18 December, 2013

Mobile website vs Mobile App: Which should you use?

The rapidly growing popularity of smartphones and tablets has compelled enterprise to promote their businesses by targeting mobile platforms. Each organization has several options to target the mobile device users. Some companies launch mobile business apps to attract their existing customers and prospects. At the same time, many organizations optimize the look and feel of their websites for mobile web browsers. However, both mobile website and mobile apps have their own pros and cons. So each enterprise must compare and evaluate these two options to target more relevant users.

Evaluating Pros and Cons of Mobile Apps and Mobile Websites

User Access
mobile app development
A business mobile app needs to be downloaded by the users. Once the user downloads and install the application on his mobile device, he can avail its features simply with a single click. On the other hand, a mobile website can be accessed by users immediately on their mobile web browsers. Further, the mobile version of your business website can also be accessed by using mobile version of various online search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Functionality
The mobile applications are more effective in keeping users engaged by offering efficient and high quality functionality. Your business can always impress users by allowing them to perform complex tasks like getting information about products, placing order and tracking payment without any hassle. But the mobile website does not allow users to carry out any such transactions directly. But you can use the mobile website as a medium to get more inquiries and website visits.

Speed
A number of reports have highlighted how a mobile app runs at a much faster pace than the mobile websites. So the mobile applications will help you in keeping users engaged by delivering rich user experience. The mobile websites also require users to be connected to the internet to access the mobile websites. But many mobile applications can be accessed by users without having any internet connection.

Technological Requirements
Most organizations, nowadays, launch different versions of the same enterprise app by targeting different mobile platforms. So each version of the app must be developed using technologies and programming language according to the requirements of the mobile operating system. So businesses have to hire mobile app developers to implement their ideas. On the other hand, the mobile version of your website can be developed without putting any extra time and effort. Your website designer can use some simple tricks to create and optimize the mobile website.

Development Cost
As your existing website can be easily optimized for the mobile web browsers, you are not required to incur any heavy expenses. But cost of the mobile application development project will vary according to the features and functionalities of the app. Further, you have to promote the app on various platforms to enhance its popularity. So the overall cost of developing, launching and marketing a mobile application may be huge. It is always a good idea to keep in mind your budget, while evaluating these two options.

ROI
An organization has option to launch the free as well as paid version of the app. When a user loves the features and functionality offered by the free version of the application, he will not hesitate to download the paid version. Further, an organization can implement a comprehensive promotional strategy to make its paid apps popular. The free apps can also be used as a medium to generate revenue by including in-app purchases and in-app advertisement. So it is always easier to monetize a mobile application in comparison to a mobile website.

Each organization also needs to make and implement a comprehensive strategy to launch a popular business mobile application. But it can optimize the mobile version of the website without putting any extra time and effort. So an enterprise must evaluate cost and ROI benefits before taking a decision in favor of any one. You can hire mobile application programmer from top mobile app development companies who can guide you in detail about the benefits of both approaches.

We provide mobile app development services. If you would like to discuss with an expert mobile app developer from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

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