Mobile app development for e-commerce is no longer a luxury but a necessity, as most online purchases now happen via smartphones.
It’s not only the behavior of Gen-Z that is changing fast; the e-commerce landscape is also evolving at a similar pace, if not more. While websites dominated the landscape a few years back, the trend has shifted towards mobile apps lately. With each month and year passing, most online purchases happen through smartphones. It means mobile app development for e-commerce is not a luxury anymore; rather, it’s a battle for survival in a highly competitive world.
In this article, we are going to walk you through the importance of mobile app development for e-commerce, its key features, development steps, and how the same can revolutionize the online shopping experience. So, stay with us!
If stats are anything to go by, the use of smartphones will continue to surge in the foreseeable future. This trend of rising use of smartphones has also made people crave more for personalized content.
And due to the very same reason, 85% of the users prefer using mobile apps over mobile-optimized websites. This preference stems from the versatile features of mobile apps such as intuitive design, speed, and convenience.
On top of it, an app becomes your free marketing tool. Instead of allocating hefty marketing budgets to reach out and retain customers, the app allows you to always remain at the top of the mind of your customers – even when their screens are locked (all thanks to this glowing feature of push notifications).
When it comes to user experience, apps again outweigh the mobile-optimized websites.
Apps come with features like intuitive navigation, fast loading times, push notifications, and offline access. These are the features (especially push notifications) have emerged as valuable tools to retain customers.
As Robert Cialdini stated in Influence: Psychology of Persuasion, "We like people who are like us, and we like to say yes to them."
Furthermore, you can harness the power of native apps to offer a personalized shopping experience. When a message is served with ingredients of personalization, it results in enhanced brand loyalty and more sales.
When it comes to boosting conversion rates, mobile-optimized websites do not stand a chance against mobile apps. And this isn’t just another statement; a comprehensive study carried out by Criteo stated that apps have 157% higher conversion rates than mobile websites.
These higher conversion rates stem from the delivery of highly personalized content owing to which users on average view 4.x more products per session on mobile apps than on mobile-optimized websites.
Furthermore, features like one-click checkout and ease and simplicity of using apps minimize friction and encourage purchases. The same features result in reduced cart abandonment rates. A study found that websites have 85.65% higher cart abandonment rates when compared with mobile apps. It means if your Shopify store is not on the app, you are losing a significant amount of revenue to your competitors.
If your Shopify store is not on the app, you would probably be spending a big amount on marketing to engage and retain customers. You could save this amount by converting your Shopify store into app.
How? Well, here’s the answer. Mobile apps let you engage directly with customers through push notifications. Furthermore, features like in-app purchases and personalized promotions also keep your customers more close to your brands. It results in more repeat purchases and more sales, all without spending big on ads.
You can spend the same amount on growing your business.
We know that you have heard these two terms quite a lot in the article thus far but the fact remains the same. By serving highly personalized messages to your customers, you build a loyal community of customers who are willing to make repeat purchases.
Now that you have acquired ample understanding of the importance of mobile app development for e-commerce, let’s find out what are the features that make an app truly successful.
To build an app that increases engagement, you need to incorporate customer-centric features, provide value to your audience, and align with their expectations. In the absence of these features, your mobile app will become a liability instead of becoming a sales-generating tool.
So, be with us!
The first and foremost thing that your app should offer to the user is the easy interface. Your app should have a top-notch user-interface. Your customers should navigate through your app. This ease of navigation includes
As a matter of fact, a recent survey found that as many as 90% of users discontinue using mobile apps because of bad UI/UX. This study alone is enough to highlight how much UI/UX design influences the success or failure rate of any app.
The second feature that influences the success of any app is multiple gateways. The multiple payment options include:
Offering to pay through multiple gateways is one thing, ensuring that these gateways are fully secured is another and equally important. Ensuring the security of transactions is crucial for building trust, as users need to feel confident that their financial information is protected from fraud, breaches, and unauthorized access.
Implementing industry-standard security measures, such as end-to-end encryption, ensures that sensitive data is transmitted securely. Tokenization replaces actual card details with randomly generated tokens, reducing the risk of exposure.
Did you know that you can improve your bottom line revenue by 7% by improving retention by just 1%? Yes, you heard it right! And what if we tell you that you can improve your retention and bottom-line revenue for free?
Apps come with push notifications (websites have this feature, too); what separates an app’s push notifications from a website is that app users have shown a 190% higher retention rate when they receive one or more push notifications in their first 90 days.
To increase retention and sales through your mobile apps, personalization is important. According to a report titled Personalization Pulse Check, 56% of North American consumers desire a curated shopping experience from their regular brands, with 44.6% preferring this through interactive mobile app experiences.
If these stats are anything to go by, you should prioritize the personalization of your brand messaging through your Shopify store app.
You can harness the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to cater to the personalization needs of your customers.
On the other hand, mobile websites barely retain 40% of all visitors past the first few seconds of viewing the page. Also, when compared with other marketing tools such as emails and SMS, push notifications are relatively cheaper.
It can cost somewhere between a cent and five cents to send an SMS. As our audience grows, so shall the cost. On the other hand, the cost of sending push notifications will remain the same, irrespective of the size of your audience.
So, if you want to make your app a success, you need to have a push notification feature. You can use it to notify customers about sales, discounts, and new arrivals to encourage engagement and drive sales.
Customers these days demand more and more ease and you can offer the same by integrating some cool features such as one-click checkout, one-click ordering, saved payment details, and autofill for shipping information. After all, the smoother and faster the checkout process is, the lesser will be the cart abandonment rates.
A great app should have easy navigation. So, you need to implement advanced search and filter functionalities to help users quickly find what they are looking for. Besides integrating keyword-power search bars, you can also integrate voice and image-based search to further enhance usability.
These tools are not only great for your app but they also push your SEO (search engine optimization) rankings and bring more customers through organic means.
Customers love it when their issues are heard and addressed promptly. And the fastest way to cater to this behavior is to provide top-notch customer support. You can do this by including chatbots, FAQs, and live support to resolve customer queries promptly.
The more the satisfaction level of the customers, the stronger brand loyalty! And stronger the brand loyalty, the more will be repeat purchases. You can add all these features with app builders such as Tapday as they have democratized the whole e-commerce app development process.
We know that developing an app from scratch is not only time-consuming but it also requires significant capital. Tapday solves both problems.
Being a drag-and-drop app builder, Tapday allows you to build and launch your app within a day.
When it comes to pricing, the basic plan starts from $49 per month. However, if you pay annually, the cost is further reduced to $45. Additionally, Tapday offers over 72+ integrations, unlimited themes, app analytics, and much more – all at a fraction of the cost.
Key Features of Tapday:
So, if you are a Shopify merchant and want to build e-commerce mobile app without coding, book a demo with us or start your 30-day free trial. Developing a mobile e-commerce app has never been this easy!
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