To understand the competition and the customer you must;
- Look up the competition on your web browser and the app stores.
- Navigate from homepage to check-out on their site and their apps.
- Note down the various pain points from a user’s perspective:
Is the information accessible? What about their product or service page?
- How can your business improve this experience?
In the digital space, customer-centricity is vital, and it is essential to give them an experience that keeps them coming back for more. Understand both the user journey and the competitor’s offerings. Use these insights, along with our list of pros and limitations of both apps and websites to assist you in making the right selection of digital assets for your business.
Websites:
Some businesses use websites purely to build their brand and their relationships with potential customers. For others, their website becomes their marketplace with some companies providing free product trials before the purchase. Essentially, websites are a clutter-free space to sell your brand promise.
Pros:
Credibility: Consumers that want to research a new brand will scope out their social and web presence. B2B or B2C, consumers like to align themselves with businesses that have similar values to their own. Your website is an avenue to showcase these values. It also adds legitimacy to the company and its offerings.
Data Capturing: Your website collects demographic, psychographic, geographic and behavioural data of your site visitors. This data is dynamic and helps you monitor the efficacy of your marketing efforts. It also assists in modifying or changing those aspects of your website that are not contributing to revenue.
SEO and Visibility: It is no secret that digitally native consumers look for a solution online. The question is, how should a business capitalise on this behaviour? Through SEO. A website, especially one with blogs, can be optimised to strengthen a brand’s reach and visibility on search engines organically.
Links across social platforms: Individuals spend roughly 8 hours consuming media. With a website, you can seamlessly integrate your business into their daily consumption. Users can click on shop links which either open within the app or redirect them specifically to the product page on their web browser.
Limitations
Websites are dependent on internet connectivity to function
Design is restrictive and limited to the browser experience and internet speed
Websites do not translate into a cross-device digital asset. They need to be optimised for mobile, made touch-responsive and adaptive to various screen sizes.
A quality website with various features and integrations works out costly
Mobile Apps:
Built specifically for an Android or Apple operating system, apps are native to the device they’re downloaded on to. It enables the app to utilise various features of the device such as their GPS & Gallery.
Pros:
Personalisation: Let your consumers enjoy your brand on their terms. Apps allow consumers to modify layouts, design, notifications, in-app features. It enables consumers to control the access an app has to their information, making the user feel safe.
Brand Recall: Push notifications, customised and timely communication or just sitting as an icon on the home screen – being an app takes up prime real estate on a users phone and their subconscious mind.
Offline Mode: Other than social apps, users can access most apps while ‘offline’. In a data and battery conscious world, this accessibility comes handy for all.
Convenient: Apps exist for a specific purpose that directly enriches its user’s life. Communication, productivity, travel, meditation, etc. They are purpose-based and with a great UI/UX, serve to be dependable to the user and profitable to the business.
Limitations:
Data leaks in the recent past has led to increasing scepticism towards apps.
Cross-functionality on iOS and Android is expensive in the short-run.
Apps can be costly depending on the features that are incorporated
Comparing apps to mobile sites or websites is like comparing apples to oranges. They all provide a different set of benefits, and it goes back to your user. What are the right tools to pique their interest and keep them invested in your business? The above are a general sense of pros, however each asset has a lot more to offer and it’s worth investing in the right mix from the get-go. Get clarity on the one that is a win-win for your consumers and you. Drop us an email and get yourself a tailor-made consultation.
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