What Do B2B Customers Look for in a Mobile App?

If you own or work at a B2B company, there's a chance you've considered how you can deliver mobile services to your customers.

Is mobile always the route to take? 
Just because we're in the business of software development doesn't mean we're going to feed you laudatory comments detailing the benefits you'll enjoy after launching a mobile app. In some respects, it may not make fiscal sense for a B2B enterprise to spend the time and capital required to launch one.

"It's important to make a thorough assessment of whether your target audience will proactively search for and download your app."

This isn't to say you should write off the idea completely, but it's important to make a thorough assessment of whether your target audience will proactively search for and download your app.

How do professionals use their phones? 
Before deciding whether launching a mobile app is in the best interests of your company, you need to get a clear picture of how business professionals use mobile technology on a day-to-day basis. Marketing Pilgrim's Cynthia Boris cited statistics from a study conducted by Usablenet regarding the B2B mobile arena:

In regard to these insights, the general sentiment of B2B customers is that they want fast information, regardless of whether it pertains to tangible goods or services. Therefore, intelligence must be at the forefront of a B2B mobile app - finding and viewing it as swiftly as possible shouldn't be an arduous task for the professionals interested in your enterprise.

Forbes contributor Daniel Newman also made a good point in noting that your app must be social-friendly. As your app will provide informative content, it's important to allow professionals to quickly share your blogs, videos and other materials with their colleagues on LinkedIn, Facebook and other platforms. Furthermore, supporting this behavior will spread awareness of not only your brand, but your app as well.

"Consult a Web traffic surveillance engine to identify how many business customers access your website via tablets or smartphones on a daily, weekly and monthly basis."

Identify your mobile business
First, consult Google Analytics or some other Web traffic engine to identify how many business customers access your website via tablets or smartphones on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Pay attention to which pages professionals often go to, as it will give the development team a clear idea as to what content your customers typically look for.

From there, assess what's unique about your enterprise. Ask yourself why customers come to your business as opposed to competitors - what's that little extra something you deliver? Can a mobile app enhance that differentiating factor that's made you so popular?

As far as the development process is concerned, it's important to take a step back and make sure you have all your ducks in a row. Allocating resources appropriately, setting realistic expectations and teaming up with a reliable development firm are all steps B2B companies shouldn't ignore.