Decisions, decisions: Mobile app or mobile website?

Web-hosting and domain name registrar 34SP.com recently surveyed 1,000 UK mobile users for their 'UK Mobile Usage Study 2015'. Their findings show that apps are usually the first to be deleted from a device when users need to clear space due to reaching storage capacity.

Thirty-nine said they regularly delete apps "because they're useless", and 20% frequently, within the first three months of download.

Apps have a number of benefits to both users and businesses. As well as enhancing the user experience, graphics and functionality are "immediate, engaging and can push notifications to users at specific times or locations". Retailers can also access a wider range of user data, and users do not always need an Internet connection to use them.

According to Daniel Foster, technical director and co-founder of 34SP.com, the latest Google update, requiring websites to be mobile-friendly, may have had an impact.

"With the solution being far from black and white, spending precious resources on a mobile-friendly website seems like a good option," commented Foster. "It is easier, quicker and more cost effective to develop and maintain compared to mobile apps and it allows retailers to reach a wider audience, as well as forming part of a successful SEO strategy. Furthermore, it cannot be deleted and does not require a user to download it."

"Offering regular perks to those that download an app might be the only way to keep a consumer that isn't necessarily loyal to a brand engaged," concludes Foster, "to prevent them from deleting the app."

A recent study from Ofcom found that, in the UK, smartphones are now more likely to be used to access the Internet than laptops.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: apps, marketing, mobile