Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in today’s world are aware of the importance of digitising their entire business or certain parts of it. For some, this means leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance operations such as accounting, while for others it might mean developing an app for their products or services. These types of apps are known as consumer-facing business apps.
What is a Consumer-Facing Business App?
A consumer-facing business app is a digital tool – typically a mobile application or web portal – designed for direct interaction between a company and its customers to enhance user experience, facilitate transactions, and drive engagement. These applications, such as retail, banking, or ride-sharing apps, allow users to manage services, purchase products, and receive support, ultimately increasing customer retention and brand loyalty.
Some SME founders might think that having an app that competes with those of bigger companies is not worth it; however, that is not true. Large companies often lose touch with the needs and wants of their users; meanwhile, small businesses can develop an app strategy that can focus on doing one thing really well rather than introducing features users don’t need.
In this article, we look at the advantages of consumer-facing apps, how to make yours more competitive and low-cost platforms you can use to create your own mobile or web-based app.
The Competitive Advantage of Customer-Facing Apps
When developing your own app, you need to think carefully about user experience and app management. A robust app will have provided your business with a strong competitive advantage over other SMEs. Some of the advantages of consumer-facing apps include:
1. Brand Representation
A brand-customised application creates a positive impression on customers about your company and makes it more recognisable among others in your industry.
Brand example: Every city has a variety of taxi services that don’t differ from one another. To stand out, Uber has a customer-facing app that represents the brand and the company’s services.
2. Convenience for Clients
Client-facing applications enable more convenient ways of engagement between customers and service providers, with many in-person interactions being transferred to the online realm. This provides various benefits, such as shortening the time of request formation, allowing customers to order services or products on the go, not requiring providers’ direct attention, and automating processes.
Brand example: Most people go to grocery stores to buy what they need; however, with the development of apps like Checkers Sixty60 and Zulzi, which provide the convenience of getting groceries delivered directly to customers.
3. High Level of Customisation
Whatever industry your business is in, developers can create a unique app that meets the objectives of your enterprise and satisfies the needs of present-day business management. Additionally, the growth of no-code platforms means you can make your own customer-facing application without special knowledge and skills in programming.
Brand example: The Capitec Bank app is known for its high level of user customisation regarding personal banking, allowing users to manage accounts, set up personalised savings plans, and track expenses.
4. Increase in Return on Investment (ROI)
A strong return on investment (ROI) is a major indicator of business success. A good, tailored software helps your business to grow by making all processes automated and more efficient. The less time your company spends on possible hassles with client engagements, the more productive their work becomes without interruption of the workflow.
Brand example: VodaPay is a fintech app by Vodacom that has achieved a 708% Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) by integrating digital payments, shopping, and services into one platform, heavily driven by mobile engagement.
5. Easier Showcase of Products
Showcasing your products is important when trying to attract new clients and entice them to spend money. A comprehensive client-facing app allows you to display all your products in one place, add descriptions with details, and apply filters for convenient search. Typically, fabricators, product distributors, and service providers use such software to show the results of their work and merchandise to potential clients.
Brand example: The Takealot app is a great example of a high-volume retail product display app that has a clear user interface and makes shopping easier.
Tips to Improve Your Small Business App
For SMEs who already have their own app, you need to know how to make it better to ensure you retain your competitive edge. Here are some top tips to improve your app.
1. Keep it Simple and Relevant
Your app is meant to make the user journey simple and mobile-centric with little to no friction. As you invest in mobile marketing and customer acquisition, your mobile app will only attract users if it’s simple and relevant. Keep in mind that the average smartphone user engages with no more than 30 apps per month.
2. Grow Customer Value
Evaluate your existing app to gain insights into where customers are getting the most value, then look to expand those capabilities and drive more value. Driving customer loyalty through just an app can be difficult, but your app can become a valuable touchpoint that gives your customer something that helps you stand out from the crowd. It’s important to remain customer-focused.
3. Examine Your User Experience
Most businesses hire a user experience (UX) expert to audit their apps and improve app adoption and performance. For SMEs, leveraging reports from their app hosting platform can help them gain insights into the user experience and identify areas of improvement. Examples include simplifying user flows, changing colour schemes and adjusting font and button sizes. These all play a role in making your product more engaging and relevant to your customers.
4. Improve App Store Discovery
To reach a large audience, you need to improve the chances of discovery within app stores. This means studying the demographics of your customer base and understanding their needs. Additionally, it’s important to choose the correct app name and a tagline that quickly and accurately describes who you are and what you do at a first glance.
5. Create A Branded User Interface
Customers might not like your app because it does not match the experience they have with the rest of your brand. Ensure that you use the same brand language, tone, colours, and logo within your app as the rest of your company. Also, keep your app updated on the same schedule as the rest of your branding to show customers you care about them there, too.
6. Leverage Push Notifications
Think thoroughly about whether your business needs a dedicated mobile app or simply a responsive Web application that adapts for mobile use. Typically, the biggest difference is that dedicated apps take advantage of features of the mobile operating system – such as push notification – for a better user experience. Push notifications, in particular, are often very useful to improve the adoption rate and performance of mobile apps.
7. Check Online Reviews
Balance your app improvement strategy with direct feedback from end users by reading their online reviews. Most users will be vocal about any issues they might have, and by using this feedback, you can prioritise features that matter to users.
8. Apply Efficient Messaging Tools
Ensure you are using efficient messaging tools in your app. These include saved and automated replies, 24/7 communication, integrations with WhatsApp, and more. These will ensure consistent engagement with your customer base and can drive app adoption.
9. Content from the Cloud
To ensure a high level of customer engagement over a sustained period of time, your app needs to be constantly updated with new, relevant content so customers return. Ensure you keep your app lightweight and serve content from the cloud, so downloads and updates are faster. Lastly, make sure you include a feedback feature.
No-Code AI App and Website Builders
These platforms are designed to help SMEs build their own mobile or web-based apps without the cost of hiring a professional developer.
1. Lovable
Lovable’s AI web and web application builder is the ideal platform for SMEs looking to build their landing pages or marketing sites. With its AI-powered features, Lovable makes it easy for SMEs to create websites and digitally transform their businesses.
2. Replit
Replit is a great AI app and website builder for SMEs looking to create and manage their own websites or apps. The platform is quick and cost-effective because it removes the need for a development team and can easily scale along with the business.
3. Softr
Softr is the ideal AI-based web-app builder for SMEs looking to build their own apps or internal tools. The platform’s range of tools and resources and drop-and-drag builder make it easy-to-use and ideal for SMEs looking to digitise their businesses.
4. Softgen
Softgen is the ideal AI app and website builder for SMEs looking to enhance their digital footprint and build low-cost yet robust web applications. The platform is easy to navigate and has a flexible pricing plan, making it perfect for early-stage SMEs.
Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in today’s world are aware of the importance of digitising their entire business or certain parts of it. For some, this means leveraging artificial Read More
