One of the biggest dilemmas businesses face today is to choose between investing in developing a native app or a mobile-friendly website.
Enter progressive web apps or PWAs!
PWAs are a hybrid of regular web pages (or websites) and a mobile application.
Touted as the next big thing in the tech world, progressive web apps can increase the traffic on your app by over 68%!
This blog post discusses some of the key advantages of progressive web applications and some of the best PWAs across industries.
Ready? Let’s dive right in!
Benefits of PWA
Some of the advantages of PWA that makes it an ideal choice for businesses are –
Feels Like a Native App
These days, applications have gained popularity because they are user-friendly and can operate offline as well. One of the main advantages of progressive web applications is that it combines the look and feel of native mobile software, thus enhancing user experience.
Although PWAs differ from native apps in terms of technologies, tools, and frameworks, they offer the same user experience as native mobile apps.
They also rank higher on search engines because they have the speed and responsiveness of websites.
Contrary to mobile software that keeps its internal data for its own use, PWA pages can easily be found on the internet. This positively impacts the number of page views of PWAs.
Easy To Install
As compared to mobile apps, PWAs are simple and easy to install which enhances user experience.
Since PWAs are not installed on a device via an app store, customers do not have to go through the hassle of visiting an app store and accepting various permissions. They can just visit the website, add the app to a home screen, and browse the apps from their desktops.
Besides, since PWAs can also be accessed through URLs, users find them shareable, credible, flexible, and reliable.
Enhanced Performance
Another benefit of PWA is that it caches and serves text, images, and other content in an efficient manner. As a result, they operate like websites and improve the loading time.
Besides improving page-load speed, it enhances user experience and promotes customer satisfaction.
Because of these reasons, PWA is an ideal choice for businesses in retail.
Ability To Work Offline
Progressive Web App (PWA) working offline with Service Workers is one of the best features out there.
In other words, it works offline when there is no internet connection, leveraging data cached during your last interactions with the app.
This feature typically comes in handy to retail businesses as it allows users to view the information they have accessed previously.
However, if the information is new, it redirects users to a custom offline page.
As a result of this, consumers do not abandon the product catalog which further enhances customer retention.
Push Notifications
Push notifications are a great way to notify users of important events even if they are not using the application at the moment.
Similar to native mobile apps, PWAs also offer push notifications. In fact, 60% users allow PWAs to send them notifications, providing businesses with opportunities to easily promote their products or services.
Additionally, when users receive notifications on their mobile devices, it increases users’ attention as compared to email newsletters, blog posts, or social media posts.
No App Distributions
Publishing an application on an app store is a lengthy and expensive process. It not only adds expenses but also increases average market time.
However, this process can be skipped when you are working with a PWA. This is because PWAs require the users to only have a modern browser like Chrome or Firefox to access apps and receive updates.
This makes PWAs convenient for consumers as well as businesses.
Responsive to Different Devices
Native apps usually require operating systems and technical capabilities to work on various devices. On the contrary, PWAs do not have such requirements to work on different devices.
A single PWA can provide a seamless user experience on different devices. Besides, it also provides cross-support to users that allows them to easily switch between their devices.
Better SEO Rankings
PWAs use JavaScript framework. This means that it will be seen as a single published page to search engines.
Another URL may be created for the PWA, as a result of which, Google bot can crawl the page just like it would for any other page published on the web.
Top Examples of PWA
Some of the best examples of PWA are:
- Starbucks
- BMW
- Spotify
- Uber
Wrapping Up
Progressive Web Apps are a game-changer for your business, and have drastically changed the way the mobile web operates. They can replace native apps with optimal features that enhance user experiences.
Benefits such as offline access, native-like UX, short loading times, and push notifications, make PWA increase engagement and boost customer experience on mobile.