COVID-19 has completely upended how consumers interact with brands and acquire goods and services, accelerating underlying trends already in motion. It’s forced businesses to speed their digital transformation strategies and web-based customer experiences are now center stage. No wonder progressive web apps, or PWAs, are taking a prominent role.
The next generation of applications combines the best of web and mobile apps. They run on any platform and give customers an experience similar to what they would get from a native app (you know, those icons that clutter your iPhone screen). Many of the best interactive tools are already PWAs, including Instagram, Spotify, and Uber.
No app needed: PWAs are the future
Think about it. If you’re asked to download a new app to buy something or even to park your car in a convenient location you may hesitate. Download and pay? And then next time you have to swipe endlessly across your phone screen to find the app again.
In the time it takes to access data from an app store, you can lose a customer’s business. That’s one reason why the promise of web-based PWAs is alluring and why developers have evangelized about the app-less revolution for a while. Those who build them, work with them, and have seen customers adopt them, realize they are the future.
Explore the power of app-less CX
Progressive web apps: Mobile commerce made easy
In a COVID-conscious world where every business is competing online for people’s time and money, the faster you can engage and deliver content or products to a customer the better. PWAs allow businesses to metaphorically shake the hands of their customers and be there for them when they need it.
They also allow brands to be proactive rather than reactive. Businesses no longer have to wait to engage customers or get app store approval.
For instance, by using geo-sensing and proximity sensors that can be included in a PWA, brands know when a customer is outside a store. In the blink of an eye, a retailer can research the customer’s profile and shopping habits, and send a personalized promotion to entice them in.
They also:
- Load faster than native apps
- Download straight from a webpage
- Work offline
The big plus is that PWAs can be easily found via the internet. In a time when more of us are shopping from home on our mobile devices because of COVID-induced lockdowns, PWAs can help businesses draw new audiences. Unlike native apps, they’re good for search engine optimization.
Accessed at speed from a smartphone screen with responsive designs and push notifications, the whole setup allows a new level of customer engagement.
PWA adoption: Some snags along the way
Having said all this, not every business needs a PWA. There are many good reasons why the hype has not translated into mainstream adoption, yet.
The development community for these web-based apps is only just reaching a critical mass. They have been around for a while, five years in fact, and have not reached the level of adoption that would be expected for such a game-changing technology.
PWA, by nature, is also an ideology and not a strictly defined architecture, so no clear, prescriptive, one-size-fits-all approach is available. This leaves many decision-makers and development teams unsure of the way forward or they are hesitant to adopt.
Building a progressive web app can be expensive and takes longer to develop than native apps. This deters adoption, although the benefits can be greater over the long-term.
There are also issues with designing engaging user experiences in a browser that rivals what is so familiar to native mobile developers. Yet Google, one of the pioneers, has backed PWAs to the hilt. They are even replacing Android apps on their Play Store with PWA counterparts.
According to research from Gartner, progressive web apps will replace 50% of consumer-facing apps in 2020. This is a sizable overestimate, but it demonstrates the momentum.
Progressive web apps: More to consider & the lure of a promising payoff
The fact is PWAs represent an ecosystem challenge, yet they provide ecosystem benefits for businesses in the process.
If you want to fully utilize them, everyone needs to be engaged, including those involved in customer experience and web design, sales, marketing, and data scientists. You also need a razor-sharp understanding of the engagement customers have with your digital channels and how PWA architecture can play to your brand’s strengths.
There’s a lot to consider. Get it right and PWAs represent the next level of customer engagement that fits well in a COVID-conscious world.
Without a doubt, companies that successfully embrace progressive web apps will set themselves apart from the rest. First-mover advantage still exists with this architecture, but requires careful planning and consideration.
