Don’t Make Your App a Gimmick – Make It a Solid Business Case

A well-thought-out app isn’t a luxury item; it’s a strategic tool that directly contributes to your business goals. In this article, you’ll learn how to ensure your app adds real value to your business. Using real-world examples, I’ll show you how to turn your idea into a rock-solid business case.

The Hidden Potential of Apps for SMEs

In conversations with clients, I often hear them struggle with one key question:

“How can we use an app to solve real business problems?”

From our years of experience as app developers, we’ve learned that almost any SME can add substantial value with an app. There are two main ways an app can impact your business: increasing revenue and reducing costs.

1. Earning Money with Your App

There are more ways to generate revenue with an app than you might think:

An App as an Additional Sales Channel

Your app can be a powerful sales channel alongside your existing ones. Take Picnic, for example, which operates fully “mobile only.” But even a traditional SME can use an app as a sales channel. For instance, we helped an installation company develop an app allowing customers to schedule appointments and order parts directly, resulting in a 15% increase in follow-up revenue.

Subscriptions for Recurring Revenue

An app makes it easy to establish recurring revenue streams through subscription models. One memorable example is a fitness coach who used to sell one-off training plans but now generates steady monthly revenue from over 300,000 followers through an app.

More Sales Through Loyalty Programs

Encourage repeat business with a digital loyalty program. A regional coffee chain we worked with saw a 28% increase in repeat purchases by offering customers digital loyalty points through their app.

Part of a Broader Revenue Model

Sometimes, the app itself doesn’t need to generate revenue directly but can strengthen your other services. One of our clients, for example, supplies complex industrial machinery and uses an app to monitor maintenance. This allows them to respond faster to issues, making their service contracts more attractive.

You might think, “This might not apply to my business.” And that’s possible, but our experience shows that almost every type of business can develop a profitable app concept. You just need to find the right angle for your specific situation—and we’re happy to help you with that.

2. Saving Costs Through Process Improvements

In addition to generating revenue, an app can deliver significant cost savings:

Automating Processes

A client in the metal industry automated their production process through an app. The result? Savings equivalent to six to eight FTEs annually! Employees no longer need to manually log data, freeing them to focus on higher-value tasks.

Reducing Human Errors

A construction company we worked with struggled with errors during manual inspections. By digitizing the process with an app, the error rate dropped by 67%, resulting in less rework and higher customer satisfaction.

Creating Scalability

In today’s tight labor market, finding talent can be challenging. An app can help you scale without proportionally increasing your workforce. At a distribution center, we saw a 40% increase in order volume without hiring additional staff thanks to smart process optimization via an app.

Working More Efficiently On-Site

Do your employees often work in the field? For an installation company we advised, we replaced their paper forms with an app. Technicians now scan materials, fill out forms digitally, and receive new assignments instantly. This saves each technician an average of 45 minutes of administrative time per day.

You might recognize some of these scenarios in your own business. It’s worth exploring which processes in your organization could be streamlined with an app solution.

Apps Generate Data and Insights That Help You Earn or Save Even More

A frequently underestimated benefit of working with an app is the valuable data it generates. You might already be exploring data analysis, but an app can take it to the next level.

For example, a manufacturing company we worked with discovered that their product cost estimates were consistently off. By analyzing real-time data from their production app, they improved their margins by 12%. They uncovered processes that took much more time than expected.

A retailer gained valuable insights after introducing an app. By tracking purchasing behavior in the app, they discovered that customers using the app returned three times more often than those shopping only in physical stores. This led to a targeted marketing strategy that further boosted app adoption.

In my daily work, I see how data insights often make the difference between an average and a highly successful business. What insights could your company benefit from? Think about questions like:

• Which products or services are the most profitable?

• Where in your processes are you losing money?

• Which customers are the most loyal, and why?

By leveraging your app smartly, you can uncover answers to these questions and more.

“What Do You Want to Achieve with Your App?”

At Apperium, that’s the question we start every project with. Because that’s where it all begins—not with features or technology.

Together with you, we look at the big picture: how does an app fit into your business model, and how can we ensure the investment pays off?

Our experience with clients has shown that the most successful apps are born when companies don’t start with technology, but with a clear business need. In the end, the app is just the means to achieve your goal, not the goal itself.

Only when you know what business problem you want to solve or what opportunity you want to seize can you determine whether an app is the right solution—and what features it should have.

We’d love to help you sharpen your app strategy. Whether you already have a concrete idea or are still exploring the best digital solution for your business, our experts are ready to think along with you. Together, we’ll make sure your app isn’t just a “gimmick” but a valuable part of your business strategy that directly drives growth and innovation.

Curious to know if an app can really add value to your business? Contact us for a no-obligation strategy session.