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Both Apple’s iOS App Store and Google’s Play Store are flooded with millions of apps. Any good idea is rapidly cloned. This dissuades people from downloading them. It also stops entrepreneurs from creating new ones. But progressive web apps (PWA’s) live outside the app stores. This allows them to be promoted individually and distinctly. This thereby create a great business opportunity.
The trouble with app ideas and useful business information is that they are easily copied and repeated. Once an app appears on a store, cloners leap in and mercilessly repeat the idea. They rapidly flood the store and rob the app of any distinction. Only a few apps are lucky enough to get first-mover advantage and enough traction to stand out.
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For example, take a look at Flappy Bird, a simple idea of a game that was cloned more than 1,000 times. What’s more, many of those copies launched within days or a matter of weeks. Your business idea might be higher brow than a few avian pixels in a game. However, the news of rampant copying certainly put off a few people from launching on the app store. Progressive web apps, however, dissuade imitators. Thus, they help to promote your business and ideas to a fresh audience, keeping them engaged.
The Power of Progressive Web Apps
With a progressive web app, you can keep the app on your own site. In this way, you direct only customers or prospects to it. Your app can remain focused on your own business audience or market. This gives you total control over discovery and keeps your app largely free from prying eyes.
A progressive web app is a hybrid of website and app. It can be easily developed using a template-based service. PWA’s can feature all the best parts of apps. This includes stores, ordering, data sharing, messaging, and push notifications. In other words, you’ll be able to keep in touch with your audience easily.
PWA’s offer a range of benefits, including an offline mode. Therefore, your user doesn’t need to be connected all the time. PWA’s don’t take up as much space as a full app, either. That’s because they have basically a zero install size. Therefore, people are more likely to keep your app on their device even when space is tight.
But their key benefit, whether you develop the app yourself or use a builder service, is there’s no need to go through the lengthy app store approval. Nor will you need to deal with updates and other hassles. What’s more, your business can develop the app using templates with no need to go to an outside agency. This will keep your costs down and speed up changes and adding features.
The Modern Way to App
Progressive web apps have been around for a few years now. However, web technology in the guise of wider HTML5 adoption is finally here. This makes progressive web apps suitable for prime time, supported on both iOS and Android devices. Whether your business provides information services or needs a concierge or booking service, a progressive web app is the right way to reach your audience and maintain loyalty.
Most users will not recognize the difference between an app and a PWA. However, your business will gain benefits that include greater stickiness, better response, higher conversions, and reduced bounce rate. What’s more, your website can flow easily into the app.
These benefits are vital to business. As mobile web use continues to grow, it will outstrip desktop use. However, people are becoming wary or tired of apps and app stores. Even relatively young users are getting fed up with searching for new apps. Instead, they stick with a few useful tools and social media.
Stay in Closer Touch with Your Customers
Check out this infographic for some impressive statistics to see how a PWA can directly affect you and help your business. From a marketing perspective, PWA’s allow you to keep a close eye on your users. You’ll get feedback on their interactions and be able to reach out with push notifications.
Furthermore, if your business is in the realm of providing information, then you can easily update the PWA template. In other words, you can tweak it to sell more or different types of information. And remember, you can do all of this without having to go through app store approvals.
More Benefits and Features
PWA’s offer a wide range of key benefits for startups and small businesses. For example, there’s no need to learn coding. There are no additional costs. And you don’t need artistic skills. Content can come directly from your website.
Extra features that can help make your PWA more engaging include useful tools like calendaring. Plus, you can add rich media to show off your company content, and you can link to social media. You can also add online payments for in-app purchases or direct sales. Loyalty features like coupons or money-off vouchers can help keep customers coming back to your store. And you can easily encourage new prospects to sign up.
PWA’s Work Well with Both Apple and Android
Now that Apple supports PWA’s in WebKit as part of iOS 11, both iOS and Android devices provide fertile ground for your business’s growth. What’s more, with a PWA you retain immediate control. Thus, you can protect your apps and ideas from the ravages of the traditional app stores.
