The Invention of Apps and How They Have Evolved to Help Businesses

One thing that’s synonymous with any mobile screen is a multicoloured collection of apps and behind each app sits a business. So, should your business create an app? With mobile becoming ever more dominant, having your own business app is something to consider; and they’ve come a long way since the launch of Snake on the Nokia 6110 back in 1997. In fact, they are now a part of our day-to-day lives – there’s even a National App Day on December 11th. Let’s look at what you could hope to gain these days from creating the latest generation of app.

Once a customer, or potential customer, has committed to downloading your app you have created a form of direct dialogue whereby your business can pass on carefully chosen information that meets your business’s objectives, such as engaging with content, asking them to share a picture or recommending a friend. If users enable push notifications, then your app gets elevated to the next level: becoming an advertising platform where you control when individuals hear your communications such as a limited special offer or exclusive download. This all has the effect of creating positive brand communication.

Customer loyalty and apps is a well-proven combination. There are many distinguished brands, including supermarket loyalty schemes, doing a great job in this arena. Stand out app performances include Boots with their personalised offers, Costa club - free cake on your birthday anyone? - and Nando’s famous chilli points. Apps make it quick and easy for customers to tap into your brand and get something of value, without the need to carry anything other than a phone around.

A carefully designed app will not only offer users benefits but will create valuable customer behaviour data that can be used to inform marketing activities. Transaction amounts, timings of activity, demographic information… giving sufficient thought to the initial design phases and defining what you want to learn from any app will be time well spent here.

Apps facilitate getting users online to create both the magical and the mundane. ‘Task resolution’ apps make something possible on a mobile that isn’t otherwise straightforward – this notably includes mobile ecommerce but also functionality such as ordering a taxi, listening to music and navigating. These apps can be perceived very positively by users due to the convenience they offer.

Another thing to recognise is that apps are not just for external consumers. They can be extremely important for internal use too, offering the chance to streamline business processes to take out paper or reduce a reliance on spreadsheets. In fact, 87% of businesses now depend on employees accessing business apps from their smartphone . Apps are now proven to be an affordable form of business process redesign for the modern age.

As the saying goes ‘possession is nine tenths of the law’ and that’s what apps do: they grab a space on someone’s device. Voila! You’ve captured a user’s attention and the ground is set to create a beautiful relationship.

If you can create a robust, well thought out app that gets downloaded and adopted by your target audience you’ll be much more in control of your brand’s relationships, captivating hearts and minds and minimising the chance of negative feedback and reviews. And should any competitors think about invading your market space, there’s a new barrier to entry that they’ll have to get over if they want to compete. Creating an app is an investment in both time and finances but the benefits can make the initial outlay well worth it.

At Ergo, we work in partnership with clients to help them identify the goals and targets they’d like to accomplish from a mobile app. We can assist at every step of the way: deciding on what platforms to focus on (IOS, Android, tablets…), designing the look and feel of the user experience, creating the app’s functionality and data feeds. We’ll even help you communicate effectively about your app so the downloads can begin. We love talking about apps so contact us to find out more and have a chat!