The mobile technology plays a vital role in the human life as it is a part of their personal and professional life. The affordability of the mobile devices to all the users is another reason for the dependability on these devices.

The enterprises and businesses can attract more customers when they have an online presence for their brand. The online presence is nothing but having a mobile website or application in the name of the company so that it will be easy for the customers to reach out to the business easily. Since the enterprises are aware of the importance of the mobile channels, they have started new operations through the mobile apps and websites.

Mobile websites or mobile apps

When the company decides to establish a mobile presence, they have to decide whether to create a mobile website or a mobile application. Both the mobile website and the application looks similar, but there are certain factors like the intended purpose, target audience, required features and budget are some of the factors that determine the difference between them.

The mobile sites are accessed over the internet and the difference between the mobile website and the normal website is that it is designed in such a way that it fits the handheld devices and is accessible over the touch screen interface. The new standard for the mobile websites is the responsive design that is scalable to different device size and is mobile friendly. The mobile site is similar to the standard website that displays videos, text contents, images, and data, they also perform specific features like location based mapping and click to call feature.

While the mobile applications are software that is downloaded and installed on the mobile device and it is rendered within the browser. Depending on the operating system, the users can download the applications from device specific portals like the Android market, App World for Blackberry and App Store for Apple devices. Like the standard website, the mobile sites pull the data and content from the Internet or the users can download the application from the portal using the internet connection and access the app offline.

Mobile apps are better than the sites

The experts say that there are several uses of the mobile apps over the mobile websites that are closely connected to the users accessing the application. A study report states that about eighty-six percent of the users spend their time using the mobile devices and accessing the mobile applications. The users not only access the day to day information from the mobile application but also engage with the brand using the mobile application.

This is the correct time for the organizations and companies to implement the mobile application, both externally and internally so that they can increase their relationship with the employees and the customers. The main reason to choose the mobile applications over the mobile websites is because the mobile sites are not good at providing optimal levels of productivity and engagement.

The mobile applications have some specialized features that differentiate it from the mobile websites that can potentially attract the customers.

Offers personalized interface

Application personalization gives a custom based communication to the users so that the enterprise can offer the customized data to the users depending on the requirement. So, these mobile applications help in providing the customers with a personalized experience. By using the application, the user can create their customized preferences.

The companies and organizations can observe and track the customer engagement with the brand and offer the customers with specific suggestions and provide the users with updated information. With the help of the technical advancements, the location of the user can be easily identified and provide them with geo-specific contents.

The purpose of personalization does not only improve the user interface, instead, it also helps in promoting the conversion rate of the application.

Accessing device features

The significance of using the mobile apps is that it utilizes all the features present in the mobile device like the calls, contact list, camera, compass, accelerometer, and GPS. And by using the existing features of the device with the application, it improves the user experience and reduces the efforts of the application users.

The time taken by the user is completing a certain task is reduced by the use of the existing features in the mobile devices and helps in improving the conversions. While accessing or using these multimedia features in the mobile website have some technical constraints.

Mobile app notification to enhance business

For many decades, the email was the only communication tool used by the business professionals to communicate or connect with the users. In the initial stage, usage of email service was an effective communication tool, but later lost the click rates and open rates.

The other alternative communication tool is the mobile app notification that is an exciting and efficient way of sending messages. There are 2 types of notification available in the mobile apps, the push notifications, and in-app notifications. The reason behind the usage of the mobile application is because of its ability to send non-intrusive messages and the ability to readily send the messages.

The push notifications are notified regardless of the activity done on the mobile phone or any other mobile devices and there are even scenarios where the push notification has delivered forty percent click-through rates. And the in-app notifications are the messages that can be received by the user only when they open the application.

Designing features

With the help of the innovations in the technology in the web designing platform, the mobile sites rely on the browser to perform elementary functions and it depends on the features like the address bar, back button, and the refresh button. And the mobile apps can be designed with more functions depending on the features like the hold, tap, swipe, pinch and drag.

The mobile applications can use these features to provide the users with innovative functionalities that help in the efficiently performing the task.

Offline accessibility

This is the basic difference between the mobile applications and the mobile websites because the mobile apps can also work offline. There are certain mobile applications that require an internet connection to access the features, but thebasics features can be accessed without the use of internet connectivity.

The users must simply use the internet connection to download and install the application; however, the users can access the basic features without the connectivity.

Brand presence of the apps

The users spend quality time on the mobile devices and it is considered safe to encounter the applications on the device and can be used as an opportunity for the users to establish the brand in the vast marketplace.

Since the application appears on the screen, the users can be aware of the brand by the mere presence of the application on the screen. The presence of the application on the mobile device acts as an ad for establishing the brand. The application helps the users to influence the perception of the brand to the users and it links to the process of the user and the advertisements are ignored at the same level.

by: Anand Rajendran CEO and Co-Founder of Zoplay.com