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Let’s say you’re a product manager or business leader at a Fortune 500 or enterprise business. You’re accustomed to exceptional business results, and you likely have a track record of making savvy investments in your people, infrastructure and marketing – all is well in the world.
Then you launch a mobile app, understanding that mobile is a critical growth area for your business. In a matter of weeks, the ratings and reviews tell the truth: your app sucks.
This is a common occurrence in the enterprise business world, and I’m going to shed a light on why this happens and how to recover.
It’s almost 2020, nearly 20 years after HAL and the Space Odyssey. The war for the public’s mindshare is no longer being fought on traditional mediums like TV. Instead, we’re now seeing what I call a “War of the Apps”.
As CEO of CitrusBits, I speak with Fortune 500 clients on a weekly basis. Business leaders at these high-performing companies rely on our teams to create mobile apps their users enjoy on a daily basis.
Why do prestigious enterprise brands need our help with their mobile apps? It’s simple. It’s because app usage has grown to the point where having a bad mobile app – or just as bad, not having one – can be devastating to business performance and growth prospects.
There is very little margin for error when it comes to mobile strategy and execution.
The pace of mobile innovation is much faster than enterprise organizations can handle
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from businesses that initially approached mobile app opportunities with their guns blazing — ready, FIRE, aim – (yes, shooting before aiming). Caught up in the race to be first, these businesses neglect the critical planning process.
By rushing the app to market without an optimal roadmap, such companies miss out on crucial opportunities. In ecommerce, they might leave out the ability to share a live shopping cart link via SMS with a friend or family member, which could boost ecommerce conversion rates. On the enterprise side, perhaps there will be a missed opportunity for an IoT or wearable device integration that could have helped boost employee productivity and satisfaction in the workplace. Ultimately, these missed opportunities can result in a mobile strategy that never quite catches on.
Even when possibilities like these are anticipated and included on the product roadmap, substandard execution can still derail the project.
These are areas in which companies like CitrusBits, well-versed and forward-thinking in mobile and emerging technologies, can truly shine for enterprise clients.
User engagement is king
Smartphone ownership is nearly 80% among American adults, and the average American is using them more than four hours a day, with more than 90% of that time spent on mobile apps and less than 10% on mobile websites. This is to say that the potential for strong user engagement is absolutely there. But it’s still just potential, which means it has to be unlocked.
So, how do you unlock that engagement potential with mobile apps? Here are a few starting points:
The Starbucks app allows you to level up your rewards account by earning stars.
Allowing your users to express themselves is vital to their happiness.
Keeping it fresh
Among enterprise customers, stale software is a common occurrence. And to many in my industry, it’s absolutely mind-boggling why this remains to be the case. Some enterprise businesses intentionally don’t want to uproot old systems because of the fear that they’ll alienate their customer base with “new-fangled” software. Others simply want to avoid the hassle of getting new products greenlit through an enterprise bureaucracy.
But as any of our enterprise clients will tell you, it pays to keep your mobile app current.
This is because consumers and businesses alike are now old pros when it comes to mobile apps. The average person uses 9 mobile apps daily and more than 30 on a monthly basis, according to App Annie.
If your app provides an outdated experience – whether that means an outdated aesthetics, old technologies, or perhaps even incompatibility with modern systems – your customers will seek out fresher alternatives.
If you’re an enterprise company, or even an SMB, and you believe your existing mobile strategy needs course correction, please get in touch. Our team is happy to provide a free consultation to identify areas of opportunity and provide recommendations
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