Mobile phone became a third hand for many people. We read newspapers via mobile apps, chat via social media, listen to music or podcasts using a smartphone.
The number of mobile users is approaching a five billion milestone. More than 61% of Earth population are accessing the Internet from their mobile phones and spend around 3 hours daily there. So what do all these numbers mean? It merely shows a mobile industry is a tremendous sphere earning $101 billion per year.
If you're a young and ambitious creator dreaming of personal online courses, you definitely need to pay attention to a mobile app opportunity.
Why do I need an online course mobile app?
1 Always on the user's screen
Brands are struggling for the client's attention every second. That's not a piece of cake to attract a new audience. But a mobile app opens up vast opportunities in the user acquisition process.
As people spend so much time in their smartphones, your mobile app has a lot of chances to be always visible. Especially consider targeting Generation Z — they spend 20% more time in apps than the rest of the population.
People look at their phones so many times per day, most of the time, unintentionally. It means your app icon will always be in their sight. Create a catchy icon to look distinctive on the screen.
But yeah, first you need to create a great app, promote it wisely, and make it searchable in the app stores. Of course, it requires time and resources, but you can develop it through a trustworthy platform to minimize all the tech headaches.
2 More personalization = more loyalty
An app allows the creators to personalize their client user experience. When downloading an app, all the customers can choose the settings appropriate and suitable for them. Moreover, user engagement is easy to monitor. Targeting various groups of people with different content is one of the main advantages of mobile apps.
Let's say, you have a fitness app. People have different sports goals — some want to lose weight, others dream of gaining. Here, personalization is needed. You can send push notifications or reminders depending on user goals set at the beginning of their fitness app journey.
The simplest way to propose a unique experience is to divide the audience by geolocation and language. People truly value when their tastes and interests are in the first place. Just look like Starbucks wisely uses its client preferences. The app remembers your favorite drinks and later offers exclusive deals related to buyer taste. So easy but so attractive!
App personalization will drive your conversions, loyalty, and user retention.
3 A great tool of analytics
That's always great to have all the info stored in one place. You don't need to think about all the integrations and millions of tools for your online courses. Now, almost everything can be done via a mobile app. Creators will admire all the payments, content uploading, and free migrations going through one single app.
The app analytics shows the most popular pieces of content. It's valuable information as it helps to develop a future marketing plan based on this data. You will see how much time people spend daily, what they do inside the app, and what are the most used features.
There are many tools to get app analytics. Firebase, App Annie, and SensorTower are one of the most known among the developers. If you have an iOS app for your online courses, you can track your data via App Store Connect. It will show you the number of paying users, App Store impressions, and even deletions in the last iOS version.
4 Easy to interact with users
There is no better way to communicate with your clients than a mobile app. Basically, two types of messages exist: push and in-app notifications. Yes, sure, don't forget about email marketing, but who will use an email to contact mobile app users?
Push notifications are the pop-ups shown on a smartphone screen. They are like text messages but coming directly from the app. It's a powerful marketing tool to increase your conversions. Sending push notifications can make the user experience better if you show them new excellent app features.
Another type of interaction messages is in-app notifications. It's pretty easy to get them — these notifications appear inside the app. They feel more like less intrusive part of the app than push notifications. But they show up only when the user opens an app.
Keep in mind no matter what type of notifications you use, they need to be relevant and personalized. Otherwise, they won't work.
Push notifications and in-apps do not work only as reminders. They are a great mechanism to increase your sales and conversions. Push notifications can boost app engagement by 88%. That's incredible! Therefore, to get such sales growth, you need to get your mobile app. Hurry up!
5 The content is available offline
Modern life without the Internet is a real challenge. People need it constantly, and if there is no, they can hardly do anything and survive without it. Thus, if you have only a desktop version of online courses, it means you exclude people who are offline from enjoying your content.
Mobile apps can give you not only an online audience. You also will be able to engage and capture your offline followers. It becomes possible to download content and later on enjoy it during a 5-hour flight or a mountain hiking with no Wi-Fi. People will watch your content everywhere — no need to search for the nearest cafe with an Internet connection.
6 More optimized that website
Optimized mobile content rocks. And mobile apps are the masters here.
We all how it can be annoying to watch some content, and then all of a sudden the size of the text turns into a real disaster. Letters and pictures do not fit the screen. Users really hate scrolling horizontally while reading website content.
But a mobile app is all different. You can forget about any inconveniences as it's optimized for a variety of phone models, screen resolutions, and various software. Android and iOS are the major platforms for app development today. So, you will need two apps to satisfy the majority of your mobile followers.
7 Apps work faster than websites
Apps perform much faster than ordinary websites opened via mobile browsers. Mobile apps store all the data on the device while mobi-sites need to connect with the web servers. And response time depends on them too. So, it usually takes longer — even up to several minutes.
Moreover, apps usually run on the frameworks that can be five times faster than ordinary websites.
Not to ruin the mobile user experience, it's a great idea to create an app. People interact faster with your content and stay more satisfied. And user's satisfaction is a key to sales and conversions growth.
8 Use device features
Mobile apps are simply the best in using smartphone features. When it's downloaded, a user can enjoy a variety of native device features — a camera or a GPS and compass.
Let's say, you have a training app. You, as a creator, want to control the results of your fitness program and motivate people even more. Camera functions on the user phones can help you to do this. You can create an in-app feature allowing people to send you pictures with their progress.
One of the most popular today's workout apps is Kayla Itsines. The users of this app can fully enjoy the features of their devices. With the help of their cameras, they can track their success. An interactive trick to attract even more attention and build a community among the users.
On a website, it's possible to have such a feature, but it's more time-consuming for both of you.
Another interesting tip: fingerprint protection is one of the latest trends. It's a great feature to keep user's data safe and sound. So, think about introducing it into your online courses app to attract even more users.
9 New revenue channel
One of the most important reasons for the online course business to get a mobile app is extra revenue. Ok, you've tried landing page for the courses, social media for promotion and other kinds of ads. But every creator wants to get more — more money, more conversions, more popularity. And mobile apps can open up the horizons for your profit.
Monetization of apps is quite easy — you just need to choose the right strategy for you. The most effective and experienced ones are premium and freemium.
Premium is the most straightforward method of monetization. You create an app and set up a price to get it in one of the app stores. It's the easiest method of monetization. However, it limits your audience by people who are ready to buy your paid content without taking a free bite.
Freemium is considered as one of the best options for mobile app monetization. It's combined from "free" and "premium" strategies and covers a broader audience. It offers basic app features for free and advanced ones for money. It also allows creating several plans for various user needs.
A mobile app can boost your revenue level and bring your online courses to a higher level.
How to create an app
Of course, if you are both a blogger and a tech specialist, you can develop an app by yourself. But there is little chance you are fond of coding.
The most real and less resource demanding chance for you to get an app is to use an all-in-one platform for online courses. The majority of e-learning creation tools don't offer a possibility to create an app, only a website. Gurucan concentrates not only on desktop online course version but mostly on the mobile apps for creators.
The best option for a blogger is to get a white-label app. Such apps look more professional, and people will see only your brand connected to your mobile online courses. It's made specifically for you so that no other company will have the other-color copy of your app.
The reasons above must have convinced you that a mobile app for online courses is a must. If not, just reread it. The next time you won't stay indifferent:)
