As businesses progressively orient brand experiences toward users instead of products, the audiences’ needs and demands begin to come to light. Realizing that swift, accessible, and undemanding services have significantly better reach and engagement, several small and large businesses, including Twitter, Forbes, Uber, Hulu, and Starbucks, have launched Progressive Web Applications. Their incredible success has compelled many others to follow suit.

What are Progressive Web Applications?

Businesses realize that building lasting connections with customers requires offering fast, reliable, and engaging services. Progressive Web Applications, or PWA, are designed to meet these needs. They use cutting-edge features that combine the seamlessness of native apps with the accessibility of website applications.

Like native apps, Progressive Web Apps are incredibly reliable. They don’t need a network connection and can access the files on the device for easy use. The seamless experience they offer makes them a part of the device they run on.

However, Progressive Web Applications are also accessible. Like web apps, they can be used by anyone, anywhere, through any device.

PWA features

Progressive Web Applications use progressive enhancements that allow businesses to get incorporate the best features of native and web applications. Following are some of the capabilities they offer-

  1. Progressive Web Apps are lightweight.
  2. They don’t need an internet connection.
  3. Users can access them directly from a browser.
  4. Users can also add these apps to their devices, as they do with native apps.
  5. They demand far less space than typical platform-specific apps.
  6. Progressive Web Apps are secure.

How can PWA help small businesses drive success?

Over the years, users have become increasingly reluctant to download mobile applications. According to Localytics, close to 21% of consumers abandon newly downloaded apps after a single use. Meanwhile, businesses are taking steps to make their websites and web applications mobile-friendly, but the challenge of providing seamless engagement is real.

Since Progressive Web Applications are tailored to resolve these issues, they stand a good chance of making it to users’ Home Screens.

Here are some of the many benefits they offer-

  1. Fast

Progressive Web Applications are lightweight and hence, fast. They provide better loading times, reducing server load and minimizing the possibility of a slowdown or a crash on high-traffic days. This allows businesses to communicate with customers across multiple touchpoints, boosting engagement and conversion rates.

  1. Reliable

Progressive Web Apps have multiple features that make them reliable. They are responsive, usable without an internet connection, and can be accessed from anywhere and on any device. These capabilities can help businesses build trust with customers, establishing a lasting relationship.

  1. Effective storage

Users don’t need to go to the app store to install Progressive Web Apps. They simply have to click on a dedicated button on the web browser, and a shortcut to the PWA is created on the Home Screen. When being used, these apps cache and store part of the data displayed on the app, allowing users to continue engaging with the app even when offline. The low memory usage feature of Progressive Web Apps also makes it easier for businesses to bypass users’ resistance to adding heavy, memory-consuming apps on their phones.

  1. Engaging

According to Google, the probability of a user dropping off increases by 123% as the page loading time rises from 1 to 10 seconds. PWAs are built to be fast, responsive, and lightweight. Their ability to start instantaneously, their responsiveness to gestures, and the manner in which they store and fetch the latest media keep users on the hook. Progressive Web Apps also allow businesses to better communicate with users through notifications. As a result, PWAs lead to increased engagement and higher conversion rates.

  1. Cost-effective

Developing and maintaining native and web applications can be costly since it requires coding in different languages for different platforms. PWAs, on the other hand, are multi-platform apps running on a single code. They don’t need to be built, tested, deployed, hosted, and updated across a website, an Android app, and an iOS app. This not only reduces the cost of development but also helps businesses eliminate dependency on app stores, hence reducing the cost of customer acquisition.

The numbers don’t lie

Progressive Web Apps are capable, reliable, and installable. Companies that have launched these apps have seen incredible growth across the marketing funnel-

  1. Twitter saw 75% more Tweets, a 65% increase in pages per session, and a 20% decrease in bounce rate.
  2. Nikkei witnessed 2.3 times more organic traffic, 58% more subscriptions, and 49% more daily active users after switching to PWA.
  3. Hulu replaced its desktop application with a Progressive Web App and noticed a 27% increase in returning users.
  4. After moving to PWA, Pinterest saw that their application’s faster load times increased app usage, user engagement, and ad-generated revenue.

How to design a good Progressive Web App?

Developing effective Progressive Web Apps requires a lot of thought and consideration. Stakeholders–CXOs, Product Managers, Tech Leads, and UX Researchers–must consider the available PWA features and their business impacts.

  1. A Progressive Web App should be fast.
  2. It should work on any browser and any device.
  3. The app should be able to function offline.
  4. It should be easy to install.
  5. It should be discoverable through search.
  6. The app should be responsive to all gestures possible.
  7. It needs to be secure.
  8. As it’s a multi-platform app, a PWA should be capable of engaging with users on multiple touchpoints.

Looking to launch a Progressive Web Application?

At Victrix Systems, we help businesses develop compelling brand stories through exceptional applications built with cutting-edge technology.

Drop us a quick message to learn more about the benefits of Progressive Web Applications and how to develop and launch them. Our experts will guide you through the entire process smoothly.