Imagine yourself sitting in the comfort of your room. Grab your smartphone and start using it. Almost instinctively, you will open an app. Why is it so? Why do you open the Facebook or Twitter app instead of opening the browser and going to their website? The reason is simple – convenience.

Using an app is a more convenient and faster way to get things done. An app loads faster than a mobile web and uses the native capabilities of the device, offers smoother navigation, and is more secure. Businesses must have an online presence in this digital age, especially by using mobile apps.

There are approximately four billion smartphone users worldwide. Smart devices hold about 52% of all internet traffic. Apps in every category are becoming more popular with every passing day, without any sign of slowing down.

Mobile application development is on the rise, so businesses should embrace them wholeheartedly because their conversion rate is 157% higher than that of the mobile web. Let us explore a few reasons to see why mobile apps give a higher conversion rate.

Personalization Drives Conversions

This statement holds in every scenario, from online shopping to in-store purchasing. Businesses can personalize the user experience based on their interests, behavior, demographics, and location. They cannot finalize one approach and implement it on all of their customers. A teenage girl should not see the same content as an older man.

Mobile apps offer an effortless way to gather valuable user information in real-time. Marketers can use this information to personalize the experience of every user. How? Well, have you ever browsed through an e-commerce app? Do you see ads similar to the products or services you browsed? If you have experienced this, it means that you received the recommendation based on your shopping or browsing history.

A user can view their shopping history and track their spending on a mobile app or a mobile web as well. The difference is that, on a mobile web, users need to log in before they can view this information. On the mobile app, however, all they need is to open the app. Their account stays signed-in and allows them to skip this step. This reduction of one step is what allows mobile apps to convert higher than mobile web.

Two-way Communication

Communication drives users to convert. It is started either by the user or the business. Users communicate for various reasons depending on their experience. They might have a problem with a purchase or need help in accessing the content. The problem does not matter much, as long as users can communicate easily. Live chat is the best option to talk to a customer support agent. Although it is available on mobile apps and mobile web, the user experience is much better on a mobile app because it syncs with the device and the app.

Users can communicate with the business using the mobile app or the mobile web, but a company cannot do the same. Using the mobile web, they can either use an AI robot or a chatbot on the page. With a mobile app, businesses can easily use push notifications to connect with the users. Users prefer alerts over chatbots any day. Research shows that 70% of users find push notifications useful, and their engagement rate is also higher. A mobile app is the only way to use push notifications. So, businesses can communicate with the users in a better way by using a mobile app.

Using the Device Features

A mobile web cannot access the device features because it is on a web server. A mobile app is on the device, which is why it can access the device features. These features include but are not limited to, compass, camera, GPS, and contact list. The use of such features simplifies the user experience and makes the app more interactive.

For example, manually entering credit card information can lead to mistakes in a mobile web. Using an app, users can use the camera to take a picture of the credit card. The app can use the image to enter the information automatically, thereby reducing the chances of error.

Business apps can use GPS for the ease of customers. Suppose a business has stores in several locations and a customer is looking for the closest branch. The app can sync with the GPS of the customer’s device and locate the store. Because of such benefits, mobile apps convert higher than the mobile web.

Promote Engagement

Mobile web cannot promote engagement like a mobile app. An app gives incentives to the users to stay active. An example of such an incentive is a referral program, where users refer an app to their friends. If their friends accept the invitation, the user who referred the app gains points. Users can use the points to avail discounts and buy products. When a user enjoys such benefits, they are more likely to convert into profitable customers.

A chain will start where people who got the referral will, in turn, send it to their peers. This process will continue, and the engagement will continue to increase. Doing the same from a mobile web is much more difficult.

Optimizing the Checkout Process

Checkout is the final step in the conversion process. It is the most crucial part because it ensures sales. A user can complete the checkout process within a few seconds using a mobile app, but the process may become lengthier on the mobile web.

In a mobile web, users have to find a product, add it to the cart, and then input the payment & shipping details before they can check out. Entering the payment and shipping details can take up some time, and there is room for mistakes. In a mobile app, once a user has entered this information, it is saved. So, all they need to do is add a product to the cart and proceed to the checkout process. A mobile app lowers the friction in the checkout process, which leads to a higher conversion rate.

Ending Notes

In the end, we can see that mobile apps do convert higher than mobile web. They offer various benefits over the mobile web, such as better personalization, two-way communication, utilizing the device features, promoting engagement, and a faster checkout process.

Mobile apps perform better than the mobile web in every category. All the advantages of a mobile app lead to a higher conversion rate.