A good mobile website is enough if customers visit now and then to learn about you or order, but repeated use or phone features call for an app. In most cases, start with the website and test demand, then build the app once it is clear customers keep coming back.
Step by step
- 1
How often do customers use you?
Weekly orders, repeat bookings or daily follow-up justify an app, while an occasional visit is well served by a website.
- 2
Do you need phone features?
Notifications, location, the camera and working offline are features an app makes better use of.
- 3
Count the download step
An app asks customers to download it first, while a website opens straight from a link or an ad.
- 4
Count the ongoing cost
Store accounts, review of every update, compatibility with new operating system versions, and annual maintenance.
- 5
The middle ground
A progressive web app, or PWA, is a website that can be installed on the home screen from the browser, and it suits many cases before a full app.
Building an app because a competitor has one, without a reason for customers to open it again and again, ends with an app deleted after its first use.
- app or website for my business
- is an app better than a website for a store