Blog - Mobile

40 billion apps have been downloaded since Apple’s iOS App Store launched. 20 billion of those were downloaded in 2012. Over 1 million apps have been submitted to iOS App Store. There are several potential payoffs for businesses that choose to adapt to their mobile audience. 

Bank of the West and Harris Interactive conducted an online national survey on how small businesses were embracing technology in 2012. Among small business owners who use mobile technology, 2 out of 3 (68%) agree that it has increased efficiency for their businesses, and 3 out of 5 (61%) say it serves functions in their businesses that cannot be completed as efficiently through other means.

Developing an app is another channel to connect with your customer and an additional resource to influence purchasing decisions. There are some exceptions, but most businesses can find benefits in developing a mobile application by providing customers amenities they desire. 

Your customer wants a 24/7 resource
There are around 1 billion smartphone users in the world and 115 million in the US alone. The mobile web grew faster than many could imagine in the last few years. Information on the go evolved to the average customer’s norm. Mobile is the latest frontier. If a customer wants information on a business or product, they want it NOW. More and more customers avoid calling for information and the average business can’t employ workers to provide information 24/7 anyways.

Increase branding awareness
What’s important for your customer to know about a business or product? Digital competition is fierce right now. Having an angle helps brand yourself to consumers. When I say angle, I mean a useful reason for your app to exist. Carpe Diem Private Preschool, a private preschool in Dallas, created an app that allows parents to observe their children on a classroom webcam. You can make action-oriented content from your website easy to access on smartphones and foster brand loyalty by going that extra step.  

A unique and helpful mobile experience will help you be competitive
Are you trying to reach the most people possible? Apps often eliminate clicks and extra work on the part of your customer. Making a sale easier on yourself and the customer is what every business wants to accomplish. Your app doesn’t have to be complicated, just efficient and useful. Your app could provide store hours, driving directions, quick pricing, product/services information, menu and exclusive deals to encourage loyal customers. 

Magic Beans, a Boston retailer specializing in toys and baby accessories, launched a mobile app in 2010. Magic Beans launched an app that allowed customers to skip cash registers and check themselves out on their mobile. After checking out, the app recommends two products and additional offers that applied to the customer based upon their purchase. Customers could also scan a product’s information for more information. This app resulted in an 8% sales increase for those who used the app. 

Deliver news and speedy offers to your customers
Smartphones are now an extension of their owner and no longer an accessory. Next time you’re in a public place, just stop and take in the sights around you. Notice how many people are on their mobile or smartphone. The smartphone is your direct communication link to your customer. 

The death of paper coupons is one of the great amenities of an app. If you provide coupons, forgetting them at home will no longer prohibit your customer from shopping with you and you can track which customers are using coupons easier.  

Anyone can have an app
Apps aren’t exclusive to major brands. Small and medium-sized businesses have launched successful apps. A Nashville realtor, Zeitlin & Company, launched an app last year that take’s a user’s location and shows all available listings in their immediate vicinity on a map. Also, the app includes information on each listing, price, local schools, restaurants and grocery stores. With the click of a button, homebuyers have a lot of the information they want when researching a home. 

WebRevelation has extensive experience developing custom web applications so you can go that extra step for your customer to communicate and operate more efficiently. Our apps are nearly maintenance free and extremely scalable. Contact us for more information on a custom web application. 

Aristotle once said, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Your website is an opportunity for your brand to interact with a customer. Strive to maintain a site that represents you in an attractively visual way. For some inspiration and see examples of WebRevelation’s website portfolio. Along with an appealing website, make sure to take into account these 5 rules in creating a modern website.

1. Make design decisions based on data, not assumptions. 
Start the content decision process by asking yourself, “Is this valuable for users?” It’s easy to assume you understand your audience, but a lot of statistical information and case studies are readily available to put you on the right track. Do your research. If you have an old website and access to website analytics, you can learn a lot from those personalized statistics and better understand the ways the new site needs to improve. Also, you can see what the old site was was accomplishing and what content should remain. 

2. Interactive designs are in.  
Effects can add functionality, as well as design appeal. Hover effects can offer more information and make it easier for visitors to know what they’re clicking on clearly and quickly. Also, this effect helps declutter a site’s pages. Choose effects that accompany site themes seamlessly. Don’t be innovative in ways that deviate from other concepts on your site. The whole site and message should blend together cohesively. For example, if the website is for 

3. Test everything. 
Assume every aspect of your design won’t function perfectly on different platforms. Test your website on a computer, tablet and mobile device to be sure. Aim to keep your load times as low as possible to appeal to a wide audience. If your site takes too long, visitors might not stick around through a long wait to see a cool design. Be sure to optimize background images. Often, they’re large files and could slow load times.  

4. DO NOT overlook mobile.
Embrace that we live in a mobile society. This audience is growing every year and will surpass computers in web traffic in a few years. When designing a website, it’s key for designers to consider how the design will translate into a mobile version. While differently formatted, a full and mobile sites should mirror each other in concept. Create a concept with a flexible visual and stylistic language that will apply to a mobile and tablet format. Check out these examples of WebRevelation mobile websites. 

5. Great content is just as important as a great design. 
A website design is the like the greeter at the front of store. The design welcomes visitors to a site and captures attention. Great content will retain, engage and encourage visitors to return again. Also, appropriately segregate content. Visitors don’t want to go on a treasure hunt for the information they need. Think as a visitor when you separate content. Ask yourself, “Where would I expect to find this topic?” Want more information on this?  Check out What Posting New Content Regularly Does for Your Business 

If you are wondering if your website is MODERN, get your website evaluation!

From Apps To M2M, Mobility Is Growing Everywhere

Used by permission - Originally published December 6, 2012 by Mobeen Khan - Executive Director, Mobility Marketing, AT&T Business

In 2013, mobile is the main event

The major trend I see running through this list is that mobile strategy in enterprise is no longer a side-stage project. It has become the main event. We’ve reached a point where many businesses already have basic mobility in place: smartphones, data plans, some security, some device protection, compliance policies, and mobile email access for employees.

And, more importantly, almost everyone in the organization – IT, marketing, sales and operations – is thinking about what to do next.

It’s all about the applications that improve productivity, the “Internet of Things” that connects a company’s assets and the security services that keep this information protected. 2013 is going to be the year when we see many more examples of businesses, industries, and eco-systems transforming through the innovative use of mobility.

Predictions for the evolving mobile landscape

Here are the eight ways I see mobility evolving in the coming year:

1. 2013 will be a tipping point for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. With greater standardization throughout the industry and falling costs of key components, I believe that M2M is poised for much more rapid adoption in the coming months.

2. Customers will heighten their focus on end-to-end mobile security –Including devices, data, and networks – in light of increased sensitivity to major breaches that may be looming. Everyone realizes that real innovation will only come if we adequately address security and policy issues.

3. Business mobile users will continue to diversify their mobile operating systems. I think that the Windows mobile platform has a chance to be a surprise hit in the business world.

4. Adoption of mobile applications in business will spread across multiple platforms. Native applications are currently the standard for enterprise apps, but we expect HTML5 and mixed-mode applications to gain more traction in 2013.

5. Businesses will start to layer more “platforms” on top of their basic mobility services. Think solutions like Near Field Communications, Push-to-Talk, and Biometrics.

6. Enterprise app stores (or downloadable enterprise apps) will become more prominent in 2013. And they’ll be integrated with application management, blessed by IT.

7. We’ll start to see more “mobile first” applications. Right now, most companies mobilize apps that already exist as desktop or Web-based software. In 2013, we expect to see a shift toward apps designed originally for mobile platforms. Some potential examples: collaboration software, context-, location- or persona-aware access and mobile-based assistants in business-to-consumer industries.

8. Enterprises will start to develop mobile centers of excellence and mobile IT teams to handle the creation and management of mobile strategies across different lines of business

My grandfather used to say, “Drop your line where you see the fish.” In 2012, mobile traffic made up a significant portion of all Internet traffic. For the average business, having mobile compatible websites changed from a luxury to a necessity for 2013.

Walker Sands’ Quarterly Web Traffic Report found that mobile web traffic quadrupled in the last two years. As mobile adoption continues to boom, marketers have to monetize mobile traffic or die trying. Here’s the top four reasons why you need a functional mobile site:

More than half of U.S. consumers own a smartphone.

There’s a lot of mobile sales potential that’s still unrealized. According to the Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Research Series, 46% of smartphone users browse the internet on their devices several times a day. By providing a great mobile experience, you have an opportunity to pull ahead of your competition.

Mobile users need a simplified browsing experience.

Smartphones can’t render full websites with quality. Full sites vary in how they translate on mobile devices, but they aren’t generally designed to be easy to navigate or load quickly. in 2012, Google Data found that 71% of smartphone users who see a TV, print or online ad, do a mobile search for more information. Often, people can’t read full sites on a mobile device.

You could lose business.

If people have a hard time accessing your site, you might not get a second chance and forfeit that business to your competition. In a Compuware study, they found that if your website is slow or breaks down 57% said they wouldn’t recommend your business and 40% would turn to a competitor.

Mobile users are using phones to research and purchase.

By 2014, mobile internet usage should surpass desktop internet usage. It might not be something we’re all proud of, but 86% of mobile Internet users are using their devices while watching TV. According to Go-Globe statistics, some of the reasons customers prefer mobile commerce is the on the go convenience, special discounts and easy to compare prices.

•Has it been updated in the last 3 years?

Have you been to the front page of WebRevelation.com lately?  If not, you might want to check it out!

Better yet, go grab your mobile device, and check it out there.  Very cool.

Tim and the gang at WebRev have been very busy.  They want to help you get your website mobile-ready, and upgrade your content management system (CMS) as well as your customer relationship management (CRM) and your e-commerce system, if you're selling on your site.  They can even help you develop custom web applications specific to your business and website (so you can say, "Yes, we have an app for that!").

If you're not sure what all of this means, or why you need these features, check out the updated list of services.  Even the admin screens have a fresh new look.

Also see Why you can no longer ignore mobile.