Mobile apps are often associated with big brands like Walmart, Starbucks, and IKEA. However, small and medium businesses can also make apps part of their mobile strategy. Apps can be used alongside aesthetic mobile-responsive websites to enhance customer engagement, streamline business operations, and gain a competitive edge. Mobile apps also support digital payments, customer service, tracking, and other business operations. Here’s an overview of five industries that can leverage mobile apps:
1. Entertainment Sector
The gaming and entertainment sector already relies heavily on mobile apps, which have become a trademark feature of leading sportsbooks and casinos. Customers can access various apps, including casino apps with real money games and bonuses, live streaming apps for watching live games, and ticketing apps. Casino and sportsbook apps offer convenient gaming opportunities for players on the go. They feature the same games, bonuses, and payment services available on the browser-based website.
Other businesses in the entertainment sector, such as music and movie companies, can also leverage mobile apps to increase customer engagement. Music companies can provide in-app streaming with the option to search and download popular songs and playlists. Event managers can also build apps to market concerts and provide online ticketing through the app. Movie streaming companies like Netflix and social media platforms like YouTube all feature sophisticated apps with distinct experiences for their customers.
2. Hospitality Sector
The hotel and tourism sector is another industry with immense use for mobile applications. Hotels and restaurants can use apps to facilitate remote booking and reservations, customer inquiries, payments, and follow-up engagements. Customers can easily browse menus, make orders, reserve tables, pay upfront, and provide feedback on the go. Restaurants can also use apps for direct marketing channels to promote the latest deals. The apps may also feature loyalty points that guests can redeem for discounted prices.
Flight companies, tour guides, and adventure planners can all benefit from mobile applications. Customers can access information instantly and explore detailed exhibitions or galleries. The apps can also feature maps and location directions, chatbots for instant assistance, and personalized profiles to help customers track their engagements. Companies in the hospitality sector can go a step further to engage customers with news about local weather, traffic, sports events, concerts, upcoming tours, and more.
3. Healthcare Sector
Businesses in the healthcare sector have various uses for mobile apps, from information collection to remote patient care, patient education, and customer service. Clinics, hospitals, and medical offices can build unique apps using the same information on their websites. Mobile apps offer practitioners instant access to electronic health records, schedules, meetings, vendor invoices, and many other things. Doctors can also use apps to communicate with patients and provide customized recommendations remotely.
In addition to business-oriented mobile apps, companies in healthcare can build special apps to track health metrics such as weight, heart rate, glucose level, and bleeding events in those with hemophilia. Such health management apps allow practitioners to deliver a higher level of quality service to their patients. They also support two-way and one-way communication and can feature reminders and medication trackers to ensure patients don’t miss a refill. Apps can also provide links to additional resources patients might need.
4. Education Sector
In the modern digital world, apps enable global classrooms where students can share diverse perspectives and collaborate on projects. Education has become digitalized over the past decade, with more institutions providing online portals for remote learning. Modern schools can leverage educational apps to provide secure access to courses, resources, exams, reports, and more. The apps offer robust features, including chat rooms, video calls, discussion boards, file sharing, feedback tools, and other convenient learning tools.
Educational apps can feature sections for parents, teachers, students, staff, management, and stakeholders. Students can easily access their class schedules, resources, and grades, while lecturers can relay lesson plans, agendas, and semester objectives. The staff can access information about schedules and meetings, while parents can get notifications about student progress, school programs, and annual meetings. Mobile apps can also facilitate enrollments, deferments, fee payments, inquiries, and more.
5. Finance Sector
Finance apps have proliferated in recent years, covering nearly all aspects of personal and business finances. Companies in the financial sector can use this popularity and familiarity to design unique apps for their customers. Common financial apps today include monthly expense trackers, mobile payment services, and bank account trackers. Customers can easily send and receive money, save, check their latest balance, or create a budget. Some financial apps are built to help customers reduce debts or invest.
Mobile banking allows customers to manage their finances and accounts without visiting the local bank or website. The apps are user-friendly and available instantly when customers need to pay bills or retrieve statements. Mobile apps can also provide improved customer service, heightened security through multi-factor authentication, and financial insights to keep users updated. Banks, credit companies, payday loan lenders, and other financial companies all need apps to engage the modern consumer.
Conclusion
Many other industries can benefit from dedicated mobile apps. IT companies, eCommerce sellers, and businesses in logistics can use apps to streamline operations, reach more clients, and support marketing, customer service, and digital payments. Apps increase presence and impressions because most people spend hours daily on their phones. Any business that targets online customers should include an app in the mobile strategy. Retail outlets, travel companies, transportation companies, governments, and energy and utility firms all need mobile apps.
