How important is it to have a mobile app optimized for all devices?

How important is it to have an optimized mobile app for all devices?

Mobile apps and websites may look very similar, but they aren’t as they both have quite different usability characteristics.

The responsive site adapts and moves the information within the page to make the use of the content always accessible, avoiding the user having to move beyond the dimensions displayed on the screen.

And a mobile app, what is the goal?

The goal is nothing more than to build customer loyalty and creating an optimized mobile app helps ensure customer loyalty.

Users use their mobile phones for 90% every day, and take actions such as inquiring, buying, booking and even relaxing and distracting themselves.

The reasons why it is important to have an optimized mobile app

Do you need to implement very creative content, such as games or interactive experiences for your customers or even captions of works of art for a museum tour or cooking recipes?
Your users need to use your services frequently. Opening some apps through a browser would be slower and much less practical.

Do you want everyone to be able to access the services you offer even without the need for an internet connection?
Many apps can also work offline! These are obviously useful in those cases where payment transactions or particular shipments are not requested.

Do you want to increase the loyalty of your customers, having the possibility to send them notifications, without being too invasive?
Sending notifications within the app itself not only helps to highlight them compared to others, but can also enhance the products and services (for example, imagine a special 30% to be applied to certain products).

In short, an optimized mobile app gives you the ability to respond, with a few simple steps, to a specific need, quickly and efficiently.

But to create an optimized mobile app, where do you need to start?

1. Initial analysis
   Doing a careful market research on your competitors is certainly the starting point. It is necessary to identify features that distinguish you from them and to which to give greater importance in the analysis phase.
2. Android or IOS?
   That’s the dilemma… There are two operating systems that dominate the smartphone market: Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. The implementation and especially publication criteria require profoundly different parameters even if the developed app is the same. With the development on the Android platform, you will certainly be able to reach a wider range of the market, while with iOS you will reach users who are more inclined to purchase.
3. User Experience
   Developing an optimized mobile app that respects the User Experience parameters is certainly the key to success. In addition to the look and feel, Usability must be the basis for development. An app must above all be usable and not just aesthetically appealing.