Small business owners believe that social integration (20%) and mobile payment (19%) are the most valuable features of a mobile app, according to Clutch, which surveyed 355 small business owners and managers. Less important to respondents are push notifications (11%) and in-app scheduling (11%), per the report.
It’s interesting to note that while push notifications aren’t valued features, they have been found to increase engagement with apps. Retention and engagement are important as building an app doesn’t mean that users will install or keep it.
Meanwhile, the top reasons why small business owners build mobile apps include increasing sales (39%), improving customer service (30%), and competing in a specific market (22%), according to the study.
Larger small businesses, with more than 50 employees, tend to be more likely to have a mobile app (65%), while mid-sized ones, with 11-50 employees, are slightly less likely (56%). Both stand in considerable contrast to smaller companies (fewer than 10 employees), just 11% of which have an app.
Company size is not the only factor in judging likelihood of having a mobile app; the data reveals that businesses with younger owners are much more likely to have mobile apps. The majority of business owners who are between 18 and 24 years old have one for their business (63%), as do half of owners aged 25-34 (50%). Those figures continue to shrink as the age of the owner increases, leaving only about a quarter of businesses with owners between the ages of 55-64 reporting having mobile apps for their company.
About the Data: Clutch surveyed 355 small business owners and managers. Half of these have annual revenue under $1 million. Some 42% of the businesses surveyed have fewer than 10 employees.
