To grow revenue and profits, expand business opportunities, and better serving Customers, organizations are discovering the significant benefits with the “convenience of Mobile” and the “power of Apps”. Further, Apps enable organizations to be better at Business Innovation and expand the options for Customers to engage – to make it easy to do business. Examples of companies who are realizing the significant benefits in mobile with Apps include –
InterContinental Hotel Group 
InterContinental Hotel Group realized the need for quick booking when people are on the go. Considering 94% of smartphone users use their phones for local searches, an App that offers local hotel booking wherever you are is a smart move. In 2012 alone, mobile accounted for 30% of their revenue. Through cross platform mobile app development, IHG was able to offer Customers a quick way to book a room – even if they didn’t have access to a computer. In fact, for users booking within 48 hours of their hotel stay, 60% used the App while only 30% used the desktop website.
Takeaway: Users want Apps that enable them to do business when they want how they want – and perform a task quickly. Often, Users prefer an App to a website because it’s easier to use – ” click an icon and stuff happens “. There are major benefits to making business Apps that simplify life for people and deliver a great User experience.
Starbucks 
The coffee giant, Starbucks, focused their mobile App on increasing Customer loyalty. While increasing sales was an important goal, they focused mainly on engaging Customers. Unlike many other retail Apps, Starbucks made Apps to enable Customers to not only browse product selections and make purchases, but earn points and learn more about the various coffee varieties the company offers. The App became an educational tool and made ordering drinks on the go much easier. Add in the loyalty points and it made the App almost as popular as the company itself !
Takeaway: Make an App that has a high appeal to Users and offers more than the competition to provide greater value as well as to differentiate your products and services. While many retailers rely on a website or a basic App (with limited capability), versus having an ” App that matters”, Starbucks gave Customers more than just a way to order – they provided an experience – that was informative while earning company loyalty points to encourage people to come back again and again.
Pizza Pizza 
Pizza Pizza is a Canadian pizza chain that made a major leap into the mobile market with an App that made it easy to order and have pizza delivered. To encourage people to use the App when it was launched, Pizza Pizza offered an incentive program that in six weeks resulted in a massive jump in revenue – which matched the previous 6 months of sales !
Takeaway: Make Apps having high appeal, promote adoption of the App with meaningful benefits to Customers. For example, offer special mobile only features or incentives to encourage App usage. And once people use the App and like it, they’ll choose your company over a competitor.
RetailMeNot 
RetailMeNot was already popular for deal hunters. The company listened to Customers and made an App so it was easier for shoppers to get the discounts. The traffic from mobile continues to increase by over 100% each year. Users took to the App because they could get access to coupons and discounts while in a store without printing anything at home first. Since most Users have their phone with them while shopping, it’s easy for them to search and obtain discounts when they see something they like. Until they’re actually out shopping, they might not know which store or items to look for. The App enables Users to make quick shopping decisions – wherever they are.
Takeaway: Give customers access to your business – no matter where they are. If your products, services and features are already popular, you can build on this popularity by offering additional access via mobile. The key is to make the App even easier to use than your website.
Lexi-Comp 
Lexi-Comp designs constantly updated clinical reference guides for use by healthcare professionals. Those in the healthcare industry rely upon these guides for research and medical decisions. The company developed an App that enables doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to access these guides on the go. This time saving App has helped boost the Lexi-Comp profile and enables their guides to reach more people. Unlike others on this list, the company makes most of their mobile revenue due to the App’s price.
Takeaway: Have Apps to give your customers easier access to your products and services. Whether the App is free or paid, Customers are always searching for better ways to access information with mobile Apps addressing this purpose perfectly.
Pandora 
Pandora was already popular for streaming music via the desktop. And when they entered the mobile market, revenue and popularity increased. The mobile App offered all the same features as the desktop application, with the additional capability of enabling Users take music with them anywhere they had a signal. Further, the mixture of free and paid services enabled Pandora to appeal to a wider audience with going mobile significantly increasing the User base.
Takeaway: Develop Apps that provide a mixture of free and paid options. While people like receiving something for free, they’re more likely to pay for services later when extra value is being delivered. This creates brand loyalty and appeals to more users, especially budget-conscious ones.
Summary
Apps are key to making it easy and appealing for people to engage,enable the company to do more pro-active marketing to increase business reach and timely messaging, grow revenue and presence in the strategically important mobile market, and an opportunity to have more stickiness with Customers – to improve business outcomes and for competitive advantage.
While Apps for different purposes expand business opportunities, even a single App can put your company in front of thousands or millions of Users. To expand relevance in mobile, research your Customers’ needs and get Executive insights to discover the benefits with Apps to deliver new Mobile Services and evolve current Apps to maintain relevance as Users needs change . As well, draw Users in with free services and value added Apps that are location or time based, personalized to reflect company promotions or User preferences, gamification, AR / VR, video, etc.
For additional insights on why mobile matters and realizing the significant benefits with Apps, please visit – www.cail.com/ABI, www.cail.com.EXEC, www.cail.com/CPOverview
With mobile enabling organizations to improve financial performance by extending current services with Apps and providing new Mobile Services as indicated in these cases, please contact CAIL (info@cail.com or 800-668-5769) to explore how Apps can fast track growing your business.
9 / 2016 …. CAIL Mobile Industry Update