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For a long time, businesses have been advised of the importance of making a mobile-optimized website. And this is certainly still important, particularly when it comes to ensuring that your web design is SEO friendly and that your site ranks well for mobile users.

But more often than not, a webview app will actually be the more beneficial method for delivering content to smartphone and tablet users. Webview apps are a distinct type of app that are designed to display a website’s content without a web browser. These apps automatically reflect the latest updates on your website while being much easier and cheaper to build than a native app coded from scratch.

As an embedded browser with additional app functionality, there are several noteworthy reasons why a webview app is often a better option than a mobile-optimized website.

1. Mobile Users Prefer Webview Apps

Perhaps the most important reason why a webview app is going to be better than a mobile-optimized website is because that’s what mobile users prefer. 

In fact, a report from Statista shows that while mobile users spend 92% of their time on their devices on apps or gaming, only 8% of their time is spent on a mobile browser. With the average American spending roughly 4 hours and 30 minutes using their smartphone each day, that means only about 22 minutes are spent on a web browser. The rest of the time is spent with other apps. 

If you don’t have a webview app, there’s a good chance customers aren’t engaging with you much (if at all) on their mobile devices.

2. Webview Apps Can Provide Push Notifications

One potential advantage that webview apps offer businesses over a mobile-optimized website is the ability to send push notifications to users. When users need to navigate a web browser to access your content, it is up to them to seek you out and discover for themselves when there is a new update (whether that be a special offer, a new article or something else entirely).

However, with push notifications, app publishers can send alerts directly to the user’s device when there is a relevant update for them. In some industries, engagement with push notifications is as high as 40% — however, it is also worth noting that many users opt out of push notifications (especially when they are too frequent or not relevant to their needs).

As such, one of the key considerations when determining how to turn your website into an app is how (and how frequently) you will utilize push notifications. Proper use of push notifications can help you better understand and connect with your target audience, increase conversion rates and even drive sales.

3. Deliver a More User-Friendly Experience

The way that many people want to access content on their phones inherently makes a webview app a better option. When someone visits a website using a mobile browser, they still generally need to navigate content using the same features they would on a desktop device — like the back button or reset button. 

An application, on the other hand, can enable functionality that better pairs with how individuals like to navigate their smartphone — think of actions like swiping, dragging, tapping or pinching. Even something as simple as being able to swipe from one article to the next when reading a blog can improve the user experience and keep visitors engaged for a longer period. 

Apps can also make use of a wide variety of device features like geo-location, the camera or even a user’s contact list. Integration with these features can allow customers to use your app to complete a task that they wouldn’t be able to do on a website, in the same way that many banks offer mobile check deposit by linking with a device’s camera.

4. Increased Brand Visibility

Finally, a webview app can greatly increase your overall brand visibility on a customer’s device. At the most basic level, a webview app will have its own launcher icon after it is downloaded, just like any other app. An icon with your brand logo helps keep your business top of mind with mobile users, even when they aren’t using your app!

However, you can also make your brand much more visible inside the webview app than it would ever be in a mobile browser. Instead of the browser’s navigation tools taking up space on the user’s screen, you can emphasize your company name, logo and color scheme to deliver a more fully branded experience. 

This helps cement your brand identity with app users, making it easier to drive potential customers through the conversion funnel with branded content.

In Conclusion

At the end of the day, making sure your website is optimized for mobile users is still important. But to maximize your reach and engagement with mobile users, a webview app is generally going to be the best solution. Best of all, they are relatively inexpensive to launch, maintain and update, ensuring that you can always deliver the best possible user experience for your customers.

Published by: Nelly Chavez