As the digital age continues to evolve, businesses are left to determine if physical marketing materials are necessary to target their intended audience. Consumers are now offered the ability to access businesses products and services directly from their personal device through the power of e-commerce stores and mobile applications. The user experience should be consistent regardless of whether an organization's audience receives its business information via a desktop, tablet, or mobile device. A great way to engage customers while providing value, increasing brand awareness, and boosting sales is by developing a mobile application specific to your business. Business Mobile Application to Provide Value Since most consumers own a smartphone, anyone can easily download and purchase mobile apps through their device's app stores, such as Google Play or the Apple App Store. With the consumers ease of access to mobile apps, businesses must take advantage of a branded space to share their mission, vision and offerings directly to their target audience and existing customers. As technology continuously improves, new features and functionality are being developed and deployed amongst mobile app platforms. For example, Dunkin Donuts uses a branded mobile app to showcase their newest products, offers customers an opportunity to become a part of their loyalty program, as well as an online ordering service incorporating a payment processing functionality. Dunkin Donut strategically uses their app to send personalized push notifications, show a customer's recent order, send e-gift cards, and even view a map of the nearest stores based off your location. Dunkin Donuts provides value to their coffee crazed customers by offering their menu digitally as well as including a loyalty program where so many points are allocated towards a free drink. A small local coffee shop could benefit from attaining their own personalized application as well. Many small businesses offer a physical punch card, which can easily be forgotten on each customers visit, or even lost. By transforming the loyalty program into a digital process, customers can access their data in real time and may be more eager to complete a purchase. Along with the added value to the consumer, the local coffee shop benefits from the digitalized process by being able to view analytical data. This may include the number of customers registered within their loyalty program, what is the most popular beverages that are being ordered through the app, and even incorporating simple surveys and feedback forms to engage customers. Business Mobile Application to Increase Brand Awareness A mobile application developed specifically for a single business or organization offers an opportunity to design a fully branded and personalized interface. The business can incorporate their exact business color palette, typography, media, written content, and even highlight their brand voice throughout a mobile application. By creating a consistent brand, potential customers as well as existing customers are more likely to recognize your business and what your business stands for. If you’re business is looking to increase customer engagement, a mobile app can offer users the ability to share your business content with friends, redeem points or rewards within a loyalty program as well as offer a space to showcase your business offerings and values. Keep your brand at the top of minds by developing a mobile app with the features and functionality of your choosing that will enable your target audience to emerge. For example, email marketing has been around for years now and allows businesses to run campaigns specific to their needs, such as a retail business sharing information on an upcoming clothing launch. With a mobile app, companies can tailor their brand experience to customers by bringing the brand to their screens. No need to search for a past email, instead find all current business offerings and communications in one place. Business Mobile Application to Increase Sales In addition to providing value and increasing an organizations brand awareness, a mobile app specific to one business is an excellent development to increase sales. Attract your target audience with push notifications directly sent to users' phones. With a rise in online shopping over the past decade, take advantage of offering potential customers a fully customizable shopping experience virtually. Enable users an ability to not only visit your business in person, but also take advantage of the individuals who prefer to order online. For example, a mobile app created for a yoga studio could have the ability to schedule for an upcoming class, offer an ability to pay for a single session or a package of sessions, and even provide e-commerce abilities. The addition of these features offered within a digital asset may lead to an increase in sales by accommodating individuals with a busy schedule that are looking to make fast, easy purchases. By including an online purchasing function, yogis don’t have to worry about paying in person and instead can take advantage of the mobile apps seamless checkout experience. Source: https://www.upwork.com/resources/benefits-of-mobile-apps-for-business