Member Article

8 Differences between Mobile Apps and Mobile Websites

Today most of internet users are smart devices users and among them 47% are tablets users. Be it any business, any industry or sector, it has become crucial to have a mobile marketing plan. However, as it comes to that, most people are jeopardized between mobile websites and mobile apps. So here we help you find the difference between the two:

Does a website have more scope than an app?

Today is the time when we aim to get more results for less input and it turns out that browsing websites is easier as compared with downloading and using apps. Users too understand well that they will find more information about products on websites as compared to applications. This is the reason that website targets bigger audience being an easy option and due to the reason that there’s more common ground in developer-user expectations in websites.

Apps are a litmus test for marketing success

It’s no secret that the apps need to depend on an OS to run on and then again apps need to be installed while websites just need a one-for-all browser. Despite being an operating system in itself, browser is simple to handle. Modern browser doesn’t involve typing, instead there are links which open new pages in new tabs. However, as you run a marketing campaign, it is easy to gauge results via apps. For instance if a user has downloaded an app, it means s/he is interested in what you offer. This shows that through apps you can know how many people are keen on connecting with your company owing to your recent marketing.

Customer apps cost more – on both ends

Well, the bad thing about apps is that they need to run on more than one platform. This way building an app is easier than choosing a service like Bizness Apps. However, you need to pay extra money to your developer for the same app that’s to be developed for Android application development, iOS and Windows Mobile Application Development and other Operating Systems. Still in the long run, an app may prove to be a profitable deal. On the other hand, website development is not that expensive and you may even opt to use a CMS with a minimal monthly or annual price.

Websites let you take a passive approach in sales, while apps allow you more active control

Mostly what happens with websites is that a visitor needs to visit them in order to get any kind of message from them. In case someone doesn’t visit your website then there is nothing you can do about it other than putting ads or pursuing them via emails inviting them to your website. This way it’s a passive marketing approach. However in apps, you can put up pop-up messages offered by catalog. This way, apps are capable of self-launching and displaying offers or sales to the user. You don’t need to put extra ads for marketing.

Websites are great for customer discovery, whereas apps are better for customer retention

You can easily get new customers via websites noting that they can be optimized to rank better in search engines while the links can be shared across social media websites and forums. In case you intend to get new customer to buy your product, it is presumed that they’d prefer buying it on website instead of downloading an app they have no knowledge about. Whereas, it’s easy to retain customers via apps, as a customer may choose to come back to your website or not. You can’t do much about it instead of sending promotional emails that end up in the “promotions” tab on their Gmail. Meanwhile, apps are powerful in terms of what they can and cannot do. Like apps can send you analytics for each of your customers, so that you can offer them better, customized products and keep track of their purchasing patterns.

Customers spend more on websites

Now you might not know that customers spend 1$ on websites for every 42.7 cents they spend on apps. This proves that customers doesn’t intend to pay for a product without considering competition and discounted prices as they use the mobile app. However, they are keen to do that while using a mobile website to make the purchase.

This way mobile websites and mobile apps are both necessary and it’s advised to have both. While mobile websites are great for customer discovery, mobile apps are useful for customer loyalty and retention.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Octal Info Solution Limited .