Apps vs Websites – what’s the best way to sell on mobile?

Websites are a lot easier than Apps.

But both are expensive:

Apps – $250 to $500 per month for a premium version with lots of bells and whistles to keep in the top 10

Website – $1,500 to $2,500 per month for a custom design with all the bells and whistles to keep in the top 10

My recommendation for selling on mobile is to sell Apps.

Apps are an integrated part of their mobile device – you can’t go a day without using them and they have a direct and powerful impact on your marketing messaging.

In a survey from earlier this year, consumers who had paid apps said they used apps over and over again. But they also said they wouldn’t pay for an app if there wasn’t one already on their phone.

This makes sense, after all, it is still really freaking expensive to buy an app.

But if you compare this with an email list, you can see where these results come from: if you only offer an email newsletter once a month and offer nothing else to your customer, they probably won’t be opening and clicking as much.

And it goes beyond your monthly email list. As I’ll reveal here, there are some amazing tips for getting people to download and use your mobile apps.

Why mobile apps?

Apps are a much more powerful part of your in-person sales approach.

So, what could go wrong with mobile apps? Let us cover this in more detail.

Apps are expensive!

Yes, it’s true! Mobile apps usually sell at around $0.99 – $4.99 – but that doesn’t include development costs. The mobile economy has really picked up over the last few years – which means that businesses want to get in on the act and start making apps. So many that developers will do anything they can to get their apps in the marketplace. From the perspective of any app maker though, it can be a difficult and costly project with a lot of work.

If you want to create an app you’ll probably need an iPhone for it all to run smoothly. And it will be time-consuming. So, as you can imagine, most app-makers will look for your dollars first before giving your effort, which does not bode well for your brand!

On the app store reviews side: Apps are much easier to grow organically. This can take a little more time and effort on your part, but it can be very worth it in the long run since driving traffic to your app on the App Stores can be absolutley free. The more installs, reviews and ratings you can drive towards your app, the higher it will rank in the App Stores, meaning your list (and sales) can grow much quicker as well.