Ask the experts: Do you need an app when you have a mobile site?
There are differing opinions in the retail space about the need for an app when you already have a fully optimised mobile site. You can download the ebook at the bottom of the page that looks at this from both the retailer and consumer point of view.
We asked 6 experts from different departments at Poq the following question to understand the view from multiple areas of a business:
Why do you need an app when you have a mobile optimised site? How are they different and how do you drive usage?
Oyvind Henriksen
CEO
“Websites are meant to be static. They started life as documents, and people are trying to make them interactive. However, the more interactive you try and make them, the harder it gets. Apps on the other hand are created for dynamic and interactive experiences.
Customers expect that when they click a link on the web, they’ll have the same experience as any other user. The expectation of apps is completely different, they expect the app to be personalised. Apps are tailored for the individual.” Read more.
Niralee Patel
User Experience Designer
“There are many reasons that an app can be better for your users than the mobile site from a user experience angle.
Apps work faster than mobile sites. From a UX point of view, one of the huge draws of an app is the enhanced experience for the end user. Apps store data locally, whereas mobile sites use web servers. For this reason, data retrieval happens almost instantly. When your mobile experience is optimised for functionality and consistency, it creates trust and rapport with users to keep them coming back.” Read more.
Jun Seki
CTO
“Loading webpages on Chrome is slow and there is no indication of the loading progress. When you use a lot of tracking providers and chat bots on your site, the websites become very slow to load, especially for those connected on the 3G network. However, with an app, we simply and quickly load API responses like reading raw text.
Average app user attention span is around 3 seconds, so if you can’t load your fat webpage within that time, users begin to lose patience and you risk abandonment.” Read more.
Mahmut Canga
Platform Architect
“Looking at the technical side of this discussion, a typical mobile site has to be lightweight and optimised for touch interaction. If you think having a responsive website is enough optimisation, you’ll likely miss out on fundamental mobile user behaviours and their analysis.
Responsive websites have always been a good starting point to improve the mobile user experience, but it has never been enough. Without a touch oriented mind-set, your mobile website will most likely leave your users frustrated and create a very fragmented experience.” Read more.
Sophie Allen
Project Manager
“I know how many browser windows I have open at any one time and how easily they go astray. A mobile URL is so easily lost into a tumult of tabs and a brand can easily lose its identity.
However, a good brand specific app has a strong identity and a focal point. It always has a prime position on your customer’s phone that constantly keeps your brand front of mind when your customer wants to make a purchase. Technology trends can offer an insight into the role of these native apps in our daily life.” Read more.
Balint Szeplaki
Head of Product
“It’s generally hard to justify investment in a new platform if the existing one works fine. However, if you don’t make the leap in time, your competitors could take the lead.
85.7% of mobile time is spent in app and only 14.3% in browser. There are two key reasons for this. One is usability, whereby interactions are quick and responsive and the other one is familiarity, whereby navigation options and interactions are familiar. You can do most of these in web, but they will always feel clunky and perform far worse than apps. Read more.
Download the ebook
Download our ‘Mobile apps vs mobile websites, do we need both?’ ebook to read the full opinions.
It also uncovers the benefits that a mobile app can bring to your customers and your brand that your mobile website can’t.
Reported by Samantha Rigg
