Over the last few years, we have seen an increase in the use of technology by local businesses in Singapore. People are using their mobile phones for more and more tasks, and it makes sense for businesses to adapt to the trend. As a business owner, you can find a way to take some of your business online to reach your customers more easily. By being innovative with technology, you can increase your customer base, build brand loyalty, and increase business profits in the short and long term.
Building an app doesn’t mean you need to put your entire business on it. Every business is different and needs a different digitalization strategy. Digital transformation consultants in Singapore always study how your business operates, as well as who the customers are, to find the best solution that can be tailored uniquely to your business. The most common digital transformations would be building a new mobile app, converting a website into a mobile application, redesigning a mobile app with a cleaner interface, and adding AI and machine learning to provide custom data for each user based on their preferences. Let’s take a how developing a mobile app can benefit your business.
Benefits of developing a mobile app for your business
1. Improve Customer Relationships
One of the first things a mobile app would do is improve your customer relationships. By offering an app you let your customer sign up with their name, email, and number. You then let them make use of the service you provide and send them notifications or emails addressing them by their name. This is something that is only possible with technology. You cannot hire enough employees to interact directly with every single customer, but you can develop a mobile app that every one of your customers can interact with.
With a mobile app, you can send your customers vouchers and coupons based on what they are interested in. Maybe these customers might have bought your products before if they were offered a discount, but without a means to reach them easily, it just isn’t going to happen. You also can provide them with updates about your products or services as soon as it happens, and this will build trust with your customers.
2. Provide Custom Experiences
You no longer can just list your products or services on an app and think people will just love it. People are accustomed to receiving a tailored digital experience. They expect a good user experience and apps that provide them with everything they need in an easy-to-use way. Building a good app is not just about understanding how to program it; it’s about how to make it for people that will use it every day. If you do that, you will see your business grow exponentially over time.
3. Get More Exposure
One of the best benefits of developing a mobile app is by getting more exposure. With a physical business, you can only interact with so many customers at a time, and not all the time. Businesses close, but apps are always active. Just think of your bank. If they didn’t have an app or website you would need to wait until you had a chance to go into the branch and meet with a consultant.
With a banking app, you can access your money at any time. With a travel booking app, you can book a flight or hotel whenever you want. Before that, you would have to contact a hotel directly, see if they have a room available and what the price is. Now hotels and airlines have apps that list the available rooms or flights with the prices, and you can instantly book them. The same with online shopping. Physical stores need to close, but with shopping apps, customers can use them at any time. This logic applies to every single industry.
Apps also have a very powerful tool called notifications. You can send your customers these when there is a special offer. You can even access their GPS location and if they are within a certain location, send them a unique message or offer. There are so many powerful things mobile apps can do with it comes to increasing exposure.
4. Brand Growth
One of the most overlooked benefits of developing an app is how it can help grow your brand. A mobile app gets listed on the mobile app stores. By doing that, you could get your business in front of people that never even heard about it before.
By building a mobile app, it will show people that your brand is a leader in digital innovation, and that will build trust in your brand. By being one of the first companies in your industry to go digital, you will attract a large amount of press about how you are innovating. That, in turn, will put your business in front of more eyeballs. This is a sure way to strengthen your brand and bring in more customers.
In Singapore, all industries have been taking advantage of mobile technologies, and it has provided many benefits. Healthcare apps have been developed to let people request a doctor on request, make appointments at clinics, and even monitor their health. Logistic apps allow users to track their parcels as they go through the supply chain from the factory to their door. Restaurant apps have been developed to allow customers to skip lines, order online, and receive loyalty rewards. Some industries might have been slow to digital adaption in the past; however, if anything good came from the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s that it showed those industries that digital can work, and in many ways, it can be much better.
