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Home » Blogs » How Can a Mobile App Help Your Business Succeed During a Recession?
By Gaurav Parvadiya | Last Updated On March 29th, 2024
Nowadays, businesses in every industry are looking for ways to survive in a competitive world where recession is also a harmful threat.
Small to mid-sized businesses were more impacted, as compared to large enterprises, during their tough economic times. Within the first two years of the 2008 market crash, around 1.8 million small businesses went out of business.
Still, 44% of mid-size companies have not taken steps to prepare for upcoming recessions.
Acknowledging the need to prepare is the first and most important step in the right direction.
If you launch a mobile app, it will not only survive a recession but also thrive during the recession.
In this blog, we will learn more about mobile apps and their success during a recession.
You might not find it productive to spend money during recession periods, but a small investment can give you a big chance of survival. Many business owners and decision-makers can prepare for downturns by investing in a mobile app. They can also cut costs, increase cash reserves and reduce spending with this brilliant idea.
It is important to become cautious of your capital, but it doesn’t mean that you should stop spending altogether.
When you compare investing in a mobile app to the short-term and long-term savings you will benefit from, it is a nominal cost.
By looking at the cost of a mobile app, you can quickly decide that you can afford it within your budget. You can also keep enough cash in the bank for your future use after determining your budget accordingly.
With a small or considerable investment running from $500 to $5000, you can open the doors of survival, growth and competitiveness.
Let’s discuss why mobile apps can be a saviour during tough times:
The costs that are associated with employees’ salaries and benefits are increasing. In December 2022, wages and salaries were rising 5.1% year-over-year. The employee benefit costs were raised to 4.9%. In simple words, your employees are getting more expensive.
The most expensive cost for the business is labour, which accounts for as much as 70% of total spending. That’s why when recessions strike, layoffs are commonly the first move during a recession.
However, it is not an effective strategy to cut payroll costs alone. It might have disastrous long-term implications for your company. You can introduce solutions that can reduce your costs, improve productivity and save time.
The average cost of an employee’s entire remuneration, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, is $41.53 per hour.
For instance, if you want to invest in a mobile app for $5000 per month, plus a $2,500 one-time setup free – for a total of $7,500 in the first 12 months. This way, you can save a lot of money in the same year by replacing just one employee through the app’s functionality.
The savings can continue to increase if you are able to replace more than one employee with a single app.
Some apps may only need a monthly investment of $500 and yearly $6000, and if you include the $7,500 one-time setup fee, it’s just $13,500 in the first year. Thus, the ROI you will get when you can replace a single employee at this rate is $73,500 in 12 months & $235,500 in 36 months.
These are just a few numbers taken as an example, but imagine how much you can save if you plan strategically.
The significance of well-trained employees becomes even more apparent when cost-cutting measures and labour scaling back are necessary. It’s crucial to recognize that training isn’t limited to new hires; 58% of employees require skill development to excel in their roles.
Your company may suffer if you neglect staff training, especially in safety and compliance, where cutting corners is not an option.
OSHA is one of the biggest examples to remember when it comes to safety and compliance training. OSHA paid $15,625 to $156,259 in penalties for not training their employees, which caused serious trouble.
Traditional staff training is expensive and needs to be updated. But if you are using a mobile app to provide training material to your staff, it is not only more affordable but also often more effective.
Mobile apps aid 78% of employees by centralizing training resources and providing clear learning routes. Mobile learning allows staff to access training materials from anywhere and continue at their own pace, with the organization tracking their development.
A mobile app provides these types of training material:
This can be helpful in hiring new employees & ongoing training for existing employees.
The average employee training costs $1,071 per employee, but large businesses are able to minimize this cost-efficiently.
For instance, companies with 10,000+ employees spend an average of $722 per employee, compared to other companies with 100-999 employees spending around $1,433 per employee. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) could spend almost $1,600 or plus annually per employee on training itself. That is around $80,000 per year with 50 employees.
If you also build an app for training your employees, you can save bucks every month, and this can give you a good chance of survival even during a recession.
It is crucial to keep employee turnover low during recession periods. Experts suggest that the average cost to replace an employee ranges from 100% to 150% of that person’s salary. This number jumps up to 213% for executive-level positions.
Almost 57% of employees say that they would actively look for another job if the market entered a recession. This shows that almost half of employees are already set up for new opportunities and may leave the company during tough times.
Let’s understand this with an example: You have a small business with 25 employees and you’re paying them an average salary of $80,000. If you want to replace just five members of your staff, it could range from $400,000 to $600,000 (based on research mentioned above)
Establishing a connection between employees is one of the best methods to increase employee retention, and a mobile application is the ideal tool to make this happen. A recent study published in the Harvard Business Review found that when organizations support their employees’ internal relationships, such individuals are five times more likely to be on high-performing teams and 12 times more likely to feel linked to their colleagues.
Giving your employees access to a mobile application with a range of these kinds of features demonstrates your business’s innovation and forward-thinking approach to technology. Putting money into your employees’ well-being at all times indicates your concern for them and will keep them around longer.
Source: Deloitte
This shows a significant dip in hourly output during each recession. (Indicated by Grey lines) This graph also suggests that when the recession ends, productivity will bounce back.
You must look for ways to keep productivity high at all times if you truly want your business to thrive during poor economic times. One of the best ways to increase output and productivity is Task Automation. It can be easily accomplished through a workflow app or self-service app.
For instance, you can identify a repetitive task in your business operations that could be replaced with automation. It is something like scheduling, approvals, time-off requests, or benefits administration in the HR office.
Some of these efficiencies build on each other. It results in reduced productivity and output because employees are forced to pick up the phone, prepare reports, send an email or visit someone in the HR department. It is the time that is spent away from their actual job which leads to output reduction. It is also taking time away from other employees as they are forced to take these calls and messages.
These types of scenarios can be eliminated by HR mobile apps.
Within a few clicks on their mobile phones, your staff can find what they’re looking for. It helps them to spend more time on their job and increase their productivity.
It also allows your HR team to focus on their tasks and even helps you eliminate one or two positions in that department.
You can simultaneously increase output by mobile application development that may cost $500 to $5,000 per month. It saves bucks on labour cost while also improves productivity.
Mobile apps are perfect to hold your customers during a recession. During recessions, customers tend to scale back on spending. Due to this, it is essential to shift your focus to retention during these times.
Customer retention initiatives are significantly cheaper than acquisition methods. You have a 60-70% chance of selling to a current customer, compared to just a 5-20% chance of selling to new customers.
Using a mobile app, you can:
You can invest in a mobile app for your customers rather than using that money for Facebook ads or expensive campaigns.
As your retention rates will become high, the investment will quickly start to pay for itself.
Smartphones have become the most popular device for buying things online. Almost 76% of all US adults use their smartphones for this purpose.
You are taking advantage of a huge opportunity if you make use of a mobile app for your business. On average, mobile apps convert at a 157% higher rate than mobile websites. Thus, it is a wise-decision to invest in a web app or a full-fledged mobile app to capture a large group of audience whether on Google Play Store or on App Store.
When you compare a mobile app success to a mobile website, It gives significantly a better user experience as well as shopping experience. With just a few clicks, customers can save their information on file and get a personalized experience.
As there are so many extra steps in the flow, mobile sites give shoppers too many opportunities to abandon the purchase. If your conversion rates increase by 150% or higher, the cost of Ecommerce mobile app development will quickly pay for itself.
By adding direct commerce, you can also use your app for other revenue streams, which include subscriptions, advertisement expenses, etc. During economic downturns, the additional cash flow is helpful. It can supplement the revenue that you need to have to reduce consumer spending.
Mobile apps are a powerful innovation that has already transformed the digital world. These have become a necessity for every individual. From shopping and talking to someone to finding something on the browser, everything is now available on mobile devices, and thus, people have become fond of using phones for every single thing.
Thus, it is an opportunity for businesses to find an innovative idea and give that idea a life by making an app for those businesses who have built their website or businesses who can’t afford to develop an app. The website to app converter works best for them.
During recession periods, businesses can convert websites to mobile apps and add features that can ease users and enhance the productivity of their operations, ultimately resulting in cost-cutting and increased revenues.
Investing in a mobile app can be very successful for your business. It can be a strategic move to help your business during tough times and also position it for long-term success. A mobile app can help you save money and generate revenue if you strategize the work appropriately.
Mobile apps offer numerous benefits, including cost savings through process streamlining, improved customer retention, and increased sales. They also provide efficient training and development, helping maintain a skilled workforce at lower expenses. Utilizing a website to app maker can be a cost-effective option, even during recessions. Twinr’s app builder enables businesses to transform inefficiencies and high costs into effective operations. Simply convert your website into an iOS or Android app with the required features and a solid marketing strategy.
Investing in a mobile app is not just a short-term solution but a strategic decision for your future-proof business. As mobile apps continue to play an important role in our lives, businesses that use mobile apps position themselves for immense growth and success.
Ready to take the next step? Book a demo with Twinr today to see how we can help you thrive in the mobile app market.
Gaurav is the founder and CEO of Twinr, a tech entrepreneur with a decade of experience and a passion for SaaS. With a Master's degree in Computer Science, he specializes in no-code development, driving innovation in the mobile app industry. When he's not busy growing the company, you'll find him writing about tech, growth, software development, e-commerce, and occasionally sneaking in a game of badminton.
It is fast, packed with features and quite easy to use. And the best part is, you don’t need to possess any coding skills to make use of it or invest a huge chunk of your time or money in website to app conversion.