66% of the world population has a mobile device. A tendency that, in addition, will increase facing the next exercises since, according to the same study, the number of connected mobile terminals will grow 23% a year until 2021.
According to the figures, companies must face the strong demand for content adapted to the mobile environment to favour an optimal user experience, with the ultimate goal that potential customers become real customers and that those who already consume our products or services are prescribers of our brand.
What can we do to improve the browsing experience?
Taking for granted and considering as fundamental premise for any company the importance of offering content relevant to the user, how do we make the content adapt correctly? How do we make it reliable for the user? And so that it does not affect performance?
The first thing, like almost everything in life, is common sense. The second, appeal to professionalism and know what to do to create an optimal experience, so we have to identify improvements and changes in web technologies.
Users are increasingly demanding and, based on this, new technologies, such as PWA, are advancing to offer consumers a better user experience in the mobile environment.
What can we do to improve the browsing experience?
Taking for granted and considering as fundamental premise for any company the importance of offering content relevant to the user, how do we make the content adapt correctly? How do we make it reliable for the user? And so that it does not affect performance?
The first thing, like almost everything in life, is common sense. The second, appeal to professionalism and know what to do to create an optimal experience, so we have to identify improvements and changes in web technologies.
Users are increasingly demanding and, based on this, new technologies, such as PWA, are advancing to offer consumers a better user experience in the mobile environment.
What are PWA?
For years we have heard and the terms web responsive, adaptive design, mobile-first have been normalized ... Once understood techniques and methodologies of design and development we reached a stage end with a new starting point, the Progressive Web Applications.
The PWA (Progressive Web Application), as defined by Google, are user experiences that have the reach of the web and are: reliable, fast and attractive. If you do not understand anything yet, now comes the best.
It means providing the user with experience in the browser of your device close to that of a native application but with the functionalities of the computer's desktop applications. The immediate loading of the content, an interface that responds quickly to the actions of the user and an aspect very close to that of a native application are the letters of presentation of a PWA. Thus, this type of Apps learn from the mistakes of their predecessors and present new improved technology in the
mobile app development.
Main functionalities of the PWA
1. They are Responsive. This type of apps are created to access them from any device and format, whether desktop, mobile or Tablet, as they easily adapt to any resolution or screen format.
2. They work offline. They allow to work without connection to Internet. The PWA caches the content of the web page so that once the user has no access to the network, the client has immediately available all the information of the app.
3. Fast loading time. PWAs offer almost instantaneous loading times. According to studies conducted by Google, the load of a mobile PWA is 1.84 seconds to show something on the screen and 3.76 seconds for a full charge, compared to 2.22 seconds and 6.02 seconds, respectively. , of a website without PWA.
4. Visually attractive. Its adaptive web design allows a look and feel as attractive as a native app, providing the user with an experience very close to his mobile device.
5. Automatic update. This type of applications are always updated thanks to service workers, scripts that the browser executes in the background and that allows sending push notifications, thus facilitating the engagement with the user.
6. High level of security. The user always browses HTTPS, an application protocol based on the HTTP protocol and intended for the secure transfer of Hypertext data.
What are the advantages of applying PWA in a company's brand strategy?
From the point of view of the marketing strategy, the development of a PWA provides both the benefits of native apps as well as traditional or desktop web developments.
1. They reduce costs. The progressive applications are designed in html5 so they are compatible with all browsers and mobile devices. Thus, the company will not have to make two designs of the app, for iOS and Android.
2. Improve SEO Google can track a PWA just as it does with a page in JavaScript, which increases its visibility on the network. However, the search engine indicates some recommendations to take into account how to establish clean urls and make progressive improvements to the apps.
3. They increase the reach. PWAs are easily shared and linked by url and do not need to be downloaded, so they do not take up space on the device. In addition, it allows creating a direct access to the mobile desktop (like an app icon), which encourages the number of visits by the same user interested in the brand.
4. Increase conversion rates. An example of this is the ecommerce giant Aliexpress. Their mobile commerce began to grow three times faster than their ecommerce, because they could not build such an attractive user experience on the web as in their app. Thus, they developed a PWA to offer the best of a native app on their website. The results were more than positive: the conversion for new users was increased by 104% in all browsers and by 82% in the case of iOS; the number of pages viewed per user was doubled and the average visit time to the web was increased by 74%.
5. They allow more agile changes. It is not necessary to update the app to test the modifications and see their performance. The approval times and the uploads are saved by a / b test.
