Should you choose a mobile app or create a mobile version of your website or should you even have both
? Whichever choice you make, your future internet marketing plans need to include a mobile element as this channel continues to grow in importance.
Benefits Of A Mobile Site
1. Greater exposure. With a mobile website, you reach the widest possible audience through your browser. An app limits your potential mobile customer base to users of compatible handsets.
2. No approval process. With a mobile site you can push out updates and changes whenever you want. With an app route, not only do you have to wait for approval before release, you also have to do the same to make adjustments. Apple has also asks for a share of your income in some cases.
3. Findability. With a mobile site you can appeal to searchers looking for particular products, or people searching in your local community. Apps require users to find the app and download it to their phones.
4. Hyperlinks. With a mobile you can benefit from links. For example, this makes it easier for mobile users to share URLs of product pages. On the mobile web you can always email a link and any browser can open it. It's not possible to link to and from an app.
Benefits of Mobile Apps
1. Better features. Brands can offer a richer experience within an app. This includes fetaures like augmented reality and photo scanning functions.
2. Good visibility. Brands can attract some valuable exposure for their apps through the Apple App Store.
3. Customer retention. Customers who take the time to download apps are likely to be engaged or loyal customers. This means they are probably more inclined to buy your products.
4. Mobile site AND app. Apps and websites generally appeal to different audiences. Because a mobile site is a browser experience it lends itself more to customer acquisition. Apps offer a richer user experience and as such they can be better for customer retention
A good place to start is a review of your Google Analytics. How many visitors to your website are coming through from mobile devices? What about iPhones and Blackberry users? These groups show a high propensity to download apps so this may be a good indicator for you. If your budget allows, maybe you can test the water with an app for these users and decide if you want to have a mobile site as well. Either way, a marketing strategy that doesn't consider mobile is no longer becoming an option.