Getting in on Cell Phone Applications
We live in a technology oriented society. Four-year-olds can surf the web with ease, flat screen televisions are installed in gas stations, and millions of Americans now cannot live without their smart phones. A smart phone basically gives consumers a computer that they can fit in their pocket and pull out to reference whenever needed. Sometimes they even make phone calls on them.
The backbone of smart phone usage is based around applications. Little pieces of software, some more complicated than others, that help smart phone users to do everything from check in on Facebook to find healthcare information have established themselves as a mainstay in our world. The great thing for marketers is that they can be used to reign in customers.
Some cell phone apps are purely sales oriented. Impressive new applications allow users to photograph a product and immediately order it online. Others direct users to a useful information bank that is hosted by a particular company, which leads directly into building a relationship with customers. Further still a good developer will install features in the application that allow you to collect data on your customers. You can obtain hard numbers as to what products people view the most, times of day that sales tend to happen, and much more.
You do not need to be a Fortune 500 company to have an application. In fact, if you have an online retail presence and a somewhat tech savvy customer base it would behoove you to look into the subject in depth. As technology develops and the internet gains even more ground (as hard as it may be to imagine), having an app on a customer’s phone is a way of constantly being with them. Think about it: how close to your bed do you keep your cell phone?
Sources:
Android Wins in the U.S. Smart Phone Wars (Mashable)
Crowd Sourcing Healthcare With Cell Phone Apps (Crowd Station)
Cell Phones Let Shoppers Point Click and Purchase (New York Times)
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