How To Make an App for Your Business (and Why)

Many businesses undervalue apps. This is perhaps not surprising, given that over a third of businesses still don’t even have a website. However, while the value of websites is widely known, many of us still think that apps are a nonessential bit of frippery for businesses.

These people could not be more wrong. Having an app offers your customers more value, lets them get in touch with you more easily, and can even help you with branding.

Yet you can recognize all these benefits and still not know how to make an app for your business. That’s perfectly fine: in this guide, we’re going to take a look at both why apps are important for businesses as well as how you can create one.

Are you ready to learn more about how to make a business app and why you need one? Then read on and prepare to get informed!

Why a Business App Matters

Before we take a look at how to make an app, we should consider why they matter. Let’s analyze exactly why apps are important for the modern business.

Improve Your Branding

Brand recognition is very important for businesses, and the best way to build it is through regular, positive interactions with your customers. An app is superb for this: creating a strong app that your customers can use to interact with your business, such as by ordering products, chatting to support, etc., will reinforce an image of professionalism and trustworthiness.

If it’s a good app, your customers are also a lot more likely to use it, which gives you more opportunities to improve brand recognition. If your app is just your website squashed down into an app, this isn’t going to happen.

Another Way to Get In Touch

Customers like to be able to get in touch with a business quickly. No modern business should be without both a phone number and an email address, but what about live chat?

Live chat through an app can be a huge asset as it allows your customers to contact you easily. They can even minimize the app while they wait for a response and there are no hold times.

Provide Access to Reward Programs

Incentivizing your customers to install the app helps them to have more interactions with you and build up your brand image. A great way to do this is via a reward program accessed through the app.

Many major companies already have apps with built-in reward programs, including Starbucks, so you’re in great company. Start giving people a reason to use your app and harness the marketing and branding benefits.

How to Make an App for Your Business

So, we’ve taken a look at some of the key benefits that come with creating a business app. Now we need to take a look at how to actually make a business app. What steps are involved and who should be behind this project?

Let’s take a closer look!

Think About What You Want the App to Do

No app can do everything. It’s better to have a tightly designed app than one that spreads itself too thinly. This means that before you start creating your app, you should create a thorough plan that lists everything you want the app to achieve and how it will do it.

Think About Your App’s Flow

Create a draft version of your app in a document. Think about what you want the layout to look like and what you want each button to do. How will you make the app intuitive to use and worth your customers’ time?

Decide Whether to Make a DIY App or Hire Developers

If you want to make a business app, sooner or later you’ll need to think about whether you’re going to make it yourself or hire some developers to help you.

Doing it yourself does have some benefits. You can keep costs low and the app design will be exactly as you dictate.

However, there are also some significant downsides. When you make it yourself, that’s time where you aren’t working, which means that you’re losing money designing the app. The money you lose may be more than the cost of hiring a developer, and then you’ve made a very poor choice.

Doing it yourself also hinges upon your ability to understand and use app development tools, which can be nigh-impenetrable for an amateur. We’d recommend that, in 99 percent of cases, you hire a development company such as this one: https://sunlightmedia.org/services/mobile-app-development/.

Refine Your App Based on Feedback

When you’ve got a rough version of the app finished, you’ll want to test it thoroughly. You should enlist a select set of customers, colleagues, friends, and others to test your app, and then improve your app based on the feedback that they give you.

Keep Building on Your App

When you’ve tested and refined the app, you need to upload it to Android and iOS’ respective app stores. You may think that your work is over here: think again.

You should keep building on the app and addressing problems that your users have. This will help make your app a long-term success, rather than a flash in the pan.

How and Why to Make an App: Solved

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this guide to why and how to make an app for your business. They’re a fantastic way to improve your brand image, marketing abilities, and reputation. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

For more interesting and informative content like this be sure to check out the rest of our blog.