How Progressive Web Apps are becoming the Future for Big Brands

July 15, 2020

Reading time about 5 minutes

The IT industry is on a constant lookout for technologies that can bring swift change in their business processes and help them deliver a smoother customer experience.

With its advent, PWA has become more prevalent as it is fully-supported by various platforms including, Chrome and Opera, while Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Apple iOS are making strides in offering complete support to PWA technology. The growing support for PWA has led to an increase in demand from the leading brands.

Why Brands are moving their focus towards PWAs?

  • Native App Like Experience

It provides a consistent and flexible interface across all devices. It loads as a website but has all the advanced features of native mobile apps. The progressive web applications allow push notifications and operate offline seamlessly. Moreover, it also possesses the benefits of websites like search engine discoverability and the ability to be accessible from all modern web browsers.

  • Fast Installation

With a PWA, users can directly download the app on their device while avoiding the slow and lengthy installation process. It streamlines the procedure, improves user experience, and significantly reduces user abandonment rates. Moreover, PWAs can be shared via e-mails, social media posts, SMS, QR codes, etc.

  • No Updates, Less Maintenance Required

PWA has a unique feature, it can update automatically, without bothering users with permission requests. You can see the changes when you load a PWA that also means it can be updated more quickly. Moreover, it doesn’t require approvals from Play Store or Apple Store thus, if the app faces any critical issues, then it can be fixed in a much shorter time.

  • A Budget-Friendly Option  

Progressive web app development cost is a lot lesser than native app development. It requires only one code base to deliver website and mobile app-like experience across different browsers. It means you need only one team, one tech stack, and one digital product roadmap that reduces resources and saves organizations’ money by enabling faster deployment of new features and bug fixes.

  • Build Today For Tomorrow’s Innovations

Whether you are a start-up, SME, or a large-scale organization, every brand wants to avoid rapid cycles of strategy, design, development, and want to deploy more future-forward technologies. Top PWA developers build apps that are inherently flexible and steadily evolving to meet the needs of future enhancements. PWAs are easy to change, thus organizations can stop investing in mobile apps or websites that require redesigns to meet changing audience requirements.

Bigger Picture on How Big Companies Have Made It So Far

Witnessing its potential, many big brands are implementing Progressive web apps.  They are faster, smaller, and more user-friendly than native websites or apps. In today’s age of “need it now” and “need it right” consumerism, these brands are using lightning-fast PWAs to meet the exact need of customers.

Here is a list of companies that are successfully using progressive web apps to boost their ROI.

  • Forbes

Forbes is a multinational media company that turned to PWA to improve loading times for their readers. Previously it took 3 to 12 seconds to load. However, with progressive web app technology, the data became is capable of loading in 0.8 seconds. It resulted in a 43% increase in sessions and a 100% increase in user engagement.

  • Twitter

It is a renowned social media platform that gives you insights about everything, from breaking news to sports and politics. It has around 328 million monthly active users who consume, create, and share information using the platform. To deliver faster, more reliable, and engaging experience, Twitter has launched Twitter Lite Progressive web app that combines the best of modern web and native app features. The goals that Twitter Lite achieved using progressive web app are:

  1. Increase in pages per session by 65%
  2. A decrease in bounce rate by 20%
  • Pinterest

After an in-depth analysis of usage for mobile web users, the Pinterest team realized slow web experience that only managed to convert 1% of users for native app installs and signups. Investing in PWA has given them a huge opportunity to improve their conversion rates and focus on international growth.
Comparing statistics: old mobile web Vs. new PWA

  1. Time spent increased by = +40%
  2. User-generated Ad in $ = +44%
  3. Ad clickthroughs = +50%
  4. Core engagement = +60%
  • Uber

With an increasing consumer base, Uber was facing issues with the speed and weight of their service. The company aimed to provide efficient performance on every device, even on slower networks. Then, the company switched to PWA.

PWA helped the company to overcome various issues. The core app became as small as 50 KB and can load than three 3 seconds, even on 2G networks. Uber’s PWA, m.Uber allows its users to hail a ride without downloading the traditional Uber mobile app.

Summary

PWA combines the best of both worlds. It helps businesses to increase conversions, page visits, and undoubtedly extend sessions length. Besides its advantages, there are a few instances that you should consider while judging whether progressive web applications are right for your business or not. Choosing a PWA development is a smart choice when,

  1. Most of your target audience works on Chrome, Opera, and Firefox browsers
  2. If you want yours to access information in real-time
  3. If you want to give access to information with no or minimum internet connection
  4. If your consumer base visit website/ app daily to check what’s new, etc.

Either you want to build a PWA from scratch or migrate from an existing platform, hiring a top PWA app development company is an ideal solution to generate excellent results for your business.