Sign in
Build an App

Month: December 2019

Why Mobile Apps Convert Higher Than the Mobile Web

Every business and every website across all industries needs to establish a mobile presence. This shouldn’t come as shocking news to anybody.

We’re living in a mobile world. There are four billion unique mobile users across the globe. 

52% of all Internet traffic worldwide comes from mobile devices. Mobile usage controls 65% of all digital consumption in the United States. 

Every mobile category has been trending upward for years, showing no signs of slowing down in the near future. 

Most businesses and websites have identified these trends and adapted by making sure their websites are mobile-friendly. Sites that aren’t mobile-friendly basically can’t survive in this day and age. So this is definitely a step in the right direction.

But don’t make the mistake of assuming that a mobile-friendly website is the final solution. You’re just barely scratching the surface here in terms of mobile optimization.

The fact of the matter is this; you need a mobile app to fully optimize your brand, business, and website for mobile users. 

Why? Research shows that mobile apps convert higher than the mobile web.

As you can see from the graph, this statement holds true across all industries. On average, mobile apps convert at a 157% higher rate than the mobile web.

So for those of you who are relying solely on a mobile website to drive conversions, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. The only way to maximize conversions is with a mobile app.

At first glance, mobile apps and mobile websites might seem similar. How is it possible that one platform can convert at such a higher rate than the other? Especially when they are being accessed through the same device. 

In this guide, I’ll explain exactly why mobile apps convert better than mobile sites. By the end, you’ll understand the importance of building an app for your website or business. 

Better Personalization

It’s no secret that personalization drives conversions. This holds true whether a consumer is shopping in-store, online, or from any device. 

The best way to personalize someone’s experience is based on factors like:

  • Interests
  • Behavior
  • Location
  • Demographics

You can’t treat all of your customers the same if you want to maximize your conversion rates. A 19-year-old girl located in Hawaii shouldn’t be seeing the same content as a 50-year-old man living in New York City. 

A mobile app makes it easier for you to gather more information about users in real-time. Then you can ultimately use that information to personalize their experience.

With an app, you’ll be able to suggest products or services to users based on their browsing behavior or purchase history. 

Mobile apps make it easy for you to facilitate this because every unique user can have a profile with their account preferences. In addition to personalizing their experience based on behavior or actions, you can also use an app to directly ask your customers what they want.

Here’s an example of how Spotify uses its app to personalize content for its users.

mobile apps

Anyone can download and use the Spotify app for free. But Spotify also offers premium subscriptions. 

This strategy of personalized playlists for users will ultimately improve their experience using the app. In turn, this will increase the chances that people will convert to paying customers.

An app makes it easy for users to track their spending, view their purchase history, or monitor their status towards rewards in your customer loyalty program.

Can some of this be done on the mobile web? Sure. But it requires users to sign in to an account. This extra step can be tedious, especially from a 4-inch screen. With a mobile app, users will automatically be signed in when they open the app on their devices. 

Easier Communication

Communication is another key element that drives conversions. There is definitely a wide range of reasons and methods for a brand and customer to communicate, but all of these can be broken down into two main categories:

  • Communication initiated by the user.
  • Communication initiated by the business.

When you look at things this way. It’s really not that complicated. An email marketing campaign is an example of communication being initiated by the business. A customer form submission with a question or complaint is initiated by the user.

Both of these categories are better from a mobile app compared to the mobile web. Here’s why.

While you do everything in your power to make things as easy as possible for your customers, there will always be those instances where people need that extra level of service. 

Some people will have a question or problem-related to a previous purchase or a purchase that they are considering. Others will need some assistance with how to navigate or access content on your platform. Whatever the reason might be, you need to make sure that easy access to customer support is available. 

Live chat is the most preferred method of customer communication. 

While you can make live chat available on your mobile website, the user experience is much better overall when it’s integrated into a mobile app.

You can set up a specific section of your app dedicated to customer support. Users can communicate with you via live chat, email, ticket support, or phone, simply by selecting one of the options on your menu.

Now let’s talk about communication initiated by the brand. On the mobile web, this isn’t really possible. 

Sure, you can have an AI robot or chatbot pop up on the page. But that’s about as limited as it gets. The only other way to establish communication with mobile web visitors is by getting them to sign up for emails. 

With a mobile app, you have the freedom and flexibility to connect with users at any time via push notifications. Push notifications drastically outperform email communication.

In fact, a recent study found that push notifications have a 90% average open rate, compared to 23% for email. 

70% of people feel that push notifications are useful, and 40% of users engage with a push notification within an hour of receiving one. Push notifications have a 7x higher engagement rate compared to emails.

The only way to communicate with users via push notifications is through a mobile app. 

Utilize Mobile Device Features

Since mobile apps are installed directly on a device, it gives you access to certain elements of a user’s smartphone or tablet. I’m referring to features like:

  • GPS
  • Camera
  • Contact lists
  • Compass

Not only does this make your app more interactive than a mobile website, but it also makes things easier for the user. 

For example, let’s say your app requires users to add a credit card as a payment method. After all, how else are you going to make money?

There are 16 digits in a credit card. When you combine this with the user’s name, card expiration date, and card verification code, it’s quite a bit of information to manually type on a small screen.

If they make a mistake and the card doesn’t process, it can frustrate the user and cause them to abandon the purchase. 

But with a mobile app, you can access the device’s camera and let the user take a picture of their card as a faster alternative. Uber does this with its mobile app.

Now a payment method can be added to a user’s account in seconds. 

This method eliminates user error and makes it less likely that a customer will abandon the purchase process due to frustration. 

The opportunities are endless here. Let’s say you run a small business with multiple physical locations. You can set up your app to integrate with the GPS of a user’s device. This will allow them to find the nearest store, and potentially provide them with turn by turn directions to get there. 

Do you want your customers to recommend your company to their friends and family? By accessing the contact list of a user’s device, it’s easy for them to share promotion codes or referrals with other people.

From the mobile web, this would require people to manually enter phone numbers and email addresses. So it’s less likely that they’ll go through this process and convert with the extra steps.  

Offline Access

This is arguably the biggest difference between mobile apps and mobile websites. Simply put, users must be connected to the Internet to access a mobile site.

If they don’t have a Wifi connection, then they need to use data from their mobile plan. If they are in an area with no data service, or if they don’t have an active data plan, then accessing a mobile site is just not possible.

Lots of mobile apps might need an Internet connection to perform certain tasks. However, apps still deliver plenty of functionality while users are offline. 

For example, let’s say you have a banking or real estate app. Users wouldn’t need an Internet connection to do something like calculate taxes, determine their loan limits, or plan installment payments. 

Depending on how you set up your app, users can even access cached information from when they were previously connected to the Internet.

Netflix is a global leader in streaming video connect. Normally, you’d need Internet access to stream content. But through the Netflix mobile app, users can download videos to their device and watch them at a later time while offline. 

So a user could download a movie at their home while connected to Wifi, then access the content while they are on a plane, train, or somewhere else where an Internet connection is unavailable or unstable.

Don’t assume that all users want to use their data plan at times when they aren’t connected to Wifi. You should also look beyond smartphone users.

Roughly 164 million tablets are sold worldwide each year. The majority of those tablets are Wifi-only plans. So offline access is crucial to those users who don’t have the option to use data when they aren’t connected to Wifi. 

Users Spend Majority of Mobile Time on Apps

In order to maximize conversions, you need to reach people on the platforms that they are using the most. If you look around, it’s clear that nearly everyone always has their eyes locked to a mobile device. Even when they aren’t on their phones, they always seem to be within an arm’s reach.

But what exactly are people doing on those devices? I’ll give you a hint; they aren’t browsing the web.

90% of the time on mobile devices is spent using apps. Just 10% of mobile usage is spent on the web. 

People can’t convert unless they are accessing your content. There is a much greater chance that they’ll access your content from an app than a web browser.

Why is this?

Mobile apps are just better. Since they are already loaded directly on to a user’s device, all people need to do is click on it to access information. Driving conversions is all about eliminating friction from the process, we’ll talk about this in greater detail shortly when we discuss checkout optimization.

By having an app installed on their device, it already takes two steps out of the process. To access your mobile website, users need to open a browser, search for your site, then click on it to reach the homepage. 

To access your site from an app, all they have to do is make one click and it’s open. This literally takes seconds. 

We already discussed the benefits of personalization. With an app, the user is logged in to their account. Whereas they would need to do this manually from a mobile website. 

So it’s no surprise that mobile app usage significantly outweighs and outperforms mobile web browsing. 

Better UX and UI

While a mobile-friendly website is necessary, it’s still limited in terms of its functionality. That’s because a mobile site relies on web browsers to perform even basic functions.

I’m referring to things like the back button or refresh button. You can’t design a mobile site to override the functionality of a web browser. 

But with a mobile app, you won’t have any of these types of restrictions.

You can set it up so users can use functions like swiping, tapping, or holding down on the screen to improve their experience. This design freedom can ultimately improve the user experience. 

At the end of the day, consumers prefer apps to mobile sites. These are the top reasons why:

The number one response was convenience. Based on this information, we can definitively say that apps are more convenient than the mobile web. 

People don’t convert when things are inconvenient. If it’s tough to navigate, access information, or perform basic functions, people will just look elsewhere for their needs. 

But when you make everything as easy as possible for users, by giving them a mobile app, it increases the chances that they’ll convert. 

Speed

Refer back to the last graph about why users prefer mobile apps over mobile sites. The number two reason on that list is speed.

Mobile apps are faster than the mobile web. Why?

It’s simple. Websites rely on web servers for storing information. So it can take a bit longer for content to load on a device since the speed is contingent on factors like the browser performance, the web hosting provider, the hosting plan, and the physical location of the server. 

Just a one-second delay in loading time can cost you a huge percentage of conversions.

 

You would think that three seconds is pretty quick. But as you can see from this infographic above, it’s just not fast enough. 

Slow loading times result in higher bounce rates, higher abandonment rates, and lower conversion rates. 

On the flip side, mobile app data can be stored locally on each unique device. This means that retrieving the data to load content happens nearly instantaneously. The mobile app framework also runs faster than traditional website JavaScript code. 

The backend performance of the app ultimately results in faster speed for users on the front end.

Furthermore, the fact that app users can have their preferences stored will speed things up as well, making it easier and more likely that they’ll convert. 

Increase Engagement and Retention

Mobile websites don’t have any way to really drive engagement. The capabilities are limited, and you’re restricted in terms of when and how you can connect with the visitors.

We talked about this earlier when we were discussing communication. With an app, you can use a push notification to stimulate engagement. You don’t have this luxury on your mobile site.

Apps make it easier for you to retain your customers as well. With features like a customer loyalty program or referral program, it entices people to stay active on your app.

When a customer sees that they are being rewarded for spending or conversions, it makes it more likely that they’ll continue to convert. 

If you also give people an incentive to refer to family and friends, then those same people will continue using the app moving forward. Sharing content, driving engagement, and raising retention rates is much more difficult from a mobile website. 

Checkout Optimization

Checkouts are the ultimate form of conversions. Sure, a conversion can also be defined by an action such as a download or opt-in, but checkouts result in dollars.

Mobile apps are designed for checkouts. In many cases, checkouts can happen in a matter of seconds. You won’t get this benefit on the mobile web.

From a mobile site, there aren’t any shortcuts. A website visitor needs to find the product, add it to their cart, enter their payment information, shipping information, and checkout. This process can take minutes, and there is so much room for error.

But a mobile app can already have all of this information saved. The user can simply add the item to their cart, and finalize the checkout with just one additional click.

All of the billing and shipping information will already be saved to their account. By reducing friction in the checkout process, conversions will skyrocket. 

Earlier we looked at data related to mobile conversions as a whole. But this graph specifically covers eCommerce conversions between mobile apps and mobile websites.

As you can see, the app outperforms the mobile browser in every category. 

Users view more products per session, have a higher add to cart rate, and ultimately covert at a 130% higher rate. 

Better Branding

Getting users to download your app is a huge win in terms of your branding strategy. 

With a mobile website, people are only exposed to your brand when they navigate to your site. How often does that happen? And how long does that last for? If you’re lucky, someone might visit your site once a week, and stay on there for a few minutes per session.

But people use their mobile devices all day, every day. They’ll see your app, brand name, and logo on their screen all of the time. This gives them more of an incentive to open your app and convert.

Even if they aren’t using the app daily, they are still exposed to your name and brand. This makes it more likely that they’ll convert in the future since your company is constantly on their minds and in front of their eyes.

Conclusion

You need to have a mobile-optimized website. But with that said, a mobile website is limited, and doesn’t drive conversions as well as a mobile app.

The only way to maximize conversions is with a mobile app. Here’s a quick summary of why mobile apps convert higher than the mobile web:

  • Apps offer better personalization.
  • It’s easier to communicate with an app.
  • Apps can leverage mobile device features.
  • Mobile apps have offline access.
  • People spend more time using apps than mobile web browsers. 
  • Mobile apps deliver better UX and UI.
  • Mobile apps are faster than mobile sites
  • Apps drive engagement and increase retention rates.
  • Mobile apps are optimized for checkouts.
  • Apps improve your branding strategy.

As you can see, there is really no debate or comparison. Apps beat out mobile sites in every category. More specifically, all of these metrics point to higher conversion rates. 

If you’re ready to take your mobile strategy to the next level, we’re here to help. You can use BuildFire’s platform to create a mobile app to ultimately get more conversions.

How to Increase Agency Profits With a White Label Mobile App Reseller Program

Every agency needs to do two things right in order to survive and thrive. You must sign new clients and then find ways to retain them.

In a nutshell, that’s the foundation for any successful agency. 

Today’s digital landscape has made the demand for creative agencies higher than ever before. Businesses of all shapes and sizes across every industry are seeking professional help from marketing firms, web development agencies, branding companies, web designers, and advertising agencies. The list goes on and on.

The most successful agencies are able to leverage market trends to make more money. 

By offering additional products and services that your current and prospective clients need, it puts your agency in a position to generate high profits.

With mobile trends on the rise, the mobile app industry is booming. Historically, helping clients create apps was reserved for mobile development agencies. You needed to have a background in tech, coding, and app development to enter this space.

But times have changed. Today, any agency can get its share of the mobile industry profits with a white label reseller program. The best part about being a reseller is that you can do it with zero app building experience and without ever needing to write a single line of code. 

Use this guide as a reference to learn more about the benefits of these programs and how your agency can profit by becoming a white-label mobile app reseller.

Attract New Clients

As I said before, the demand for agencies is seemingly at an all-time high. Every business has recognized the importance of establishing a digital presence. Lots of those companies need help from third-parties to reach their goals.

On the plus side, it’s nice knowing that there is a high demand for your services. But this high demand has created an increase in competition as well.

A recent study identified the biggest challenges for agencies in 2020. 

As you can see from the graph, increasing competition ranked first on the list. Adapting to new technology is the second biggest challenge faced by agencies in the coming year. 

By becoming a white label app reseller, you’ll be able to address both of those barriers at the same time.

You need to find ways to stand out from your competition. If you’re offering the exact same services as everyone else in the market, signing new clients is going to be nearly impossible. 

But the more services that you offer, the more appealing you are to prospective clients and new leads. Businesses who want to develop a mobile app won’t even consider your agency if you don’t offer that service.

30% of small business owners are planning to build an app in the future. Your agency can’t afford to ignore one-third of your target market. 

Businesses seeking agencies are always looking for an all-in-one solution. Working with separate firms for web design, marketing, and app development is too complicated. If your agency can meet all of these needs under one roof, new clients will be much more inclined to sign with you.

Reduce Time to Market

You’ve already decided that you want to be part of the mobile app industry. There are lots of different ways to enter this space. But being a white label reseller is the quickest and easiest.

The alternative methods of developing apps for your clients are much more complex. 

Your existing in-house talent probably won’t be able to take on this additional workload. They may not be qualified for it either. In this case, you’d have to find experienced developers and train a completely separate department. 

To build these apps properly on your own, it could potentially pull your focus and efforts away from your core services. This is a long and grueling process, especially if you don’t have any experience with coding and development. 

But with a white-label mobile app reseller program, you can offer app development services immediately without hiring new staff or hurting the quality of your existing services. 

Time is of the essence. Your target audience wants to build an app today. So if you wait six months or a year to offer these services, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. Prospects won’t wait around for you. They’ll simply find another agency that can provide what they’re looking for.

Furthermore, a white label reseller program will make it easier for your clients to get their apps to market faster as well. Here’s a look at how long it takes to build an app. 

Several factors affect the mobile app development timeline. But as you can see, the majority of apps can be built in less than six months. 

However, using an app builder instead of coding from scratch will ensure faster development. 

You and your clients won’t even have to worry about publishing the apps. If you use BuildFire’s platform for your reseller program, we’ll handle all of that for you. 

Low Risk, High Reward

Any time you consider entering a new market or expanding your services, the cost is always a factor. You must ask yourself if the price is worth the risk before you spend money on something, especially if you don’t have any experience in a particular industry. 

Fear of failure is a common reason why agencies don’t expand or enter new markets. 

But being a mobile app reseller through a white label program is a cost-effective way to increase profits at little to no risk. You can add this service to your agency even if you’re on a tight budget. 

In most cases, the only cost is the monthly fee for the platform that you’re using. Your clients can easily offset those costs.

You won’t need to worry about hiring developers or expanding your team. You don’t need any new hardware, or have to deal with the costs associated with managing that equipment. 

As a reseller, you don’t need to develop your own tools or system. Everything is already done for you. 

A white label reseller program is by far the most cost-effective way for your agency to build and manage apps for your clients. With little overhead costs, the opportunity for profits in this space is virtually limitless. 

Set Your Own Margins

This piggybacks off of my last point in terms of high profits. With an app reseller program, you have complete control over your own pricing. 

It’s a common misconception that you are bound to certain price restrictions with a program like this. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

The reseller programs don’t come with price restrictions. You can market and offer these services on your own terms, based on the value you’re providing to your clients. 

Think of it like any other tangible product. A retailer selling shirts may buy them in bulk for just a couple of dollars each. They can slap their logo on them to resell for hundreds of dollars per shirt.

You’re essentially doing the same thing as a white-label app reseller. Your logo and branding will be on everything. The product is yours to do what you want with. 

The beauty of providing app development solutions as an agency is that you have so many different options for how you’d like to approach your pricing strategy.

One way to set this up is by offering the mobile app service completely separate from your current offerings. So theoretically, a client could build an app with your agency without signing up for your other services. 

You could also offer an all-in-one bundle for app building included with your existing services. This is a great opportunity for you to add value to your total package and charge higher rates.

Whether you’re a web designer or marketing agency, there is a massive opportunity for high profits with both of these pricing strategies. You can even offer a combination of both techniques to give your clients as many options as possible. 

According to a recent study by HubSpot, here are the average agency profit margins. 

As you can see, these figures are all over the board. But the average falls in the 11% to 25% range. While that might be a standard industry benchmark, it’s pretty low if you ask me.

You can aim to be in the 30% to 50% or more range by becoming a white label app reseller. 

There is lots of money to be made in this space if you can price your services accordingly. 

Recurring Revenue Opportunities

Signing new clients is excellent. But agencies make their money by retaining their clients in the long run. The most successful agencies in every industry have a low churn rate and find ways to retain their clients for years.

The best way to do this is by continuing to provide value to your clients. 

Mobile app services are the perfect solution for recurring revenue over time. This goes far and beyond the initial set up fee and launch.

You can continue charging your clients for maintaining the app on a monthly basis. There is also a huge opportunity for other ongoing services like updates, submissions, and maintenance.

When someone builds an app, they don’t just set it and forget it. The process is never complete. You can always make changes to improve the performance of an app.

In fact, roughly 30% of apps are updated at least once per month. 

Furthermore, more than 80% of apps are updated at least every six months. Each time your clients want their app updated is another opportunity for you to make more money.

You won’t always have the same opportunities with other standard agency services. 

For example, let’s say your agency specializes in web design and development. Once you build, set up, and optimize a website, there really isn’t a need for the client to keep paying for your services in the long run. 

Sure, maybe they’ll need help once a year or so with a redesign. But there isn’t always a need for you to actively add value on a monthly basis.

Or maybe you have an advertising firm. Your agency handles all social media ads and PPC campaigns for a client. You might be able to sign them on for six months or a year for your services.

But once you lay the groundwork down, the client could continue running those ads on autopilot once your contract is up. They won’t necessarily need to resign from your agency. 

With white label app development services, you can generate monthly recurring revenue for the lifetime of the app. 

No Coding Required

As a white-label app reseller, you and your clients will be using an app builder for development. The benefit of this system is that anyone can use it, regardless of their technical skill level.

Whether you build the apps or let your clients build them on their own, nobody needs to know how to code. 

The ease of use is what makes this so appealing for everyone. There isn’t much of a learning curve for you, your staff, and your clients. 

As a result, the service is straightforward to pitch. You won’t have to put your clients through a rigorous training program or anything like that. You’re also not restricted from selling only to clients who know how to code.

Make sure you choose a development platform that has all of the tools you need to succeed. Training manuals and how-to guides will be a big help for everyone. You can simply rebrand these materials and pass them along to your clients. 

Furthermore, the best white label platforms also offer premium support. If you choose a platform like BuildFire, you’ll benefit from a dedicated white label support team that can be reached via phone an email. 

Upsell Existing Clients

We already discussed how mobile app development services will make your agency more appealing to prospects. But when you become an app reseller, you won’t necessarily get new clients that same day. 

You’ll still need to promote those new services appropriately so clients can find you. This can take some time before new leads start coming in.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t start profiting from your app development services immediately. 

In addition to attracting new clients, you should also look at your existing customers for revenue opportunities. There’s a good chance that these businesses are interested in building an app as well.

You already have an existing relationship with them. They are familiar with your brand and services. In many cases, these businesses have already benefited from your current offerings.

If you’re able to add even more value to their companies, then they will be excited to hear about a new opportunity. 

Leverage these relationships. You already have an open line of communication and billing information on file. Upselling these clients will be a breeze.

In fact, the chances of selling to an existing customer are up to 14 times higher than selling to a new prospect.

mobile app reseller

Furthermore, existing clients are 50% more likely to try a new product offered by your company. They will also spend 31% more money than a new lead. 

So you don’t have to worry about waiting for new clients to profit as a reseller. Those new leads will come with time. But in the short term, you can start pitching your app services to the businesses you’re already working with.

Based on all of these numbers we just discussed, there is a high probability that they will be eager to try it out. 

Your Own Branding

Branding is another top benefit of your agency becoming a white label app reseller. 

Your brand name, logos, and everything else will be all over the platform and the app, even on the back end. So your clients won’t know where you got the platform from. 

This means that you aren’t given a cookie-cutter solution. You’ll be able to configure the platform so that it fits the needs of your agency and its customers. 

For example, if your agency targets a specific type of business or industry, you can set up the platform so it appeals to those clients. 

You’ll be able to manage all of your clients’ apps and even clone apps to make the process more scalable if you’re building lots of similar apps for different businesses. 

Your clients will be able to log in to make real-time changes as well. When they do this, your agency’s branding will be all over their dashboard. 

In addition to the professionalism associated with this branding, it’s also an opportunity for you to get more business. 

Research shows that 90% of agencies name referrals as the best source for generating leads. 

Clients talk. Prospects will communicate with colleagues who publish apps, wondering how they were able to build it. Depending on the relationship they have, your clients might even show them how they were able to build it using your platform.

As a result, new leads will be exposed to the dashboard with your name all over it. So it’s a great opportunity for you to gain more business. 

Conclusion

Agencies need to adapt to the latest trends. Understand what your clients need and find out how you can offer it to them.

Mobile trends are at an all-time high and aren’t slowing down any time in the near future. 

Your current and prospective clients are looking for mobile solutions. So if they can’t get it from you, then they’ll just find another company to meet their needs. 

By becoming a white label mobile app reseller, you’ll be able to attract new clients while simultaneously retaining and generating more profits from your existing customers. 

This is the fastest way for an agency to enter the mobile market. App reseller services are cost-effective and have the opportunity for massive margins. 

No coding is required from you or from your clients. Plus, the platform will be completely branded with your agency’s name and logos.

Now that you understand the benefits of becoming a white label app reseller, it’s time to find the right platform to use. Here at BuildFire, we have the perfect mobile app reseller program for agencies. 

Contact us today for a free consultation. We have the tools you need to scale your agency to the next level. 

How to Improve Employee Efficiencies With An HR Mobile App

Human resources is one of the most important departments in any business. Yet, so many HR departments struggle with efficiency issues. Paper piles up, phones ring off of the hook. Emails go unanswered. HR inefficiencies can lead to more significant problems in the workplace. Your employees need HR to gain access to crucial information related to things like their compensation, benefits, schedule, training, and more. 

The inability to access this information can create disgruntled employees and low productivity. Some companies have HR functionalities and information accessible through a web portal but that’s really not enough. The best way to have an efficient HR department is with a workforce mobile app. Mobile apps make it easy for human resources to improve internal communication with its deskless workforce. 80% of workers across the globe are considered “deskless.”

Your staff, deskless or not, needs to be kept up to date and have access to critical information in real-time. 

97% of HR leaders plan to increase technology investments in the coming year. So if your company can’t adapt, your problems will only get worse.

In this guide, I’ll explain why you need to have an HR mobile app for your business. I’ll also go through some real-life examples for how you can use this technology to improve efficiencies. 

Benefits of Building an HR Mobile App

The advantages of an HR mobile app are seemingly endless. But to simplify things, I’ve segmented these benefits into five main categories.

  • Convenience
  • Productivity
  • Engagement
  • Accuracy
  • Speed

Check out my detailed explanation of these perks below. 

Convenience

81% of Americans own a smartphone. 61% of people check their phones within 5 minutes of waking up. 

As you and I both know, mobile technology has taken over our lives. Your employees are using their phones every day, even while they’re working.

In fact, more than 90% of people use their smartphones at work.

Since your staff is already using these iOS and Android devices on a daily basis, it only makes sense to provide valuable HR resources to them via mobile as well. 

Yes—theoretically, they could use a smartphone to access an HR web portal. But that won’t deliver a good user experience, so they probably won’t take advantage of it. 

90% of mobile time is spent in apps. This is how your staff wants to access information. 

Plus, most of your workers may not have another option. We have already established that the majority of the workforce is deskless. Think about all of your staff that aren’t tied to a desk. How are they supposed to access HR information?

Deskless employees, remote workers, and staff who are on the go need a mobile solution for human resources. 

Being forced to visit the HR office, make a call, or send an email isn’t nearly as convenient as opening an app on the devices that they constantly each day. 

Engagement

Employee engagement can be challenging to manage. Regardless of your industry or business size, engagement can make or break the success of your company.

Communication is the key to success at every level of your business. But it’s even more important for HR departments since the information being provided is so crucial to the lives of your staff.

So many businesses fall short here, and it’s causing major engagement issues with their employees. According to a recent survey, 80% of the US workforce says that poor communication is causing them stress at work.

This stress is impacting performance. In fact, 63% of workers in the same study said that they’ve wanted to quit because ineffective communication has hindered their ability to do their jobs. 

A mobile app can drastically boost engagement at work. It’s also one of the best ways to improve internal communications and performance management with field employees.

Check out this case study on Preferred Materials. 

To summarize, only 20% of their 1,875 employees were office-based. It was challenging for them to communicate with remote staff, and their HR department couldn’t keep up with the calls and emails. 

The solution—Preferred Materials built an HR mobile app, which resulted in a 300% engagement increase.  

Productivity

Low engagement results in reduced employee productivity as well. This is a significant problem since it directly impacts the bottom line of your business.

If your staff isn’t getting as much work done, then it costs you more money to operate, which results in lower profit margins. Depending on your scenario, poor productivity could even cause an operational loss.

70% of employees feel overwhelmed at work due to broken communication methods. That’s why your company needs to adapt to new technology.

However, mobile workers say they could get half of their work done using just a smartphone. 

By giving your staff access to work-related information in a mobile app, it will automatically boost their productivity.

Without an app, your staff is forced to connect with HR by either calling, emailing, or physically visiting the human resources office. This takes too much time away from more important tasks. 

It creates productivity problems for the workers seeking information, as well as your HR staff that needs to provide them with assistance. 

An app essentially kills two birds with one stone. Your staff will be able to access information more efficiently without causing any bottlenecks in the HR department via phone or email. 

Accuracy

An HR mobile app reduces the risk of human error. If you aren’t using technology to streamline your HR department, there’s a good chance that you’ve run into problems like this in the past.

In terms of scheduling, vacation time, and time tracking, an app will be much more efficient. You can even automate certain workflows.

Your staff, management, and HR team will all have access to everyone’s schedule. So there won’t be any miscommunication about who was supposed to be working or when they were supposed to arrive.

If someone wants to request vacation time or call in sick, everything can be managed directly within the app. 

This is much more accurate than relying on email correspondence for something so important. If your team has to email their manager for time off, and the manager has to approve the time by submitting another email to HR, it becomes a chain of events that’s susceptible to error. 

Speed

Real-time communication is another top benefit of an HR mobile app. Any important announcements can be sent directly to your staff via push notification. This is something that they’ll see almost immediately, as opposed to an email that can be overlooked for days. 

Here’s an example of what these messages could look like.

The speed of an HR mobile app also relates back to convince and productivity, which we previously discussed. 

Think about how long it takes for an employee to call your HR department to get an answer. There might be some back and forth, hold times, and call transfers within the department. Those calls are likely followed up by an email with additional information. Overall, it’s just not the smoothest procedure.

An app eliminates any friction or pain points in the process. Your staff won’t need to call, email, or physically visit the HR office.

Instead, anything they need will be available in real-time at their fingertips. 

A web-based employee portal is not a substitute for an employee self-service iOS or Android mobile app. Those only perform well from laptop or desktop devices, and we already know that your staff prefers to use their phones. Plus, your team may not even have access to a computer throughout the day.

Can employees access a web-based portal from their smartphone? Sure. But the experience won’t be user-friendly. Mobile apps are faster and more responsive than mobile websites. 

Examples and Use Cases For an HR Mobile App

The advantages that we’ve just discussed showcase the importance of an HR mobile app. But how can you actually get those benefits?

I’ll show you some real-world examples of ways that a mobile app an improve efficiencies in your HR department. 

Payroll

How can your employees view and access pay stubs? I know some small businesses that hand out physical pay stubs to their staff around the office on payday. This is a challenge for companies with field workers.

Some of you might have an online system through your payroll provider that allows your employees to view stubs online. But this isn’t the most user-friendly way to provide information.

In fact, employees are 60% more likely to access pay stubs and other payroll information from a mobile device than from a desktop or laptop. 

With an app, your staff can see everything they need related to payroll. 

  • Hourly wages
  • Salary
  • Bonuses
  • Taxes
  • 401k

The list goes on and on. They’ll easily be able to view specific pay periods, either by week, month, quarter, or year. 

At the end of the day, your staff is working for a paycheck. The last thing you want to do is give them any reason to think that you’re withholding information or not providing easy access to what they are being paid.

54% of American workers have had problems with their paychecks. 26% of hourly employees were paid too little. Even 15% of salaried workers say they have received paychecks that were shortchanged. 

Mistakes happen. I would never accuse a company of intentionally underpaying their staff. But if you’re transparent and make everything easy to access through a mobile app, it will make any errors easier to identify and rectify as quick as possible. 

Time Tracking

Are your employees stealing from you? Again, this is a heavy accusation that I wouldn’t make. But stealing can go beyond taking physical inventory from your property.

A recent study suggests that one out of every two employees has admitted to “time theft.” This includes 16% of employees who use the “buddy punching” system. 

Another survey found that 43% of workers have exaggerated their hours to get paid more. 

One of the best ways to prevent this is with time-tracking HR software, which can be integrated into your HR mobile app. Right now, just 25% of employers use time tracking technology.

Shockingly, 25% of offices still use paper or a spreadsheet. 10% use punch cards. A small percentage of companies track hours via text or email.

Clearly, these are not efficient ways to monitor something as important as employee wages.

With time cards, paper sheets, or email correspondence, there is so much room for human error. Your HR staff could easily make a mistake when manually inputting these numbers into your payroll system.

But with an HR app, everything can be tracked with technology in real-time. It also eliminates the possibility of buddy punching.

This makes it easier for your deskless workforce or field employees to track their time as well.

Employee Benefits

What benefits do you offer your employees?

There’s a good chance that not everyone who works for you fully understands these benefits. Whether it’s a retirement plan, time off, sick days, health insurance, or something else, you want to make sure that this information is easily accessible so everyone can take full advantage of it.

When someone first gets hired, they are focused more on the job itself than every single benefit offered by the company. It’s easy for certain things to be forgotten or overlooked.

For example, maybe you offer to pay for a percentage of your staff’s gym membership. Or maybe they get a discount on equipment or clothing at a nearby store. 

Without a mobile app, it’s a pain for your employees to learn about their benefits. They’d be forced to communicate with HR, where benefits would be listed over the phone or via email. That’s not an efficient use of anyone’s time. 

With an internal employee mobile app, your staff can access these benefits on their own time, conveniently, from their smartphones. 

When it’s time to renew their health insurance, your team can review plans and packages directly from the app as well. 

Your HR staffing team will also have access to employee records and other crucial information needed for HCM.

Scheduling

Employee schedules can be another big headache for your HR department. Without using technology, it forces someone to manually figure out who should be working when. 

This can easily lead to shifts being overstaffed or shorthanded. 

Take a look at how employers plan weekly schedules. As you can see from the graph below, 45% of them use paper. 

Only 18% use an app for scheduling. The other methods, such as texting, spreadsheets, emails, or verbal communication are far less effective. Instead, you can use automation for scheduling workflows with a mobile app.

Inferior scheduling methods increases the chances of your employees missing work. In fact, 26% of employers say that workers miss shifts at least several times per month. An additional 18% of employers say this happens weekly, and 9% say they deal with missed shifts on a daily basis.

Not only is this costing you money and lowering your productivity rate, but it’s also damaging your employee morale.

In certain industries like retail and food, 70% of employees say they have at least one last-minute shift change per month. This has a major impact on their quality of life, and doesn’t keep them motivated to keep working for you.

Believe it or not, 49% of hourly workers say they would take less money for more control over their schedule. 

An HR mobile app will let you kill two birds with one stone. This new management system allows for your employees request their schedules directly through the app, and assign them shifts in advance. Any changes can be made in real-time.

Your staff can also use this app as a way to schedule vacation time or call out sick. If an employee has to miss a shift, you can send a push notification out to other members of your team if they want to pick up some extra time. The opportunities here are seemingly endless. 

Either way, it will be much more effective than forcing all communication to be done via email or phone calls to the HR department. 

Employee Training

When you hire a new employee, it’s common for them to go through some type of training program. They might even need to take tests or get certifications to continue working for you.

You can use your HR mobile app to distribute and facilitate employee training. This can save you tons of money and improve your process.

An app allows you to create a sequence of tasks for employee onboarding. It might be videos to watch, forms to complete, or a combination of both. Your HR staff can monitor the completion rate of these tasks to ensure that your new hires are going through the proper training process.

We wrote a case study on Praxair, an industrial gas company with 40,000+ employees worldwide.

After launching a mobile app using BuildFire’s platform, Praxair saved $480,000 in training costs in just the first eight months of deployment. At this rate, the app will save them $720,000 per year in employee training. 

Granted, not all of you have employee training costs that are this high. But everything is relative. Even if you have 40, 400, or 4,000 employees, saving money and time on employee training will improve your company’s profitability. 

It also makes things easier for your employees and ensures that they are always up to date on any required certifications.

Resources, Policies, and Employee Handbook

This relates back to what we discussed earlier in terms of employee benefits. Your mobile app can serve as an all-in-one HR solution for employee resources. 

Company information, news, staff directory, and even an internal employee chat can be accessed directly from the app. 

workforce mobile app

Your app can even integrate with social platforms that your staff uses for work.

Use your app as a way to showcase company events. Whether it’s important meetings, fundraisers, a 5k walk, holiday party, or conferences, everyone will be able to access that information from the app.

Another top feature of an HR mobile app is the ability for employees to submit feedback. 

Whether it’s a suggestion, compliment, or complaint, all of those forms can be accessed and submitted directly through the mobile app. 

Internal Communication With Field Employees

Any business with field employees must have an app to improve internal communication. 

Failing to communicate with remote workers can make them feel like they aren’t part of the team, which causes engagement and productivity issues. 27% of field employees say they feel underappreciated. 

12% of deskless workers say they didn’t receive adequate training. An additional 11% did not receive any training at all.

Just 9% of companies are using mobile apps to communicate with field employees. Those companies typically have higher employee engagement and employee satisfaction rates. 

It’s not practical for a field employee to be on a computer throughout the day. They also shouldn’t be forced to access a computer when they get home on their personal time.

An app drastically improves this communication. With live chat and push notifications, your field staff can stay connected to your office without having to access emails or make calls. 

They’ll also be able to manage their schedules and view essential resources related to payroll, benefits, and training while on the go. 

Use your app for safety and compliance. This type of information will always be available to your staff, and you can collect any incident reports directly through the app. You can also provide tools to boost field sales performance. All of your remote reps will have sales tools at their fingertips to optimize productivity. 

Conclusion

An internal business mobile app is the ideal solution for improving efficiencies in your HR department. 

Your staff is already using mobile devices on a daily basis to complete work-related tasks. You might as well make this process more efficient for everyone.

Apps boost employee performance and productivity. In addition to being incredibly convenient, apps are faster and more accurate than alternative methods for HR management. 

Some specific ways to apply a mobile app to your HR processes include:

  • Payroll
  • Timesheets
  • Employee benefits administration
  • Scheduling and PTO
  • Training and onboarding
  • Employee Resources
  • Communication with Field Employees

The possibilities and opportunities here are limitless. You can build apps for human capital management, applicant tracking systems, and more. A mobile app can save you money, improve inefficiencies, and make your employees happier. 

Whether you’re a large enterprise or a small startup; you can use BuildFire’s platform to create a workforce app. Contact us today for a free consultation. 

How to Increase Shopify Sales With a Mobile App

Shopify has quickly become one of the world’s most popular eCommerce platforms. It powers more than one million businesses across the globe.

In fact, Shopify controls 31% of the total eCommerce market share in the United States. 

It’s the most searched for eCommerce solution on Google, and the fastest-growing eCommerce platform in existence at the moment. So if you’re currently using Shopify to sell online, you’ve definitely made the right choice.

As a Shopify store manager, it’s your responsibility to make sure that products are selling. 

Having an eCommerce website is a good start, but it’s not enough to maximize the potential of your online store. A website alone, even if it’s mobile-friendly, is just the tip of the iceberg.

It doesn’t matter what you’re selling or what industry you’re in; your Shopify store needs a mobile app. 

There is a common misconception out there that mobile commerce apps are only used by enterprise stores and global chains. That’s a myth, and couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

The market dictates mobile app usage, and consumers worldwide prefer to shop via mobile apps. So any small or medium-sized business will benefit from a mobile commerce app as well.

You may not realize it, but your Shopify store is competing with big brands like Amazon. These companies have set certain expectations in the minds of your customers. So to stay competitive and reach as many people as possible, your Shopify store must adapt and launch an app.

As an expert in the mobile space, I created this guide to explain exactly how you can leverage a mobile app to boost Shopify sales. 

Push Notifications

One of the most significant advantages of a mobile commerce app is the ability to stay in contact with your customers. Communication is limited on a Shopify web store on its own.

Right now, you’re probably relying on email to reach shoppers. But lots of factors need to go your way in order for an email campaign to be successful.

First, you need to turn website visitors into email subscribers. That’s easier said than done. It usually requires a visitor to take at least a couple of steps to complete the process. If someone buys a product from your Shopify store, you might give them an option to automatically opt-in to emails, but some customers won’t go for that. 

Once someone joins your email list, communication still isn’t promised. Your emails need to be delivered and opened by the recipients. 

Considering the average person receives 121 emails per day, there is no guarantee that this will happen. 

That’s where push notifications come into play. To communicate with customers via push notifications, all they need to do is download your app from the app store.

In terms of engagement, push notifications beat emails in every category. 

That’s because push notifications appear on a user’s mobile device similar to a text message. The chances of them reading it and opening the message are much higher than a promotional email buried in someone’s inbox.

While you should definitely be using push notifications to drive Shopify sales, just make sure you do so with caution. Sending too many messages can be annoying, and it’s one of the reasons why users mute push notifications. 

As a Shopify store owner, you should only send push notifications that add real value to app users. 

  • Flash sales
  • Discount codes
  • Delivery notifications

These are ideal examples of what you should be using. Just saying hello or sending a weekly newsletter as a push notification won’t be effective and could ultimately backfire. 

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are one of the best ways to retain your customers. 

A loyalty program gives people an incentive to spend more money and increase their shopping frequency. Both of these metrics will boost sales of your Shopify store. 

Can you have a customer loyalty program without a mobile app? Absolutely. But an app will really take your program to the next level. Here’s why.

For starters, it’s unlikely that your customers will visit your website on a daily basis. Even your best customers may only online buy from your Shopify store once or twice per month. They probably aren’t eager to check their loyalty status if they need to land on your website, log in, and navigate to their customer profile. So the program almost becomes an afterthought.

However, your customers use their phones every day. Your app is just a click away at any given moment. This makes it easy for them to track their status and gives them an incentive to reach the next level.

Take a look at some of the top reasons why people continue to participate in loyalty programs. 

Nearly 50% of people said that they participate because the program is accessible through a mobile app. 

If you look at all of the top mobile commerce apps on the market today, they all have customer loyalty programs. A simple mobile app builder, like BuildFire, has plugins that provide customer loyalty functionality for native mobile apps. This will be an easy way for you to drive customer engagement. 

I recently wrote an article about Sephora’s app and customer loyalty program. They took an old loyalty program and revamped it to drive sales and conversions on their app. You can follow their lead and take the same approach for your eCommerce app. Alternatively, you can create a loyalty program with full customization. 

Flexible Payment Options

With a mobile app, you can give your customers more choices when it comes time to collect payments. Don’t assume that everyone buying from your Shopify store has Visa or Mastercard.

You need to offer as many different payment options as possible. This will improve your conversion rates at checkout.

More than half of all checkouts on Shopify come from a mobile device. 

But 30% of mobile shoppers won’t complete the purchase process if the experience isn’t optimized for their device. An app is by far the best way to optimize mobile checkouts.

If you create an app for your Shopify store, it’s much easier for you to add different payment options to accommodate the preferences of mobile shoppers. 

  • All major credit cards
  • All debit cards
  • Gift cards
  • PayPal
  • Venmo
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay

Lots of users already have these payment apps on their mobile iOS and Android devices. You can integrate checkout functionality and payment gateways with your app, which allows users to checkout as fast as possible. Sometimes they’ll just need a fingerprint to convert. 

One-Click Purchasing

This piggybacks off my last point in terms of speed and optimization in the checkout process. Mobile apps have changed the way people shop with one-click purchasing.

Think about your current checkout process. What steps does a customer need to take if they want to buy something?

I’m guessing the process looks something like this:

  1. Find product
  2. Add product to cart
  3. Navigate to cart
  4. Enter name
  5. Provider contact information (email, phone number)
  6. Enter email address
  7. Provide billing information
  8. Enter shipping information
  9. Finalize checkout

That’s a lot of steps. With each added step, it gives your customers an opportunity to change their minds, get frustrated, or make a mistake causing them to abandon the process. 

We have already established that nearly 60% of all Shopify sales come from mobile devices. So if you don’t have an app, then you’re forcing your customers to buy from your mobile site. Going through this checkout procedure on a small screen is tedious, and won’t result in high conversion rates.

Take a look at the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment. 

Aside from the cost, the two most common pain-points were related to speed and optimization. 

34% of customers abandon their purchase because the site forces them to create an account. So while you may be able to eliminate some of those steps in the future by having your customers create an account today, one-third of them still won’t convert.

26% of shoppers don’t buy because the checkout process is too long and complicated. 

Imagine that. Someone wants to buy what you’re selling. They add it to their cart but decide that it’s too much of a hassle for them to buy it. 

The solution is simple—one-click purchasing with a mobile app.

Amazon was the pioneer behind this trend. But it’s now widely used by eCommerce retailers worldwide. All you need to do is put some form of a “Buy Now” button directly on your product pages.

This skips the complicated checkout and need for customers to enter tons of information into form fields, which is a hassle from mobile devices. Users will already have their name, contact info, shipping details, and payment method saved on their customer profile within the app.

Checkouts can be completed in a matter of seconds, which will increase your conversion rates and decrease abandonment rates. You could even use this technology to experiment with your pricing strategy. 

Referrals

Lots of eCommerce businesses have some type of referral program. But not all of those programs are successful. 

The best way to implement a customer referral program is with a mobile app. Here’s why.

First, you need to offer an incentive for your customers to recommend your brand to other people. Monetary benefits will likely be the most successful. Something along the lines of a “give $20, get $20” campaign usually does the trick. Obviously, you can customize this to fit with your brand image.

Once the promotion is determined, you need to figure out how customers are going to share the offer with their friends. Without an app, this is complicated.

From a website, users will be forced to manually enter the names, phone numbers, or email addresses of people who they want to refer to. That’s not very practical, and most people will probably skip it. 

Here’s the thing. The majority of customers are willing to give referrals, but only a fraction of them actually do it. 

Mobile apps make it much easier for users to give referrals because an app can integrate with a user’s contact list. All they have to do is select the names of people that they want to refer. 

App development ultimately increases the chances that customers will send out mass referrals.

Mobile apps also integrate with social media platforms, so your customers can share promo codes directly on their profiles as well. 

At the end of the day, optimizing your referral program can drive a considerable boost in your sales. 92% of consumers trust recommendations from someone they know. So if a friend tells them about your brand, there is a good chance they will at least check you out.

That’s not all. A customer who has been referred to your brand is up to five times more likely to refer new customers. So you’re also boosting customer retention.

This will create a constant cycle of new referrals, which keeps your customer acquisition costs low and ROI high. 

Location-Based Promotions

The most successful promotions are relevant. You might be offering a great deal or discount, but if it’s not closely connected or appropriate for your customers, then it’s useless.

Earlier we discussed push notifications as a way to send offers to mobile app users. This is a benefit that you won’t get with a website alone. 

You can use your Shopify mobile app to leverage geofencing technology to deliver relevant promotions. Let me explain how this works. 

You can set up your app to integrate with the GPS on iOS and Android devices. So when a user enters a predetermined barrier within a location, you can automatically send them a push notification with a relevant offer. 

Let’s say one of your customers enters the lobby of a ski resort. You can instantly send a notification to their iphone about cold-weather gear. If a user walks by the beach, send them an offer for discounted sunscreen, sunglasses, or bathing suits. You get the idea. 

In addition to push notifications, you can also use a customer’s location to personalize the content they see when browsing on your Shopify app. 

For example, let’s say a customer with your app is located in Miami. It doesn’t make sense for snow boots to appear on their homepage. 

Using location-based services can improve the user experience and deliver relevant promotions in real-time. This increases the chances that mobile users will buy from your Shopify store app. 

Improve Customer Convenience 

Every decision you make to improve your Shopify store needs to be based on the customer. Even if something is a bit more challenging or strenuous on your end, you can always make it work if it’s what the customer prefers. 

At the end of the day, customers prefer mobile apps over mobile websites. 

The number one reason why customers like apps better than websites for retail purchases is convenience. Beyond that, the other top benefits on the graph above are related to:

  • Speed
  • Stored settings
  • Benefits and rewards
  • Personalized content
  • Better deals

All of these reasons can be connected to the topics that we’ve already discussed in this guide. 

You can’t mimic or recreate these benefits from a website or even from a mobile site. The customer experience will always be better from a mobile app. 

When customers are happy, their shopping frequency increases and they spend more money per purchase. Mobile sales can easily cover the initial investment of creating an app for your Shopify store.

Enhanced Customer Service

Let’s continue talking about how the app benefits your customers. In addition to making things more convenient for people, a mobile commerce app allows you to provide better customer service. 

Customers can track the status of an order directly in the app once they complete the purchase process. They’ll see updates on when the order has shipped, and have access to the tracking information as well. You can even send them a notification when the shipment has been delivered.

Without an app, tracking a delivery can be a pain. You’re forced to send a separate email with the third-party tracking number. Customers must open that email, copy the number, open a new tab for the carrier’s website, paste the number, and then search for it. This isn’t practical.

But from an app, they can view the status of an order and shipment in just seconds with a couple of clicks.

Beyond that, you can also offer enhanced customer support directly in the app. If a customer has a question, your app can facilitate live chat with a customer service representative. 

Customers can submit inquiries or start support tickets within the app as well. 

Obviously, you don’t want to encourage customer returns. But with that said, returns are just part of being in the eCommerce business. So you might as well make them as easy as possible for your customers.

Follow the example of successful retail giants in the eCommerce space. Amazon uses its app to facilitate simple returns by generating a QR code. Customers just have to bring the item to a shipment center or UPS store and get the code scanned directly from the app.

The customer doesn’t have to worry about printing labels or packaging anything. They just bring the item and smartphone to a shipping center. Returns don’t get much easier than that. 

If your return process causes headaches for your customers, then they probably won’t buy from you again. But if you make this process simple, people will still be willing to buy from your Shopify store in the future, even if they weren’t satisfied with their initial purchase. 

Personalization

We briefly talked about this earlier when discussing payment methods and location-based promotions. But personalization is worth mentioning again on its own.

63% of customers want personalized recommendations from retailers. 

App development is the best way to give people exactly what they need. Apps make it easy to leverage AI technology. 

This type of technology will monitor the actions of users as they interact with your app. Based on their browsing behavior and purchase history, your app can automatically recommend relevant products to each unique customer. 

When a customer sees a relevant product suggestion, it increases the chances that they’ll buy it. Personalized recommendations are a great way to upsell and cross-sell mobile app users.

Either way, the end result will be an increase in your total sales. 

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is another top trend in the technology world. This may not be for everyone, but some of you can definitely benefit from using AR to drive sales on your mobile app. 

Here’s how AR works. The app uses the device’s camera to project potential purchases in real-world scenarios on the screen. 

IKEA uses this feature to help its app users determine how furniture will look in their actual homes.

eCommerce mobile app

So if you’re selling anything that belongs in someone’s home, such as lamps, paintings, or wall hanging items, you could use this technology.

There are other ways to get creative with AR as well. 

Let’s say your Shopify store sells custom clothing. You can use a mobile app to help create a specialized, tailored fit for your customers. AR can get a person’s measurements without needing to see an actual tailor. 

The technology behind these features is a bit complex, but the opportunity is still there. 

Conclusion

Even if your Shopify store is doing well right now, it hasn’t reached its full potential if you don’t have a mobile app. 

The majority of Shopify sales come from mobile devices. So if you can’t adapt to this trend now, it could create big problems for your eCommerce business in the future. 

A mobile app gives you more opportunities to drive sales than a website ever could. 

You’ll be able to communicate with your customers using push notifications and location-based promotions. Loyalty programs and referrals are easier to implement on an app as well. Apps optimize the checkout process and make it easy for customers to buy using their preferred payment method. 

You’ve already made the right choice by using Shopify to power your eCommerce platform. Now it’s time to take that strategy to the next level by building a mobile commerce app.

If you want to increase Shopify sales, use BuildFire’s app development solution for your eCommerce store.

 

8 Reasons Why Your Agency Should Become a White Label Mobile App Reseller

The mobile app industry is rapidly evolving. You could argue that the popularity and penetration of mobile apps in our daily lives are growing faster than the Internet. As a result, the demand for mobile apps is seemingly at an all-time high.

This is especially true for businesses both large and small. In fact, 42% of small businesses currently have a mobile app. An additional 30% of small business owners plan to build an app in the future. 

Young business owners are early adopters. 55% of Millennial business owners already have an app for their small business, that’s 13% higher than the overall average.

As an agency, you can use this information to your advantage.

You already have clients that you’re managing and consulting with. So why not add some value to your services and make some extra money on top of it?

If your current and prospective clients want a mobile app, they might as well get it from you instead of looking elsewhere. Becoming a white label mobile app reseller is a great opportunity for you to gain a competitive advantage over other agencies while offering all services under one roof. 

We’ll talk about all of this in greater detail as we continue through this guide. 

For those of you who are on the fence about adding white label reseller services to your agency, I’ll explain the top reasons why this is a great idea. 

1. High Demand For Mobile Apps

Businesses want to invest in mobile apps. As I mentioned earlier, more than half of the small business owners who don’t have a mobile app plan to develop one.

They’ve recognized the trends with mobile app usage among their customer base. Launching a mobile app is the only way to deliver an excellent mobile experience to those customers.

But business apps go far and beyond just appeasing customers. There are so many businesses out there that need an app for internal uses as well. Companies can use mobile apps to improve HR inefficiencies or enhance communication with deskless workers. 

The possibilities are endless. So even if a current client of yours already has an app for their customers, they still might be in the market for an internal business solution.

According to Google Trends, the search term for “mobile app development” is at an all-time high.

Mobile App development google trends

As you can see from the graph, the global interest in this topic has been trending upward at a steady pace for the last decade. There has also been a sharp rise in search popularity over the past two years.

Think about that for a second. 

Honestly, I was blown away when I saw this. How long have mobile apps been around for?

The Apple App Store officially launched back in 2008. There were just over 500 apps available at this time. That’s the most modern version of mobile apps as we know them today. 

All of us have been using mobile apps on a daily basis in the smartphone era. But people are still searching for app development on Google, today, more than ever before. 

This means that the demand and need for app development solutions still haven’t reached its full potential. There is no sign of this trend slowing down in the near future, and you’ll see more proof of this as we continue through this guide.

Let’s get back to your clients and their needs. Here’s a look at the top reasons why small businesses are building mobile apps. 

Why small business build mobile apps

Attracting new customers, gaining a competitive advantage, and increasing sales are the top three responses. 

Do these reasons look familiar? What are the selling points at your agency?

I’m willing to bet that you sign new clients based on your promise to help them with these three factors. Essentially, the benefits of mobile apps are synonymous with your agency’s value proposition. 

2. Inexpensive Entry to Market

Like any business venture, the cost is obviously something that needs to be taken into consideration before you make any decisions. You’ll need to weigh the cost of your investment against the potential risks and profits. 

How much will it cost you? What can you expect to get in return?

But unlike other business opportunities, you don’t need to invest huge sums of cash to become a mobile app reseller. The cost structure for a white label app is very friendly for the reseller agency.

In most instances, you’ll pay a monthly fee for the app building services. Then you can upcharge your clients whatever price you see fit to meet your desired margins. 

Once you start onboarding clients there is a huge potential for growth. 

In addition to the inexpensive costs, becoming a white label app reseller can deliver massive ROI for your agency. No matter how you set up your pricing structure, there will be plenty of room for profits. 

For example, you could bundle mobile app development to be a standard feature with your existing agency services. By nature, this will increase the base prices of your packages. Alternatively, you can offer app development plans as an add-on or supplemental feature for your clients. 

Either way, you’re offering a service that your clients have a need for. So it’s a win-win for both of you. 

3. It’s Easy to be a Reseller

Basically, anyone can become a mobile app reseller. 

You don’t need to learn how to code or anything like that. App building platforms, like BuildFire, allow you to build an app from scratch without any experience. 

Already owning an agency gives you even more of an advantage. Your business structure is already set up. So all you have to do is add a service, as opposed to starting a new business from the ground up.

Plus, if you have multiple clients that are in the same space or industry as each other, there’s a good chance that they will need similar apps. So you can basically offer the same app to more than one client, just branded differently for their needs.

Find a reseller program that allows you to clone your existing apps. With just one or two clicks, you can have a brand new app ready to sell to another client without doing any extra work.

You’ll just need to change the logos, color schemes, and branding. You could always make other minor changes based on the client’s requests.

For example, let’s say your agency specializes in marketing consulting for law firms. An app for one law firm probably won’t be very different from another. So you won’t have to change much to sell it to multiple clients.

With less time and resources required to build additional apps, your returns can be massive.

Depending on the reseller program you choose, you can set it up to be completely hands-off instead. Rather than building the apps yourself, you can just focus on selling the clients the software. Then your agency clients can build, edit, and manage their apps through your own branded dashboard. 

You may not charge as much for this type of package, but it’s much less work on your end. The best reseller programs give you the option to do both.

So your agency can build and sell apps, just sell the software or a combination of the two. This will largely depend on the wants, needs, and budget of your clients. 

I’d recommend working with a reseller platform that will be there to help you through each step of the journey. If you’re building apps on your own and run into a problem or get stuck, it’s nice to know that a customer support representative will be there to help you out.

The best reseller programs will also offer extensive guides for how to use their platform.

White label reseller tutorials

Here at BuildFire, we have 33 tutorials just for white label resellers. 

The step-by-step guides cover everything from getting started to user onboarding and sales. We include in-depth videos and screenshots to walk you through the process of using our system. 

So when you’re shopping around for a potential reseller program to choose for your agency, this is definitely a top feature that you should be looking for. 

That way you’re not just left to figure out everything on your own without any help or resources. 

4. You Can Offer Affordable Apps to Your Clients

Becoming an app reseller only makes sense if your agency can actually sell app services to clients. So you’ll need to do some research here.

Take a moment to look at your current and prospective clients. Why don’t they have an app right now?

If you ask them directly, it’s unlikely that their response will be, “I don’t need one.”

Business owners understand the importance of mobile adoption. We talked about this earlier. So there are other reasons holding them back. According to a recent study, these are the biggest perceived barriers for small business mobile apps.  

Perceived barriers

As you can see from this graph, more than one in five small business owners believe that building an app is too expensive for them. 

But reseller programs allow your agency to make mobile app creation affordable for your clients.

All you need to do is charge an initial set up fee based on the complexity of the app, then bill a recurring monthly fee for managing the app and software. 

Aside from the price, look at the other barriers on the graph above that are preventing business owners from creating a mobile app.

Half of the small business owners without an app say they haven’t built one because they don’t know-how. An additional 23% says they don’t have time to build a mobile app. 

As a reseller agency, you can eliminate both of those barriers immediately with your services.

You’re consulting with a client that doesn’t know how to build an app; no problem—you can build it for them. One of your clients doesn’t have time to manage an app? No problem—you’ll manage it for them.  

All of this just means more money in your pocket for the added services. We’ve already discussed how easy it is to build, edit, manage, and maintain an app. So this won’t be an issue for you as a reseller. 

5. The Mobile App Industry is Still Growing

It’s not too late to join the party. There is plenty of room for mobile app resellers in this industry.

Earlier I explained that the demand for mobile apps is currently at an all-time high. But that doesn’t mean that we’ve reached the peak just yet. 

The demand and growth for mobile apps are still on the rise. I don’t see any signs of this slowing down in the foreseeable future.

Just look at the trends for mobile app revenues worldwide. 

mobile app revenue growth

From 2014 to present, mobile app revenue has more than quadrupled. App revenue has more than doubled between 2016 and 2019 as well.

Now, look at the growth projections moving forward. We’re on pace to see app revenue doubling again within the next 4 years.

That’s because apps are penetrating every industry. Smartphone usage is growing worldwide. Ecommerce mobile trends are on the rise. 

Users are spending more and more time each day on their smartphones. The vast majority of that time is spent using apps.

There is an app for virtually anything. This means that the demand for mobile apps will still be here in the coming years. 

As I said earlier, even if one of your clients already has a mobile app, they still might be in the market for another one. A retail store and eCommerce site might have an app for driving mobile sales. But they might also want an internal app for their HR department. 

You can potentially sell more than one mobile app to the same client. 

The opportunities for your agency signing new clients for app development is endless. In addition to signing new clients, you’ll also continue to get recurring revenue from your existing clients for maintaining their mobile app services.

6. You Can Measure Your Success

One of the most challenging parts of entering a new market or starting a new venture is figuring out if your choices are paying off.

Did you make the right decision? Are you making wrong moves? How can you avoid bad decisions moving forward?

With an app reseller program, your mobile app KPIs are obvious and easy to track.

For example, let’s say your building an eCommerce app for one of your small business clients. You can look at metrics like downloads, conversions, and cart abandonment rates.

Did their gross revenue increase after the app launch? 

It’s not a guessing game. You’ll be able to see real numbers if the app is working or not. 

These metrics will be slightly different if you’re building an app for something like internal business communication. You’ll need to get more feedback from your clients and their employees.

This feedback will be directly related to the user experience. Based on what your clients say, you’ll be able to make changes and improve your apps over time.

Your first app won’t be perfect. Your second app won’t be perfect either. But I guarantee that you’ll get better as you continue. You just need to figure out what works and what doesn’t. 

Even for an internal business app, you can track metrics related to how much money the app is saving your clients. Things like less paper, fewer office supplies, and improved productivity will boost their profit margins. 

By measuring your success, it gives you the opportunity to make any adjustments to your pricing structure for your reseller program. 

I’m not saying you should change your rates for an existing client. You wouldn’t want to go against numbers that you already agreed upon. But you can always increase your rates moving forward if it makes sense for new clients. 

7. Easy Branding

A white label reseller program means you’re not actually building a mobile app development system. Leave that to the professionals.

You’re basically just taking a platform that’s already set up and slapping your name on it.

Admin control panel

So when a client logs in to their administrative dashboard, they’ll see your name, logo, and everything else associated with your brand. 

This is super easy to do. The reseller tools provided by the app builder make it possible for you to manage all of this. Basically, you’ll be given templates to make your own. The branding process is as easy as it gets. 

Overall, this will make your agency look very professional from the perspective of your clients. 

Managing all of your customers is simple as well. Both you and your clients will have access to individual customer control panels. This is where the app building process takes place. 

8. Adds Value to Services

White label reselling means that your services become more valuable. You instantly become more appealing to prospective clients.

As an agency, you know how challenging it can be to sign a new client.

There are lots of agencies out there offering similar services. It’s tough to stand out in a highly competitive space if you’re just doing the same thing as everyone else. 

But being a mobile app reseller can become your differentiation strategy. 

Not everyone out there is doing this. So if a prospective client is deciding between your agency and a few other options, you’ll definitely stand out among the competition for this unique value that you’re offering. 

Ultimately, this makes the lives of your clients much easier too.

They don’t want to take the time to research and meet with an app developer. They already spent enough time trying to find an agency to help with other needs. Your agency can essentially become a one-stop-shop for everything a client needs. 

Continue handling your existing services, whatever that may be. Some of you might specialize in website management, conversion rate optimization, web design, marketing, SEO, or a combination of these things.

Now you can add mobile app development to this list of services.

This will widen your reach, and help you focus on specific audiences who can afford your services. If a client is willing and able to pay for a mobile app, it’s usually safe to say they have room in their budget for other agency services as well. 

At the end of the day, you’ll be able to charge more for your services, make higher profit margins, and keep your clients happy at the same time. It’s a win-win for everyone. 

Conclusion

The mobile app industry is booming. 

We’re living in a time where all mobile trends are at an all-time high. There is no sign of these slowing down in the near future. 

As a result, the demand for mobile apps is higher than ever before.

Businesses need mobile apps. Your agency is in an opportunistic position to provide your current and prospective customers with mobile solutions.

The best way to do this is by becoming a white-label mobile app reseller. 

For those of you who want to take advantage of this opportunity, you need to find an app builder that offers white-label platforms for resellers. Here at BuildFire, we have the mobile app reseller program that you’ve been looking for. 

Our services are agency friendly. We’ll give you the power to scale as you grow.

Your clients can even sign up to build an app through an automated free trial and sales process, which gives them a chance to try the platform out without having to spend any money.

When the apps are built, you don’t have to worry about getting them into the app stores. BuildFire takes care of publishing for you and your clients. 

Why Your Deskless Workforce Needs a Mobile App

By definition, a deskless worker is any employee who is not seated behind a desk when they’re working. While this definition is quite broad, it’s highly relevant to the majority of businesses so who is a deskless employee?

Some examples of deskless positions include on-site technicians, field sales representatives, delivery drivers, blue-collar workers, and home healthcare providers. Even insurance adjusters need to be on the go to meet clients and contractors on-site at a claim. 

The list goes on and on, but the deskless workforce seems to be penetrating companies of all sizes in nearly every industry.

There are countless employees out there who don’t have the option to work in an office. If you consider the amount of field employees who are on the move or work at multiple locations, you’ll see the deskless workforce rate is rising quickly. 

Workforce mobile apps are designed to accommodate the needs of blue-collar workers and field employees. This is the best way to get them engaged with your company. 

According to a recent study published by Forbes, 80% of the workforce is considered deskless.

Yet, just 1% of software funding is allocated to these employees. There are obviously some serious flaws with those numbers.

So if your company has deskless employees, you’ll need to change the way that you manage them. This will require you to leverage the appropriate technology.

Your deskless workforce needs a mobile app. 

Simply put, you can’t treat remote or field workers the same way as your in-house employees. Plus, even your traditional in-house staff might be deskless a handful of times per month. So a mobile app will ultimately benefit your entire workforce. 

For those of you who are interested or on the fence about a mobile app for your remote staff, I’ll explain why this is a must-have technology for nearly every business. 

Improve Communication

Deskless employees are different. While this may seem like an obvious statement, a surprisingly high amount of businesses haven’t seemed to recognize and adapt to this quite yet.

Communication is the key to success at any place of business.

However, 79% of workers in the United States say that they are more likely to hear about something through word of mouth in the office as opposed to official communication from management. 

Nearly 50% of all workers are not happy with how management communicates with them. 

According to a recent study by the Harvard Business Review, these are the biggest communication issues in the workplace.

As you can see, not giving clear instructions and not having time to meet with employees both rank high on this list.

If your business is having so trouble communicating with your staff while everyone is under the same roof, how can you possibly communicate with your deskless employees who are constantly on the go?

With a deskless worker, you can’t just spontaneously stop by their desk or office to give them instructions. You can’t expect them to be at all meetings either. 

So what’s your current process for keeping these people up to date or in the loop?

All too often I consult with business owners who don’t really have a system for this. Maybe someone from the meeting sends a follow-up email. But that’s not always helpful or accurate. 

Picking up the phone to call a deskless employee can turn into a game of phone tag, which is not an efficient use of anyone’s time. 

A mobile app eliminates friction in the communication process. Your deskless staff can be informed in real-time with push notifications and announcements within the app. 

This will make them feel like they are still part of the team, even though they aren’t always around or available. It also ensures that they’ll always have access to a clear set of instructions, as opposed to taking notes by hand over the phone during a call with a manager. 

Futureproofing Closes Gaps

Your business can’t afford to fall behind the latest technology trends. Failure to adapt now could lead to big problems down the road.

Learning how to leverage technology will help close any gaps or inefficiencies in the workplace.

Once you learn how to futureproof your system, managing deskless employees will become easier than ever before.

If you’re still relying on fax machines, landline phones, and face-to-face communication to manage your workforce, then your process has room for improvement. 

You need to take advantage of the technology that your staff is already using on a daily basis. BYOD, short for bringing your own device, has become the new normal in the workplace.

96% of Americans own a smartphone. 

The vast majority of employees bring these devices to work, and they feel more productive when using their own devices. So why not take advantage of this?

Your staff is already using their phones at work. So it only makes sense for communication to go through these devices with an app.

An app makes it easier for your deskless workforce to solve problems. They’ll have access to useful resources, guides, customer information, and much more in the palms of their hands. 

Your business mobile app can also be used for communicating with team members, keeping track of workflow progress, and updating schedules. 

For example, let’s say you have a business that requires your staff to perform work in the homes of your customers. Without a mobile app, your current process might look something like this:

  1. Your staff has to come into the office.
  2. Everyone meets with a manager to get assignments for the day.
  3. They are handed a physical folder with information about the customer and the job.
  4. Drivers get on the road and head to customers’ houses.
  5. Work is performed, and notes are manually updated in the customer folder.
  6. Drive back to the office to drop off notes and customer files. 

I know this is pretty broad and non-specific. Depending on your business, there might be a step or two missing, or an extra step that is not required, but you get the picture. 

A mobile app will drastically simplify this process. Your staff can just go directly to on-site jobs without having to stop into the office for assignments.

All of the customer information, files, and instructions can be managed within the app. Your staff can even check off tasks like “estimate done” or “job complete” in real-time. 

An app will improve your efficiencies and allow your staff to get more done in a day’s work. It also enhances your record-keeping process. Overall, an app is clearly a better solution to the alternative.

Appeal to Millennials

For some of you, this might seem like a strange reason to get a mobile app for your deskless workforce. Why would you need to appeal to Millennials?

Well, as of 2016, Millennials have become the largest generation in the American workforce. 

That’s not all. By 2030, 75% of the total workforce will be comprised of Millennials. 2030 isn’t that far away.

Basically, Millennials are going to be working for you. If they aren’t currently the majority of your deskless workforce, they will be in the coming years.

It’s in your best interest to keep your staff happy. Otherwise, they’ll just leave and find another job.

Millennials don’t have the same mindset of generations before them. Their parents and grandparents found a job and stuck with it forever. 

But this generation seemingly already has a foot out of the door whenever they start a new job.

According to a recent study, 74% of Millennials believe that constantly job hunting will help their career. 44% of them say they expect to leave their current job within the next 2 years.

70% of Millennials say that they would quit a job based on that company’s sustainability for the long haul.

This relates back to our previous point about future-proofing your business processes. Basically, if your employees think that your business doesn’t have the technology to survive moving forward, they’ll leave. 

Plus, Millennials are extremely tech-savvy. They are eager and willing to use technology to improve processes in their personal and professional lives. Offering your deskless workforce a mobile app will be welcomed with open arms. 

Employee Engagement and Satisfaction

By nature, a happy employee will be more engaged. However, keeping your employees happy is easier said than done. It can be challenging to get people excited about work.

We’ve already discussed that 80% of the total workforce is deskless. However, the needs of the deskless workforce are drastically overlooked. 

Just 56% of deskless workers say that they feel connected and engaged with their employers. An additional 27% of deskless employees say that they feel underappreciated.

Why is this the case? It could be for a various amount of reasons, but it all stems back to effective communication, which we discussed earlier. 

If you’re not able to see your deskless staff and communicate with them on a regular basis, it’s easy for them to disengage and feel underappreciated. This will ultimately affect the quality of their work. You need to avoid this at all costs.

But how can you possibly engage with someone who you don’t even see on a daily basis?

Mobile apps increase employee engagement. 

These numbers speak for themselves. By increasing employee engagement with a deskless workforce mobile app, you’ll reduce employee turnover, increase revenue, and boost productivity.

The success of your business is in the hands of your staff. Too many employers have the mindset that anyone is replaceable, which is why your staff might feel undervalued. 

But employee turnover is expensive. Hiring, training, and onboarding a new team member is not always a simple process, especially if its for a deskless position. If you’re unable to improve your processes, then new employees will feel the same way as the ones who left before them. 

It’s a vicious cycle that you don’t want to put your company in.

Employee turnover, disengagement numbers, and productivity rates are costing you money. You’d be much better off investing that money into a mobile app. That investment could save you tens of thousands of dollars per year in the long term. 

Easy Integration

We’ve already discussed how technology can bridge the workforce gaps between deskless employees and their employers. But with that said, sometimes employees can feel overburdened with too much technology across multiple platforms.

If a company uses lots of different software, deskless employees are forced to navigate across multiple interfaces and platforms. This is not always ideal. By nature, using several different platforms is more complex for a deskless employee. A traditional in-office worker will likely have an easier solution for similar tasks. This can cause a divide between your staff. 

That’s why a mobile app is the ideal solution for everyone.

Your internal business app can easily integrate and potentially replace other software that you’re currently using. Both your in-house and deskless workforce will have access to the same information, in real-time, on the same platform. 

Training your staff on how to use one mobile app is much easier than teaching them how to use five or six different software solutions. 

By consolidating the technology, your deskless workforce won’t need to jump from platform to platform to get work done, which will ultimately increase their productivity. 

A mobile app creates a single source of information for things like customer history and job notes. You won’t have to worry about mistakes being made when employees are forced to manually update information across multiple platforms. 

Since all data will be coming from one system, it will be much easier for you to analyze everything so you can make informed business decisions.  All of the data in the app can also be used to improve the workflow process for deskless employees. 

Reduce Costs

To piggyback off of our last point, a mobile app will ultimately benefit your bottom line. At the end of the day, this is really what matters the most.

Cost savings was one of the top reasons why businesses invest in deskless technology.

Increased productivity is a major contributor to saving money. 

Think about your current process for managing deskless employees. Earlier, we discussed a hypothetical scenario that involved workers having to report to the office before going out on the road for the day. 

Just eliminating that one step could save two hours per day, per deskless employee. If you have 20 deskless workers, that’s 40 hours of labor saved in just one day. Assuming your staff works five days per week, that’s more than 10,000 labor hours per year.

Do the math. Multiply that number by the hourly wages of your deskless staff to see how much money you can save in a year. 

This is just one example. Productivity can be increased throughout the entire workflow process as well, ultimately contributing to more hours saved each day, week, and year. 

I know what some of you are thinking. Your deskless staff is on salary, so you pay them for at least 40 hours of work regardless.

But with improved productivity, each employee will have increased bandwidth. They’ll be able to complete more tasks on a given day, meaning your company can increase its workload and grow without adding more members to your team. This will allow you to scale back other costs as well. 

Enhance Security

Security needs to be a top priority for all businesses. It’s your job to protect any information related to your company, employees, and customers. 

Analyze your current process for cracks, leaks, or vulnerabilities in your security systems.

How are you communicating and transmitting sensitive information to your deskless workforce? 

This information can be anything from a customer’s home address to an employee’s social security number. Emails, web-based employee portals, and physical documents are not always secure. But a mobile app serves as an added layer of protection for sharing files. 

55% of small businesses experienced a cyber attack in the past year and 50% had a data breach. These are the most common types of attacks on businesses.

Mobile app technology can prevent these types of breaches. 

Smartphones can use facial recognition, fingerprints, other biometrics to access sensitive information. Your employees will need to verify their identity before viewing something like a paystub. 

48% of data breaches were caused by a negligent employee. A mobile app will help add security layers, even when an employee makes a mistake.

For example, if your staff loses a physical file, it could end up the wrong hands. But to access that information on a mobile phone, someone would have to hack both the phone and app. This becomes nearly impossible if a fingerprint scan is required for each.

Improve Accessibility

Not everyone works a traditional 9-5 job. 

People work odd hours, especially deskless employees. Some may start early, others may work late nights or weekends. Depending on the nature of the position, some deskless workers may need to be on-call at a moment’s notice.

A mobile app gives them on the go access to everything they need from virtually anywhere. This includes access to real-time information related to the workflow process. 

For example, let’s say you have ten employees out on the road performing work on-site at different customer homes. By the nature of your business, the work is ongoing, and you’ll need to be back at each home more than once. 

With a mobile app, your staff will have real-time access to scheduling appointments. 

This is much more effective than having to follow-up and call your customers while sitting in front of a schedule in the office. 

What happens if a customer asks a question that your deskless employee doesn’t know the answer to? No problem. Instead of calling into the office, they can access handbooks and other resourceful guides at their fingertips directly within a mobile app.

Conclusion

You can’t afford to neglect your deskless workforce. 

Times are changing, and you need to leverage technology to improve your workflow processes and systems for managing employees. 

A mobile app will make it easier for you to communicate with remote workers while simultaneously futureproofing your operation. An app appeals to the majority of your staff, which will increase employee satisfaction and engagement.

It’s easy to integrate a mobile app into your process. This investment will boost your security and lower your costs for the long term by improving employee productivity. 

An app gives everyone, including your in-house staff easier access to critical information.

If you’re ready to build a mobile app for your deskless workforce, you can do it using BuildFire’s platform. We have experience building apps to improve communication for field employees.

You can build the app yourself using our system or have our team of experts build it for you. 

Researching Mobile App Agencies? Ask About These Hidden Costs

So you’ve finally decided that you’re ready to build a mobile app. That’s exciting news! Maybe the app is for your e-commerce shop or intended to improve your internal business communications.  Who knows? Maybe you have a great idea for an app and want it to become the next Snapchat.

Regardless of your scenario, you need to figure out exactly how you’re going to develop your app. Finding a mobile app development agency is a logical place to start.

There’s just one problem. You’ll likely find hundreds of different agencies to choose from. How can you possibly know which one is the best for your app?

Fortunately, you’ll be able to eliminate some options right away based on things like their location or reputation. But once you start narrowing your choices down, the cost of your app will likely play a major role in your decision-making process.

Unfortunately, not every agency is always transparent about their pricing. 

If you don’t know what questions to ask an agency, then you could end up building an app that costs double or triple the amount that you initially thought. 

Don’t get me wrong; this is not necessarily because agencies are trying to deceive you. While there are certainly some bad apples out there, this won’t be the case for the most part. 

Some important mobile app development factors just might not be included in your initial bid from a developer.  So it’s in your best interest to get all of this information clarified from the beginning to avoid unpleasant surprises down the road. 

So use this guide to help you get a more accurate bid from the mobile app agencies you’re considering for your app development project.

Here are some of the most common hidden costs you need to ask about: 

Pre-Launch Hidden Costs

The simplest way to break down hidden costs is by pre-launch and post-launch. So the first thing we’ll do is cover the questions you need to ask an agency related to the development process. 

What Platforms Are Covered?

There are two platforms for mobile app development; iOS and Android. The total cost to develop an app for each platform will vary, with Android development being slightly more expensive than iOS development. 

So this question is simple. When you’re consulting with a development agency, just ask if the bid includes iOS, Android, or both.  Assuming you’ll want your app exposed to the widest possible audience, you want to find a bid that includes development for both platforms.

If you don’t ask, your final product may only be half of what you expected, and the additional costs could ultimately double to deliver what you need.

You should also inquire about the type of development the agency is going to use when building your app for each platform. If they are planning to build a traditional native app, then they will have to build two separate versions for each platform.

This development process will add unnecessary costs to your bid. 

Look for a development agency that can build hybrid apps. In this case, you can build for iOS and Android simultaneously, without having to develop two separate apps. 

Finding out if your prospective developer offers hybrid development can save you from a significant amount of hidden costs as well. 

What Technology is Required?

According to a recent study, the average cost of a mobile app ranges from $38,000 to $171,000. 

Obviously, there is a huge difference from the bottom of this price range to the top. That’s because all apps are not created equally. 

As you can see from the graph, a huge portion of that price is related to features and infrastructure. Both of these factors are related to the technology needed to make your app work.

It’s like asking about the average cost of a house. If you want to buy a one-bedroom house with 500 square feet in the middle of nowhere, it will cost significantly less than a six-bedroom, 4,000 square foot house by the ocean.

Apps are the same way. The price will depend on the features you want, and the technology required to meet those needs. 

All too often, I see people who want to build an app focus all of their attention on app features. There’s nothing wrong with this, but you need to understand the technology behind those features as well, and how that technology will impact the cost.

For example, if you want to save user information, make sure your bid includes a database server. If you want to conduct user analytics, make sure your bid includes an analytics server.

An app that allows users to log in will need an authentication server and an app that sends push notifications will require a push notification server.

The list goes on and on. Each new feature will require a supporting piece of technology, which ultimately increases the cost. 

So ask your development agency if all of the technology is included in the bid. Otherwise, you could be surprised to see some hefty upcharges when everything is complete. 

How Long Will it Take to Build?

Depending on the agency, your development timeline could impact your final cost. It all depends on how they set up your bid.

For example, if they’re charging you a fixed monthly rate until the development is finished, your app could end up becoming much more expensive than anticipated if they fall behind schedule.

Here’s a look at some different steps in the development process.

mobile app

As you can imagine, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to how long it takes to build an app. 

We’ve previously published a guide on mobile app development timelines. During our research, we discovered:

  • 24% of apps take 1-3 months to build
  • 48% of apps take 4-6 months to build
  • 16% of apps take 7-9 months to build
  • 12% of apps take 10 or more months to build

So for the most part, there’s a good chance that you can build an app in six months or less. 

If an app development agency is telling you that this process will take longer, make sure to ask if the bid is related to the time frame. You want to make sure that the price is fixed, regardless of how long it takes to develop. 

How Will the App Be Secured?

While it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you’re thinking about app development, security is certainly one of the most important features to consider. 

But again, not every development agency will include this pricing in their bid. So you need to ask if your quote covers all of the necessary firewalls and encryptions. 

Security is not something that you can overlook. Here’s why.

Let’s say you’ve budgeted $20,000 to spend on an app. However, you realize after it’s been built that the bid didn’t include security. But you’ve already maxed out your budget. Now what?

You can’t launch an app without the proper security elements. So if you can’t find a way to come up with the additional cash, you’re stuck.

In addition to asking about the cost of security features, ask your agency to be specific about the type of technology they will use to keep your app safe. If they are only using basic security, you may need to come out of pocket down the road for advanced protection, which is a scenario that you’d obviously like to avoid. 

Hidden Costs Once Your App is Live

Developing a mobile app is like owning a house. If you only think about the initial purchase price, then you’ll be disappointed to learn that you have to pay for insurance, utilities, and regular maintenance. 

The cost of building an app doesn’t stop once it’s live. So talk to your development agency about the prices associated with the situations below. 

Making Changes

Even the best and most popular apps on the market come out with updates on a regular basis. 

Sometimes this is because you intentionally decide to build it out in stages.  Other times, it’s just because you find ways to optimize it over time by improving the user experience.  Or if you have an e-commerce mobile app, these changes could be related to reducing friction in the checkout process to increase sales. 

And don’t forget updates that will inevitably be needed in order to keep up with the latest technology, such as new OS released by the mobile platform. 

The bottom line is this—your app is going to need changes.  So how much will these changes cost?

Ask your development agency.  Find out if the quote includes updates. Will you be charged per update? Do they charge you a monthly or hourly rate to be on call?

At the end of the day, these costs are unavoidable. So try to find a development agency that gives you fair and transparent pricing for updates so you can plan accordingly. 

Scalability

While it may not be something that you’re dealing with all of the time, your mobile app is going to have traffic spikes from time to time. Don’t worry; this is a good thing.

It means that people are using your app. However, this traffic increase can overwhelm your capacity, causing servers to go down. Unfortunately, this is one of those things that just happens.

That’s why you need to understand how your app is supported by a load balancing and auto-scaling perspective. 

Auto-scaling ultimately reduces costs because it will always adjust the number of required resources based on the current workload of your app. 

You don’t want to cut corners when it comes to the pricing here. Otherwise, there could be instances where your app is crashing or unavailable. That’s obviously something you want to avoid.

But with that said, you don’t want to overpay for resources that you’re never going to use or only going to use on rare occasions. 

So talk about your scalability options with your mobile app developer. Ask specifically about the workload and costs associated with scaling. See if they have a cost-effective option, such as the load balancing and auto-scaling described above. 

Support

Will your app development agency continue to maintain the app for you after it’s been built? Who do you call when stuff happens? How much will this cost?

These are important questions to ask as well.

Ideally, you want to find a mobile app developer that’s able to maintain your app and infrastructure post-launch. That’s going to make things easier for you in the long-run.

However, make sure you get a quote for how much this will cost. 

In most instances, there will be a fixed monthly fee associated with supporting your app. Just ask about it ahead of time so you’re not surprised by the bill down the road. Compare this cost to the rates offered by other developers you’re vetting as well. 

Conclusions

When you’re narrowing down your choice of mobile app developers, just make sure you take a close look at your bids to make sure that you won’t be surprised by hidden costs down the road. 

At first glance, you may think that one agency is significantly cheaper than the other. However, upon further inspection, it might be because they didn’t include the costs related to technology, security, or support.

Being able to distinguish between pre-launch and post-launch costs is crucial from a budget standpoint as well. 

When you’re shopping around for a developer, just be sure to ask these questions. So use this guide as a reference for figuring out which questions to ask. 

 

App builder icon

Powerful app builder

Ios & Android icon

iOS, Android & PWA

Unlimited customization icon

Unlimited customization