Progressive web applications were introduced in the year 2015. They have many advantages over the mobile applications we are so used to. They provide an engaging user experience and do not require users to download it over a device. Many leading applications use progressive web apps; this includes Twitter, Trivago, Alibaba, Walmart, and other companies.
It is notable how big companies have embraced technology in such a short time. Progressive web applications are the future of web and mobile applications. In many case studies of the brands have increased their conversion rates and revenue by two times. So, is this why online merchants consider building a progressive web application?
Looking at big brands adapting to the advanced web applications, small and mid-sized businesses soon started showing interest in the technology. Today, online merchants use technology to provide a native-like experience to their users quickly without having users download the application.
What are Advanced Web Applications?
Progressive web development is an advanced web application with all the features and characteristics of a native application. One of the biggest challenges any mobile app development company faces is rendering a superior user experience, which is difficult to achieve on web applications. Web applications are more of a tool that allows people to access the application or features over a web browser without downloading the app.
But this all adds to the hustle for the user. thus reducing the user experience and challenges of retaining customers. Progressive web development solutions help you mitigate this challenge well. The technology brings more consistency to the user experience by eliminating the need to download the app and the hurdles of a web application.
It helps you find the balance between the two and helps you to cherry-pick only the benefits. It allows you to create an engaging user experience and behaves the same way as the native app. It doesn't take long to get downloaded on the device and offers features such as push notifications, offline functionality, etc.
Benefits of Progressive Web App Development
Being an online merchant, you must weigh the advantages and disadvantages well to support your decision. It helps ensure your idea's success and a higher return on investment. Here is a list of benefits that might interest you.
1. Reliability
Progressive web applications are highly efficient and load fast even when the network is slow. Since they work like native applications, they even work offline and ensure an instant and reliable connection to your app. This helps a PWA development company improve user experience in great measure. Also, the bad experience caused by a slow or non-existent internet connection doesn't hinder the user's experience.
2. Faster apps
Slow web applications can increase your bounce rate and thus makes it difficult for you to earn revenue from your product. But PWAs load very fast and respond quickly to user actions. Improved website performance helps you improve your conversion rate, retention rate, and user experience.
3. User Engagement
Native applications were considered superior to other applications as they gave a lot of scope to a wide range of skilled developers to use their creativity. But they are costly and require users to download them, taking up the device's memory. But Progressive Web Applications will soon take over hybrid app development services and render a similar experience at lowered costs and without hassle.
Why are Online Merchants so inclined towards Progress Web Applications?
There is no one reason. Many things have attracted online merchants to advanced web applications. Mobile applications have taken over the market, but not everything is perfect. Not every time is a mobile application able to deliver the needs of an enterprise. The shopping experience conversion rates are relatively low on mobile applications as per the traffic they generate.
This might be a big reason why ecommerce stores are moving on to advanced web applications. Progressive web applications cost way less than the development of android and iOS native applications and also boost revenue by 20%. With the conversion rate doubled, you can meet your business goals much faster.
These applications are more than just the regular web shops; they are more than just showing your inventory and delivering them to customers. It is about going one step ahead and out of the way to convey convenience.
1. Better Tech Adaption and Convenience
One of business owners' most significant issues is getting their applications downloaded. Usually, online shops don't get traffic all day long from people, they just come when they are looking for something, and if they like the deal, they will purchase. Thus, low download rates.
Progressive web applications are not needed to be downloaded. They can simply save the page on their home screen and access all the features and functionality. It doesn't take up much space on the device and in no way provides a bad user experience.
Progressive web applications make things as simple as visiting a web link and saving it on the home screen. From a user perspective, it is a giant leap into the future.
So is progressive web application a "browser shortcut"?
It is not a web browser shortcut but a full-fledged application on your home screen. It works the same way as the application you download from an App Store. Additionally, after the PWA is installed on your home screen, you don't need to update it every time. It gets updated automatically in the background, assuring your customers see updated content each time they come on your app.
Brands like Flipkart saw a 60% increase in their customers; they were able to retain the customers that initially rejected their mobile applications. PWA gets quickly installed and proves highly beneficial in making a difference in user engagement and success.
Read More: Which Hybrid App Development Is Future-ready For Enterprise Apps?
2. Boosting User Engagement with Push Notifications
Push notifications allow you to inform your user about many things, such as deliveries, customer support messages, new arrivals, and more. Push notifications allow you to convey messages creatively. Progressive Web Applications have the capabilities to send push notifications to mobile devices in an intuitive way to engage your users creatively.
Push notifications help in making a significant impact on your customer journey. They help you grab attention, and as compared to traditional marketing methods, such as emails, they are relatively more successful in engaging them. The most significant advantage of push notifications is that they allow you to customize them and stand out from your competition.
Push notifications also help if a user is not registering for your application. It doesn't require any email address or contact information. Since 96% of internet users surf the web anonymously, push notifications have become a great tool to boost your interaction with the brand.
Also, people don't mind allowing push notifications. It is much better than signups for email newsletters and requires less time than filling out the signup form. In a report by Google, it was found that more than 60% of people allow notifications from PWAs to promote products and services.
3. Reduced Development cost, innovation, and continuous delivery
When cross-platform app development came into the market, it took the load off the shoulders of business owners. It allowed people to develop applications for different platforms without increasing the development costs.
The point is that time has changed, and you cannot just go with a single platform. You have to make your approach omnichannel and have a bulletproof strategy for multi-platforms. You must maintain all the different platforms-the website, iOS, Android applications, and other native applications you would be building.
A progressive web application is a step up in the league of mobile and web applications. It doesn't require developing applications for different platforms, maintaining apps, or releasing updates. It eliminates the extra work, and you can focus and concentrate on your business and a single product. You would not want to miss the opportunity to serve your users on a single platform, built perfectly and maintained easily. It reduces cost and turnaround time drastically.
4. Excellent Instant Performance
People are becoming more and more impatient. Internet users are only waiting 8 seconds for a website to open. This is difficult to achieve as ecommerce websites are big and complicated, and they might become slow if not developed properly. The massive rise in mobile usage has made it essential for online merchants to have a mobile-first approach. Page speed depends on many factors.
Progressive web applications are built to deliver a smoother experience. They are fast and allow you to capitalize on various opportunities. And with an instantaneous, speedy experience, you can engage the user immediately. They don't use any disk space, the business server, or the user device. It provides many benefits, including less data usage and faster loading time.
5. PWAs can improve your SEO
Progressive web applications are web-based, and thus, SEO becomes much easier for them. The content on advanced web applications can be optimized to meet SEO guidelines. It helps in ranking on Google and Bing.
This feature makes it stand out from the native application. PWAs are easily crawlable by search engine robots and help you eliminate the challenges of web and native applications. Users can just search for something online, and your progressive web application would appear that can be downloaded to any device, irrespective of the OS. It is sophisticated, fast, and reduces your bounce rate. All these factors help you improve your SEO ranking and boost your chances of lead generation.
Progressive web applications are built using JavaScript, which makes it easy for Google to crawl JavaScript or AJAX sites. It helps you get discovered easily and get accurately indexed. If you hire an experienced PWA development company, they will help you optimize the site to ensure the page gets indexed appropriately. They would know how to use server-side rendering and provide PWAs with exemplary architecture to rank better.
6. Increased Conversion Rates
Ultimately, business is about selling your products and services to people and retaining them with good service. If you make it too difficult for people to approach you and browse your products and services, you are creating problems for yourself. The way should be as easy as possible. It is necessary to take off all the friction and frustration. Make your customer's journey smooth from the start and achieve your goals quickly.
Progressive web applications provide you with many opportunities to improve your customer experience. As said, it is a step up, it is innovative, and new developments are happening in the industry continuously.
Take Alibaba, for example; it tapped 76% more conversion across browsers, 14% more active users on iOS, and 30% on Android. This is a 400% higher interaction rate achieved by advanced web applications.
Similarly, Lancome achieved 17% more conversion, a 53% increase in mobile sessions on iOS, and an 8% increase in conversion rate through the push notifications feature on Progressive Web Applications.
Progress web applications are fast and modular. They instantly load in the background onto their home screen with all the features of a native application. This helps retain the users and keep them engaged with new features, push notifications, etc.
Read More: How Are Big Brands Making Use Of PWA To Improve Their Business
Progressive Web Applications: Key Takeaways
Progressive web applications are the new market that will transform the web. It is perfect for modern browsers. They have all attributes that can help you transform your business journey. Here are a few things you need to plan for progressive web app development.
- Progressive web development works on every browser, so it gives more freedom to the users. They work for every user regardless of the device they choose to browse.
- Responsiveness is one of the key benefits, as different devices can be used to access the application; it has to be responsive for any device of any screen size and other attributes.
- Progressive web applications are non-dependent on internet connectivity. They work even when the connection is slow, and no network is available like native applications.
- Progressive web applications eliminate the need to develop native applications for different platforms.
- They are speedy and provide a seamless experience to their users, and the native characteristics of advanced web applications improve your chances of user retention.
- Progressive web applications do not require updating; they get updated automatically, and the user gets to see a new application.
- They use an HTTPS server.
- Progressive web applications are SEO-friendly; they are accessible to index and thus boost your lead generation.
- Progressive web applications allow you to engage your visitors and offer innovative features such as push notifications to keep them engaged.
- They are very easy to install; users just have to tick off a notification. And the hassles of going through an app store and signing up are eliminated.
- Progressive web applications are well-structured, and people can easily share the URL of the site, and you can start earning some organic leads.
All these attributes contribute to a fantastic user experience. They are safe and engaging, allowing you to promote your application. They are easy to share and technically everything you need to be successful in the market.
Here is something technical that you must know about progressive applications that will make the decision better.
- HTTPS
A progressive web application is very safe and secure. It transmits the data over HTTPS and ensures safe browsing for the users.
- Web App Manifest
Progressive web applications use a web app manifest, a JSON file containing all the metadata that the device needs to know about the page to be installed on the home screen. The file contains icons, colors, fonds, landing page URLs, and more.
- Service Workers
Service Worker is an essential part of a progressive web application. They are technical "JavaScript proxies," unlocking the capabilities such as offline mode, instant speed, and push notification features. It allows the application to run offline. It has made the impossible possible, and now web browsers allow a native-like app experience.
Service Worker is a technology by Google that allows you to control network requests programmatically, which allows you to build offline experiences and deliver lightning-fast speed. It can run in the background and display push notifications even when the browser is not used.
Is Progressive Web Application the Right Solution for you?
Progressive web applications are one of the best technologies around right now. They are modular, don't require much budget to get built, and the technology adoption is incredible. More and more people are using PWAs as they don't want an application sitting on their mobile phones and taking up a lot of space.
Also, since the user experience is tenfold better, advanced web applications increase your profitability by increasing engagement, reducing bounce rates, boosting sales, etc. They are suitable for everything you need for faster checkout.
A progressive web application for an ecommerce site will double your conversion rate. Flipkart and Alibaba are two case studies you can use to decide. Progressive web applications are a new technology, so you might have to hunt for an expert web app development company to get the desired results. Still, when they don't do it right, they are a profitable business.
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Building Progressive Web Application
Early adopters will surely benefit more from the technology. You can consider turning your site into a progressive web application, and the development process would be no different than a simple or native mobile application. It would be much faster and cheaper, as it takes less time to build them. It will help you get ahead and capture the market faster.
Progressive web applications allow simple implementation and provide excellent benefits with minimum time to the market. If you start by allowing your audience to install the progressive web application, the only thing that gets installed on their phone is the web app manifest. This busts the myth about advanced web applications being expensive and resource-intensive.
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Implementation
Progressive web applications have a simple implementation, which offers an excellent opportunity for people to integrate with BigCommerce. It offers flexible APIs and Webhooks and uses technology such as DEITY Falcon to turn a simple storefront into a progressive web application.
Bigcommerce combined with DEITY Falcon benefits you in many ways. Bigcommerce is a leading technology for website development. It gives you a core back-end engine combined with DEITY Falcon, which offers a scalable, robust web experience to people, helping you engage them and convert them.
So How do you get Started?
Mobile phones have penetrated every part of our lives and are not going anywhere. But it is undoubtedly time to move on from mobile applications, considering they are not as successful in retaining customers as they used to be. As people increasingly use mobile applications, they see many flaws. Hire dedicated mobile app developers to build a fantastic app.
Progressive web applications can fundamentally change the web world. It has worked amazingly well for many brands and contributed to their success. They are fast, engaging, robust, and have a high conversion rate. They also don't need an active internet connection like web applications.
As a business owner, you would not want to miss out on all the excellent benefits it gives you, especially when facing colossal competition and finding it challenging to get people to download an application.
With minimum requirements, a small investment, and record-breaking speed, there is nothing you will not enjoy about advanced web applications. We recommend you to outsource website development projects and go for a knowledgeable web development company offering expert development services for doing it correctly.
