Are Mobile Apps Still Relevant For Companies?

These days, there are seemingly endless ways to connect with a person or to engage with a company or brand. To be honest, it can even feel downright overwhelming at times. Website contact forms, email addresses, via social media handles (and DMs within social media platforms), phone calls, SMS, chatbots, apps - the list goes on and on. 

Given all these routes from which to choose, does it make sense for a company or business to even have an app available to their customers?

Many reasons exist for why apps may be useful to implement. In fact, here are some great ones. Mobile App Or Website? 10 Reasons Why Apps Are Better. (VWO).

It’s easy to identify, and of course agree, that some excellent occasions exist where a company may decide to utilize an app. Depending on the goals a business is trying to accomplish, it can work quite well. I’m thinking about a health app I use that connects to my doctors, my past visits, medications and notes that are specific to me as a customer. From a security standpoint, an app may be preferable here as well. The ability to pass along sensitive information within their app is a much appreciated feature. Another instance where an app may be preferable could be one from an entertainment provider. Something like a Netflix or Sling TV app to view all the shows you enjoy in one convenient place makes a ton of sense. Furthermore, when using an app, brands are capable of pushing out notifications to those who have it downloaded and can inform them on updates such as new shows added to the platform.

But what about when it comes to more directly connecting with customers on a daily basis? Does it make sense for companies to invest in this area on their app, or are they better served elsewhere? What about companies where an app doesn’t seem like it would provide as much relevance to its services / offerings? Should they develop an app anyway to regularly engage with their customers, or is there a smarter way to communicate?

I am ultimately going to argue that in today’s day and age, it’s just not relevant anymore for a company to “connect” with it’s users through an app apart from the primary functions it’s providing them. A few reasons here why this is the case:

Apps increase customer effort at a time when reducing friction is a top priority.

Locating an app in the store, downloading it, installing it, then creating a login and profile, is a whole lot more complicated than going straight to a company’s Twitter feed, Instagram page or Tik Tok videos to check out what they are up to. I can think of literally any company I want right now, find them on social media in a mere matter of seconds, and see what they posted about just ten seconds ago.

Moreover, if someone understands what an app is, how to download it, and then operate within its interface, then surely that same person already knows how to tweet at a brand or shoot a direct message to them through their Instagram handle. It’s the same pool of people. Apps on the other hand might not be the simplest route for all customers to understand. Each company, having a different app, sign up process, and way to navigate within their app platform is frustrating. Why not operate in the social media space, one which we all already have and understand?

Some thoughts by Lance Ng support this, “Proponents of the app industry also point to rising smartphone users and app download numbers. But this statistic is also skewed by the fact that it is the existing and highly popular social, utility and game apps that make up the majority of these downloads." (medium.com). Clearly there is a place for apps depending on the application, but for many companies, it’s just not necessary to have one.

Additionally for the app experience, by having to download something new to my device, I might encounter storage issues. My personal phone perpetually sits at max capacity in terms of gigabytes, and I frequently have to delete items in order to add new apps I actually need. Oftentimes this deters me altogether, and I won’t add a new app solely for this reason. I literally declare to myself, “No, I don’t want to take the time to delete some of my photos. Ah well, I don’t really need this app anyway!”

Years ago, apps did make a whole lot more sense. Remember back to when websites were first available on the earlier versions of our smartphones? You’ll recall that the user experience wasn’t always quite so stellar. Furthermore, a decade ago, social media didn’t have near the constant integrational reach into our daily lives as it possesses today. This is the space where apps filled in some of the gaps, but with today’s consistently updated smartphone technology, mobile experiences are reasonably smooth and social media also dominates.

Much of what we used to acquire out of the apps can now be achieved just as easily, if not better, on mobile websites and social media platforms. There’s no need for customers to be bombarded with a more complex version of tools they already own. Asking customers to download a company specific app, particularly if it doesn’t really serve them any better or add much additional value, only makes their journey more arduous.

Apps require both money and a team to incorporate.

Designing a customized app for a brand or business is no small feat. It involves software developers, designers, UX interface specialists and a whole team to include into a company’s outreach plan. Apps must also be maintained and updated as time goes on. Of course this leads to even more costs. 

Victoria Collins says, “Native apps are coded with a different code for each operating system. This means if you want to build a native app that works on Apple Phones and Android phones, you’ll need to build it twice with different codes. A web-app is built once, with one set of coding and works on all mobile phones (as well as on desktops).”

She also states that, “...native apps are time-consuming and costly to develop. They are also less flexible and have high maintenance costs. They have lengthy download times and need frequent upgrades, which can be frustrating for users.” (Victoria Collins at Forbes)

Social media is speedier, more easily supports direct customer contact and highly encourages repeated engagement.

Plain and simple, social media is just flat out quick. In fact, it can even be in real time. Tweets can go out in seconds and live streams can broadcast out, well, live. Sure an app can be updated relatively fast, and some are even in real time, but in the world in which we live today, there’s absolutely zero debate that the speed of social media is king. Ponder how much news we are privy to via social media before we ever see it on the TV or a news media website.

Like it or not, social media takes the lead here. Due to its up-to-the-moment nature, people return time and time again to check in on the latest developments. The opportunity for repeated customer engagement is as high as anything out there. Reflect for a moment on just how much everyone checks Instagram or Twitter each and every single day, multiple times a day. You might have even done so during your time reading this article. It’s just that prevalent in our lives.

Antoni Żółciak at Insane Lab says, “…we need to remember that out of every 10 users more than five will delete the app after the first week.” (Insane Lab). I’d argue that this is because apps are like magazines. The information on them comes out later, meaning fewer people are interested in their content offerings. Who wants outdated information?

Due to the capabilities of social media, reflect for a minute about the crossover potential and reach a company can achieve connecting with other companies and societal movements through this manner as opposed to an app. With social media, a brand can engage with live events, creating hashtags and other fun campaigns that can meet customers where they are. One simple example is to envision how a company may pair with an event, supporting them as one of their sponsors.

I recently watched the 2022 Winter X Games on TV just a couple weeks ago. Notable event sponsors included Jeep, Wendy’s and Monster Energy. At various times throughout the competition, these sponsors were trending on social platforms. Fans could also hashtag the event and brands. Furthermore, the announcers on television would mention that you, as the fan, could connect on these platforms, upload your own content, and put yourself into the conversation.

Social media allows people the opportunity to engage in the chance to win promotions and prizes, be featured on a brand’s social media account, and become part of an ongoing community. This can create a type of movement, often just not seen on apps. Full blown campaigns can be built this way or even a trending moment may occur, further driving brands and the connections with their customers. The opportunities for success are endless on social media.

Do not forget the human factor: more choice isn’t always a good thing.

In a world where we are all more overwhelmed than ever, the last thing we need is yet another place to go for communication. Like many of those in the CX space (not to mention just about all of our customers!), I’m a huge proponent of making things simpler. Today’s humans are completely swamped with data. Every single person I know feels this way, no matter the industry in which they work. It’s just too much. It’s a constant stream of emails, messages, texts, information and news coming at us 24/7, now you’re gonna make us go to an app too? No thank you!

Countless articles and blogs have been written on this subject. More choices can paralyze us, making it more difficult for us to take action. The famous book The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less, by Barry Schwartz, says it all right there in the title. We don’t need more choices; what we need is a more direct and understandable route to connect and engage in the ways we already use. “Overall, people think they like to have more choice, but it actually causes more stress to make the ultimate decision.” (Lindsay Dodgson via Business Insider)

The answer for companies.

In the end, it’s going to come down to the goals a company is trying to accomplish and the purpose of the app. For some, it’s always going to make sense and be beneficial. For instance, a travel app for frequent bus travelers with updated real-time route and arrival times is going to be a useful asset for many riders. 

Each company will have to decide on what goals they are trying to meet. Perhaps they should ask themselves questions such as:

• Do we need to pass back and forth sensitive and secure information with our users?
• Is there a tangible reason for us to regularly deliver notifications to our users?
• Does our app truly accomplish things that we just can’t do on our website or social media accounts?
• Is the cost of maintaining an app worth it for us here?
• If the primary driver behind the app is marketing, do the branding benefits of simply having our icon on users’ phones outweigh the reputational costs of an app that adds little tangible value to (and may even complicate) our customers’ lives?
• And even if there is a product experience use case, like controlling a smart device, does a standalone app offer any benefits that an integration with an Amazon Echo or Google Nest could not do more effectively and/or seamlessly?

These and similar questions will help create a more understandable answer for many companies.

For those brands that don’t really need an app.

Go ahead and get rid of the apps. Instead, spend the energy and resources on making a website that is fully functional and enjoyable for users, fulfilling the needs that matter to them most. “As mobile use continues to grow worldwide, the “app vs web” question will remain a very real consideration for organizations seeking to establish a mobile presence. If your mobile goals are primarily marketing-driven, or if your aim is to deliver content and establish a broad mobile presence that can be easily maintained, shared between users, and found on search engines, then the a [sic] mobile-friendly responsive website is the logical choice.” (Jason Summerfield via HWsolutions.com)

Next, fully invest in your social media presence. For the foreseeable future, it’s a very popular method through which people are going to continue to communicate. People understand it. Don’t make them learn an app. Every company, no matter their size, can start a social media account in mere minutes and start posting immediately inside of a platform which we all already use. Make your customer engagement on their robust. If customers connect through social media, via direct messages or hashtags, companies should get involved and let them know they are heard and appreciated. Customers will thank companies for that, and the conversation can grow from there. Perhaps it may even become trending. The options are endless. Don’t be like the CD or the tape cassette. Sure millions of people used them (and apps) in the past, but today they are what I’ll coin here as “ghost town products.”

Jason Summerfield has a somewhat similar take arguing for mobile websites. “A single mobile website can reach users across many different types of mobile devices, whereas native apps require a separate version to be developed for each type of device. Furthermore, mobile website URLs are easily integrated within other mobile technologies such as SMS, QR Codes and near field communication (NFC).” (HWSolutions)

Sure, if a company has the resources to develop an app, a team to update it constantly, and a few customers who actually want to download and utilize it, then by all means, they can choose to go that direction. For many organizations, however, the resources and personnel would be better served in other capacities. You can tweet a link to this article out to your friends right now if you wish. Feel free. Go for it. You don’t even need to download the CCW Digital app to make it happen. I think you get what I’m saying here.