Discover the Explosive Benefits of Progressive Web Apps

If you are like most business owners, you already understand the importance of having a website and mobile application. Having a website was once enough to give you the results you wanted. But as many people stepped away from their computers and started surfing the internet from their smartphones, mobile applications took over and changed the game in many ways. A lot of business owners struggled with the decision to focus on mobile-friendly websites or to create a mobile application for their customers.

If you have been using mobile applications, you have likely discovered that they get better results than standard websites when it comes to smartphone users. The game is changing again in a big way. The web development world has recently introduced the concept of progressive web applications.

These web applications function as a standard website but offer all the same benefits you would get from a mobile application. Learn about progressive web applications and what they can do for your bottom line so that you can make the right choice for your business, and you can then move forward with confidence and peace of mind. Your choice impacts your profitability in more ways than you think. With the information from this guide, you should have no trouble making the most profitable choice for your situation. The best part is that you can benefit from PWAs no matter your industry.

Looks and Feels Like a Native App

PWAs look and feel like regular smartphone applications. They operate in full-screen mode to create an immersive experience that is impossible to tell apart from standard applications, and your customers can save them to their homepage for future access. Like with mobile apps, PWAs allow users to save their settings and pick up where they left off when they access your website in the future. You can offer reward programs, let customers book reservations, offer discounts and more.

Another benefit of PWAs is that they work well no matter the operating system your customers use. Your PWA will work on Android and iOS devices without requiring you to port them. With PWAs, you don't have to wait for the App Store or Google Play Store to approve your application. PWAs come with all the benefits of a mobile app without the downsides.

Higher User Engagement

Engagement matters. Without proper user engagement, your website or mobile app is useless when it comes to your bottom line. You spent a lot of time or money creating your website and mobile app, and it's vital you maximize the return on your investment. User engagement is the percentage of people who interact with your application or website after viewing it. If 100 people use your application and 85 of them join your email list, you have an engagement of 85%.

Increasing your engagement gives you more for each advertising dollar you spend. In other words, boosting your engagement is the key to taking your profitability to a whole new level. Using a PWA instead of a standard website can take your user engagement to a new level in no time. Other companies across all industries are experiencing increased engagement after implementing a PWA. Voot users spend 39% more time on their website, and the Washington Post saw a 23% increase in return visitors. The real estate and e-commerce sectors also experienced notable increases in engagement once they started using PWAs rather than native applications or standard websites.

Enhanced Security

New technology often comes when new risks, and business owners must look at both sides to decide if implementing the new technology is the right move for their business. The good news is that PWAs have enhanced security features that provide you with confidence and peace of mind. Since they work as mobile websites instead of smartphone applications, they get all the security features that come with the most trusted web browsers. PWAs have even more security features you won't want to miss if you care about the safety of your business and customers.

PWAs limit what cookies are transferred between your website and the customer's device. Also, PWAs block certain headers and restrict the type of information websites and user devices can share. With these restrictions in place, it's much harder for hackers to get between you and your customers to steal their personal information or to place malware on their devices.

Offline Access

You will often find that some mobile users want to limit the amount of data they use because their mobile plans only allow them to use a certain amount of bandwidth each month. You also have users who want access to your website or mobile app when they don't have an active internet connection. Most mobile apps only let users access and interact with them while the user is online, but you can set your PWA to work offline.

Your customers can change their settings and view their information even while they are offline. The PWA will then send any updates they made to the server once they regain their internet access, and your customers will never miss anything. When it comes to your PWA, you choose what content is available offline and what content requires a connection. You can even let your customers choose to download content for offline viewing or to only access the information they need while online.

Final Thoughts

PWAs are the future of web development, combining the best of websites and mobile applications. The PWA you use for your business provides customers with the benefits of a mobile application without requiring them to download the software from the App Store or Google Play Store. You can update your settings and add new content with ease. An effective PWA provides the exact features you would expect from a high-end smartphone app without any of the downsides, and you will be happy when you see the results for yourself. Contact Chetu if you would like to learn more or to get started.