The enterprise software applications market that will be mobile-optimized is poised to grow by 400% by the end of this year, according to an IDC report.
Those who have implemented enterprise mobility have witnessed 25% improvement in overall user experience and 24% increase in revenue from consumer facing mobile apps.
Needless to say, the growth of B2B mobile apps has been spectacular and is penetrating geographies and industry verticals, as well as opening up newer technological frontiers - Wearables, Enterprise of Things, Virtual Reality, etc.
Building a B2B mobile app company, however, is far different from catering to the B2C audience - both in terms of the customer development cycle as well as the sales and onboarding cycles.
Looking at some of the most successful B2B mobile apps that have penetrated the enterprise space, I've put together some of the common traits that you would find among all of them.
These are those explosive secrets to building a successful B2B mobile app strategy.
1. They have a compelling need
The most successful B2B apps address some of the pertinent questions when it comes to an effective B2B mobile app strategy. For instance, they understand the need for a native app versus a mobile optimized website and why that matters.
They know that their solution will be helpful to their prospects or customers and that it would make their buying decision easier. The successful apps think and plan to address the type of information that will keep engaged alive by answering their question throughout their journey.
2. They leverage B2B marketplaces
People are familiar with the Apple App Store and Google Play Store as marketplaces to host their mobile apps, but not many know about alternate marketplaces, some specifically in the B2B space, such as Chrome Web App Store, Salesforce AppExchange and Google Apps Marketplace.
These are some of those powerful platforms that offer the B2B developers access to millions of potential customers that are already buying off of these. These platforms provide you with the opportunity to scale growth and acquire customers nearly for free.
Entire businesses have been built on top of Salesforce using AppExchange for distribution. One such example is EchoSign that was sold to Adobe. Veloxy on the other hand is a recent example of a startup that is leveraging Salesforce successfully.
3. They have targeted and differentiated marketing
B2B apps have a far smaller audience than their B2C counterparts. Because the B2B mobile apps go after a limited set of decision makers in and across organizations, their targeting has to be more precise.
B2B apps are picky about the inventory or channel they use for marketing, engaging with their audience when they're in the business mindset to ensure the buying decision flow smoothly.
A decision maker is not likely to make a purchase decision while they're watching ESPN or listening to Spotify.
4. They onboard users effectively
User onboarding is extremely essential to a successful B2B mobile app strategy. If you're trying to help businesses change their behavior, you'll succeed only if it's super easy and intuitive.
Failing to optimize your onboarding time will make you lose your B2B mobile app users. The more friction there is during the onboarding process, the longer the onboarding will take and this causes most dropouts. The most successful B2B mobile apps assess the time it takes for them to onboard users and then set goals and next steps to reduce that time.
Successful B2B apps have effective segmentation of users and they connect with them at every stage of their journey if they're stuck somewhere.
Conclusion
When building a B2B mobile app strategy, be conscious of who your target audience is. Map out your ideal customer profile, find the right platforms, marketing channels and the correct time to reach out to them. Ensure when they get to your product, there's an easy way to get started in using your product.
Make it simple and intuitive. And this is how some of the most successful B2B mobile apps are just that - successful.