Digital customer experiences should be delightful.
It builds brand loyalty and affinity while creating a dominant online presence. A recent study by Ted Schadler, VP and Principal Analyst for Forrester, asserts the point with more concrete proof-
The survey clearly reflects that the best investment leading to customer satisfaction revolves around the digital customer experience.
Progressive Web Apps can be one such investment which is being massively adopted by enterprises to deliver a seamless experience to the users. These strategically-built web apps feature modern capabilities to deliver a native app-like experience to users, thus boosting conversions and fortifying their association with the brand.
Progressive Web Apps — The Future of the Web World
Progressive Web Apps, which are called PWAs frequently, are lightweight web applications that replicate the look and feel of a native application. They use less space, load faster, need less data, and work even when one is offline.
PWAs were introduced to add native app features like Add to Home Screen and Push Notifications to mobile websites and make them more responsive. The key to this efficiency lies in the smart usage of service workers, which is nothing but a JavaScript file that runs separately from the main browser thread. As soon as the user clicks on an icon or interact with any site element, JS works behind the scenes to load all the necessary resources and delivers the desired result to the user.
JS is also to be given the credit for giving PWAs the ability to work offline and load the site way faster than native applications.
All Progressive Web Apps share common characteristics. They are fast, function offline, and are highly engrossing to make users love them. Here’s a list of distinct features that an app should have to qualify as a PWA-
Let’s understand each in detail-
Progressive- Should be built with progressive enhancement and work irrespective of browser choice. It should also fit every form factor like mobile, tablet, desktop etc.
Reliable- Should load instantly and never show the downasaur, even when the network conditions are unstable.
Secure- Should be served via HTTPS. This is imperative to prevent snooping and ensure the integrity of the content.
Installable- Should allow users to “keep” apps they need the most on their home screen minus the app store hassles.
App-like- Should use the app-shell model to ensure delivering native app-like navigation & interactions.
Connectivity Independent- Should be enhanced with service workers to provide features even when one is offline or has a poor network.
Engaging- Should provide immersive user experience, should replicate look & feel of a native app.
Discoverable- Should be easily discovered by search engines.
PWA Success Stories
Several humongous brands have embraced Progressive Web Apps to increase their conversions and spike up the count of repeat customers. Here’s a small list of names that have their PWAs in place, as found on PWA Stats and other web sources-
Flipkart
Flipkart, one of the biggest ecommerce companies of India has combined their native app and web presence into a PWA. They’ve named it Flipkart Lite.
The results are simply phenomenal.
- 70% increase in conversions
- 50% new customer acquisition
- 40% higher re-engagement rate
Tinder
Enormously popular dating and social networking application Tinder built a Progressive web app too. Their stats say all things good-
- Cut their loading time from 11.91 seconds to 4.69 seconds
- PWA is 90% smaller than the Android app
Treebo
Treebo, a giant in the hotel and hospitality business is also gaining commendable momentum, all thanks to their PWA-
The benefits Treebo got are astounding.
- 4X increase in conversion rate
- Monthly conversion rate increased by 2.5 times
- 3X increase in year on year conversion rate for repeat users
Pinterest played it smart by rebuilding their mobile site as PWA. Here’s how well it turned out-
- Core engagements up by 60%
- 44% increase in user generated revenue
- 40% increase in time spent on the site
Final Words
Progressive web app is a promising technology, presently in its infancy. There’s a lot happening to improve and evolve it- who knows a day might come when it can give a strong competition to native apps. Whatever happens, we’ll keep you posted.
Our team at Systango knows how to build a Progressive Web App from the ground up and help businesses improve their conversions and engagement. If you are willing to explore the possibilities, do connect with us and let us know how we can be of help.
This article was originally published by Systango Technologies, a specialised software studio.
