Since its inception in 2015, the Progressive Web App (PWA) has significantly impacted numerous companies worldwide.
In today’s fiercely competitive business environment, it’s crucial for organisations to stay ahead by adopting the best technologies and constantly exploring innovative ways to market their products and services effectively.
A study shows that there are around 6.8 billion smartphone users globally, of which 5.3 billion are online shoppers. That opens a high potential for businesses to reach customers through their mobile phones (precisely, by creating the business web application).
However, with app stores overflowing and native app development often costly, many entities struggle to find the perfect solution. Here comes the need for a Progressive Web App (PWA).
The progressive web app is a revolutionary tool that helps companies enhance their digital presence in various ways.
With their ability to combine the best features of websites and mobile apps, PWAs provide a seamless and engaging user experience essential for successful marketing strategies.
In this blog, we’ll explore Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), the advantages they hold for businesses and how to make the most of them. We’ll also read about real-world examples of companies leveraging the benefits of PWAs for their organisational success.
What are Progressive Web Apps?
Ever wondered, which option is better: Web App or Website? Well, both these options have their own set of importance for your business growth. However, a Progressive Web App (PWA) offers a technological blend by providing an easy gateway to your user’s mobile phones.
Progressive web app is basically a website that blends the best of both worlds: web and native apps.
Built with standard web technologies, PWAs offer an app-like experience, including features like offline functionality, push notifications, and installability on the user’s home screen.
This means users can access your PWA just like a native app, but without needing to download it from an app store, making it easier to discover and use.
This unique combination offers a faster, engaging and a reliable user experience compared to traditional websites.
PWAs are known for their ability to work offline, load quickly even on slow connections, and provide a responsive and interactive user experience. They have emerged as a game-changer, offering a perfect match for businesses who want to increase their reach and enhance their online presence.
Why is Building Progressive Web Apps Beneficial for Businesses: 9 Benefits of PWAs
PWA is advantageous for its adopters due to its advanced capabilities and high-end functionalities. Let us now see how PWAs can lead your business to reach new heights:
1. Gain A Wider Reach
Despite the large-scale penetration of native apps today, not all individuals prefer to download multiple applications on their cell phones or other tablet devices. This could be due to multiple reasons, including the motivation to avoid using storage space.
PWAs, by design, come with the advantage of reaching out to those prospects as well, offering them a superior experience without forcing them to hit download. Even if your business already has a native app, PWA could help you cater to the remaining audience.
| Looking at Starbucks story:
The PWA of Starbucks had a file size that was 99.84 per cent less than its native app. This allowed all its users to free up to 148 MB on their phones, which led to much higher traction on their PWA. |
2. Improved Customer Experience
In today’s age of limited product differentiation, customer experience is one aspect where companies can stand out. According to the numbers, as many as 81 per cent of buyers today tend to make their purchase decisions only after engaging in some initial research online.
This indicates that their web experience can significantly influence their purchase decision. Moreover, massive web traffic has shifted from desktops to mobiles since the advent of smartphones.
Hence, progressive web apps offer a much-improved customer experience, similar to native apps compared to regular websites.
Its layout can be designed to be highly responsive, offering seamless navigation and a great User Experience compared to a desktop website on a mobile device.
By design, PWAs offer greater web security to customers, which plays a critical role when transacting and sharing sensitive data. Moreover, PWAs consume considerably lesser data compared to its counterparts, which is an added advantage.
| In terms of a technical construct:
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) offer a much higher speed, automatically augmenting engagement and conversions. In fact, Forbes could slash the load times on its page by 2 to 10 seconds per page with a PWA. After launching its PWA, the renowned magazine saw a 43% increase in session time and a 20% increase in mobile traffic. |
3. Low Cost of Development
One of the main reasons most businesses are unable to develop a mobile app despite tremendous marketing benefits, is the high cost associated with building one.
Progressive Web Apps came in as a decent substitute to mobile application, easing the budget constraint and unfolding a chance to enjoy benefits similar to native apps at a significantly lower cost.
Moreover, unlike the backend code that needs to be tailored separately for iOS, Windows, or Android apps, PWAs work across all major browsers, significantly eliminating these additional costs.
[Also read: Cost of Web App Development: A Complete Breakup]
4. Works Offline And In Poor Connectivity
PWAs have the advantage of being accessible even without Internet connectivity or poor intermittent connectivity. They allow users to store them on their desktops and even access the information saved from their last online engagement.
This largely contributes to an increased level of browsing activity and the retention of the brand in the prospect’s mind.
5. Index on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
The first step towards generating more business online is getting discovered. For this reason, companies worldwide are talking about and significantly investing in SEO.
Much like all regular websites, progressive web apps allow access through their own unique URLs. This promises that they can be indexed on the SERP. This indexability is a massive advantage of PWAs over their native application counterparts.
6. Distribute via Third-Party Locations
The fact that PWAs can be accessed with a URL makes it easy to amplify their reach and engagement. One can seamlessly link their PWA with all their existing marketing pursuits or communication to increase traction.
For instance, the link can navigate a person to the PWA through social media channels, SMS, or email campaigns. It can even be launched with a QR code.
The fact that they instantly load in seconds after clicking on the exact URL with no delaying steps in the middle, such as visiting a store, hitting download, accepting permissions and so on, helps to avoid people spilling out of the funnel. This way, PWAs help retain most users.
7. Feature-Rich PWAs
One of the most beautiful features handed out by progressive web apps is the option of sending out push notifications.
With PWAs, companies or bloggers can successfully direct their audience to revisit their page by sending out notifications, which are much more likely to be read than emails, messages or logging in again.
Moreover, consistent communication can contribute to increased brand value retention in users’ minds in addition to visiting.
| According to InfoQ, eXtra Electronics, an eCommerce company from Saudi Arabia, used push notifications for retargeting existing customers and visitors on its PWA.Â
Compared to the results they obtained from email marketing earlier, this helped them earn a 4x increase in engagement, 12 per cent increase in click-through rates and 100 per cent increase in sales. |
8. Easily Accessible Contact Information
When gaining local SEO advantages, having information crop up as soon as possible makes all the difference. PWAs, due to their agile load times, enable the critical information any user seeks to filter out the fastest.
This automatically motivates the user to stay on the PWA and navigate through the pages due to the lack of frustrating loading delays. This often results in an increasing number of calls and visits to a local business.
9. Eliminate Submissions To App Stores
Submitting and getting an app listed on the App Store or Play Store calls for abiding by certain rules and guidelines in addition to expert skills.
Since PWAs can be accessed simply without downloading activity of any sort, they exempt developers from the time-consuming process of app store submissions.
Moreover, when the applications undergo updates, it’s not always simple. However, in the case of progressive web apps, the update process is seamless and doesn’t require a user to take any action or update.
With all these advantages, upgrading your mobile website into a PWA is a lucrative prospect.
What are the Requirements for a High-Quality PWA?
Creating a high-quality Progressive Web App (PWA) involves several vital requirements and best practices to ensure a seamless user experience and optimal performance. The essential requirements for a high-quality PWA are:
Technical Requirements
- HTTPS: Your PWA must be served over HTTPS to ensure secure communication and data transfer.
- Web App Manifest: This file provides essential information about your PWA, including its name, icons, start URL, and display mode, making it installable and discoverable.
- Service Worker: This script enables features like offline functionality, push notifications, and background sync, enhancing the app-like experience.
- Responsive Design: The role of PWA is to provide a consistent user experience by adapting seamlessly to different devices and screen sizes.
- Performance: Prioritise fast loading times and smooth responsiveness throughout the PWA. Utilise tools like Lighthouse to assess and optimise performance based on Core Web Vitals.
User Experience (UX) Requirements
- Intuitive Interface: The PWA’s interface should be user-friendly and familiar, resembling native app experiences with clear navigation and functionality.
- Offline Functionality: Users should be able to access and use essential features without an internet connection.
- Push Notifications: Implement relevant and timely push notifications to keep users engaged and informed.
- Accessibility: Ensure your PWA is accessible to users with disabilities by adhering to accessibility best practices.
Additional Considerations:
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Real-World Examples of Successful PWAs
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) have seen a surge in adoption by businesses across various industries, with many experiencing significant improvements in user engagement and conversions. Let us now see some more real-world examples of successful PWAs in addition to the above mentions:
- Flipkart: The Indian eCommerce giant reported a 70% increase in conversions after launching their PWA. The PWA offered a faster and more responsive shopping experience than their mobile website, leading to higher customer satisfaction and sales.
- Spotify: The music streaming service provides a seamless user experience through its PWA. Users can access their playlists, discover new music, and even listen offline without needing a native app. This flexibility has contributed to Spotify’s continued growth and user engagement.
- Twitter Lite: Twitter launched Twitter Lite as a PWA to provide a faster and more data-efficient experience for users, particularly in regions with slower network connections. The PWA includes features like push notifications, offline access to tweets, and a streamlined interface, resulting in increased user engagement and retention.
- Pinterest: Pinterest developed a PWA called Pinterest Lite to offer users a lightweight and fast-loading experience, especially on mobile devices. The PWA allows users to browse and save pins, receive push notifications, and access content offline, improving user satisfaction and higher conversion rates.
- Uber: The ride-hailing app developed a PWA that offers a convenient and relatively faster solution to booking rides. This lightweight solution requires less storage space, making the app more accessible than the native app.
| Are you considering turning your website into a functional web app? You can connect with a professional agency or do it yourself by following some crucial steps. |
How Can Your Business Gain Most from the PWAs?
If you consider building a PWA for your business, you must keep certain things in mind to gain the maximum benefit from your transition.
Here are some of them:
Push Messaging
Push messaging is known to have very high open rates. You could use their power to offer incentives to your customers, announce upcoming events, new blog posts, or share the latest company news. PWAs allow push notifications just like native apps, making this possible and easy.
A study found that as many as 60 percent of visitors who downloaded a PWA were permitted to send push notifications—a marketing benefit you wouldn’t want to miss.
Power Of Updated & Accessible Content
Customers come to any website or app to look for something. Therefore, your content must cater to their needs and be placed at the right points.
The more easily customers can find relevant information on your PWA, the higher the likelihood of them doing business with you.
Moreover, it is important to ensure that the content is updated regularly. If anything has been published recently that benefits a user, it should be visible on the PWA.
Agile & Dynamic Content Updating Process on PWA
Leverage The Loyalty Programs
Rolling out loyalty programs is a great way to ensure existing customer retention and increased sales.
PWAs are very well-compatible with loyalty program schemes.
Ensure That It’s Built Right
Lastly, but most importantly, if you’re building something, it’s imperative to ensure the task is well executed while keeping the necessary fundamentals in mind.
In that sense, you must choose the right PWA developer to build yours. A few technical specifications you must make sure are followed include –
- The content is crawlable
- The URLs are clean
- The canonical URLs are specified
- It is responsive in design and compatible with all devices
- Your page load speed is optimised
- It works well in all browsers
- It is annotated with Schema
- Served via HTTPS
Having these fundamentals taken care of ensures the best search engine ranking and user experience benefits.
Conclusion
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) offer a robust, strategic solution that perfectly matches your marketing strategy.
By seamlessly blending the best aspects of web and native apps, PWAs provide an app-like experience without the limitations of app stores. This translates to a faster, more accessible, and engaging user experience – ultimately driving conversions and business growth.
To harness the full potential of PWAs and unlock these benefits for your business, partnering with a reputable web application development company is crucial.
With their expertise in PWA development, innovative strategies, and industry insights, such companies can craft tailored PWAs that align with your business goals and drive immense growth while focusing on delivering exceptional user experience.
