A lot of people are still trying to figure out what to invest in, a website or a mobile application. Both strategies come with their own pros and cons, and choosing between them mainly depends on the type of website you have.
Most of the websites are mobile-friendly and have a good mobile design and so people think that they don’t need a mobile application. That’s not actually true.
In this article, we’ll go through some statistics and analysis that will help you determine what direction you must go.
Statistics
The mobile application industry generated incredible numbers in 2019 topping up $122 billion per year and this trend is expected to rise to $189 billion by 2020. With all the technology improvements mobile applications are showing no signs of struggle as they are achieving constant growth.
The time that users spent on their phones also increased by reaching 3 hours and 15 minutes per day, which is plenty enough. However, on the other hand, the time spent on computers has lowered by a few minutes as well as the time spent watching TV.
What is the Difference?
Both things can be accessed via a mobile device but the process behind them is different. The website has browser-based HTML pages that are linked to one another. The responsiveness on any website has become one of the first things to too look out for as it will be accessed by different devices.
There is a rise in the trend of mobile websites and people are starting to get their web site designed with mobile functions in mind.
On the other hand, mobile applications can be downloaded and installed from any app market. They can also pull data from the internet in a similar way to the websites.
They are applications that are programmed and written in the language of the device so you can install the app on iOS or Android. They are completely different entities from the website and they are created for spreading brand awareness.
What are the benefits of Mobile Application?
There are a lot of benefits that mobile applications can bring to your business. If you have a sports blog, for example, your mobile application can provide data, such as breeders cup results or the Champions League top scorers, with much more ease than a website.
Besides that, here are some other advantages:
Branding opportunities
Mobile applications can offer new branding opportunities and help you build up a steady brand that everyone can trust. Companies will be granted the freedom to experiment with their branding tactics as they personalize the experience for users.
Personalization
Most of the websites today are similar to one another and using the same design which gets boring for users. There is a huge rise in customer satisfaction and the best way to do that is by personalizing user experience. Mobile applications can access all sorts of different features on your mobile phone like interests, places, people, and etc. in order to come up with the best personal experience for you. Applications also have better analytics by tracking user engagement and offer different recommendations.
Highlight Device Capabilities
There are different features that you cannot use if you have a traditional website such as:
- Camera
- Notifications
- Vibration / Alert
- Instant updates and etc.
Mobile websites have access to all these features expanding their capabilities and improving user experience.
Offline Access
One of the main differences between mobile applications and websites is that the mobile application can be accessed even when the device is offline. Even though you’ll get the best user experience if you have access to the internet and some applications require it in order to use their full functionality, some of the applications still provide an offline user experience.
This is a huge benefit for mobile applications as many people go to places where they do not have internet access, and the mobile application provides them the things that they need.
These are some of the differences between traditional websites and mobile applications. The best thing is to have both, but that requires a serious investment that some companies simply cannot afford. You should always make your company accessible by presenting it to the customers through mobile applications.
