that may have been missed during pre-launch testing – they may pick upon little known glitches or offer advice as to how your app could more effectively solve your customer’s problems.

If you’re planning on adding a price tag to your app, consider offering a free version to get users hooked

Creating an instant hit application that comes with a price tag is seriously tough going. You can overcome your user’s reluctance to pay up-front by offering an app trial or a free, lighter version.

Couple your addition to the Google Play store with a PR campaign

You may have crafted the perfect Android application development strategy, and have an app that truly solves your target consumer’s pain point. Yet without the right PR campaign your app will have little chance of success.

Mobile application development: Why Android?

When weighing up your options for mobile application development a core question to answer is what platform you should choose to develop upon. This question is often not with a straight forward answer, as each platform provides for unique benefits. Within our last article (From your fledging app idea to app store) we explained what iOS had to offer as a platform, and here we balance your choice by summarising the core benefits of forging ahead with Android app development.

Android application development is subject to fewer restrictions

Android empowers coders through freeing them from various restrictions (emulators, file downloaders); this, alongside a far friendlier approach to developers and their code, means that Android apps can usually launched more quickly and easily than when compared to the average Apple app.

Your mobile application development can harness the biggest Smartphone market there is

Android application development taps into the largest percentage of Smartphone users (with Android holding a 48.5% market share, compared to Apple’s 32% [Marketing Pilgrim 2012]).

The Google Play Store is a far more attractive proposition

Android application development provides for far lower customer acquisition costs, coming in at a cost that is, on average, 40% lower than winning a customer on the Apple Store (Fiksu).