What’s ’Appening? Can an app really add value to pet care businesses?

There’s an app for that. What? you ask. Exactly. There is almost literally an app for every interest, niche, hobby and business subset in this world. The pet and animal health industries are no different from any others: from fitness trackers for pets to diabetes management tools for pet owners to body condition scoring for dairy farmers to practice-management apps used by veterinarians, there is, indeed, an app for that.

You’d think that by this point marketers would begin to worry about saturation and start questioning the viability of creating apps for, well, everything. After all, if everyone has something special, no one has anything special.

So let’s just ask it: Do apps actually add value, especially to pet care businesses?

On the one hand, maybe the answer doesn’t matter. Why fight a rising tide? And the tide of apps is rising so quickly that the easy answer is to simply go with the flow. If every consumer expects an app, you’re kind of expected to give it to them.

As of 2015, apps accounted for more than half of all time spent on digital media. When you focus on smartphone users, that number makes a dramatic leap to nearly 90 percent. A more recent survey by Smart Insights says that when consumers use their devices to research, more than a quarter start with a branded app.

So, yeah. Apps are important. Your sales force wants them and, more importantly, consumers use them. It’s pretty easy to make the leap from these stats to the thought that your brand needs an app added to its arsenal. Maybe you already have one and want to up your game. Your competitors almost certainly have some sort of app. If the consumers demand it, the competition has it and (if your business is established) you’ve at least dabbled in the app game, why not dive in head first? Seems obvious, yeah?

But is your business really ready for an app? The answer is more complicated than you think. Any good marketer knows that simple popularity is no reason to make a move (it’s a reason, but should never be the only factor). You’d never develop a product without a thorough vetting and suitable strategy, and apps — good apps — take long-term thinking and quite a bit of risk/reward analysis. And that requires planning and, yes, money. Will the initial development costs and effort pay off? It’s an important question, if not the only question.

Apps aren’t finite expenses; they require plans for long-term maintenance. If you develop a good app, your audience will use it and want to continue to use it. This means that you’ll have to consider how to keep it running long into the future. Bug fixes, updates, device technology and even unforeseeable changes in the pet industry landscape must be accounted for.

However, a good app can be worth its digital weight in real-life gold. If your brand or business is at the stage where you’re assessing the need for an app, here are six questions to ask yourself and to discuss with your marketing team or agency.

What do you want it do?

Like anything you develop to bear your brand logo, you’ll need to have a clear business objective and a well-defined set of needs and requirements before any work begins. Apps are often the best fit for businesses that have loyal, repeat mobile customers that need to accomplish just a few, recurring tasks within the app. In short, you need a good audience and a clear focus.

Do you really need it?

The first thing we do when a client or potential client comes to us with a need is to vet the viability of that need. Often, after asking a few questions, the project changes scope and/or medium completely. A brochure becomes a website. A website becomes, yes, an app. An app becomes a campaign. So ask: Does this app make someone’s (your audience’s) life easier? Does it enable them to do something they want to do? Does it offer something that your mobile website doesn’t do or can’t be easily adapted to do?

Do you know what your audience wants?

Like any product or service you might offer, audience research is the primary key to success. How much value would your users get from a new or better app? Know who your audience is, what they want or need from an app, and understand the best way to provide it to them. From market research to surveys to brand personas, know your audience and build an app that is for them.

What do you expect from your app?

What is success to you? Usage? Sales upticks? Downloads? Figure out the metrics that you will tie to your ROI and be prepared to measure them consistently. But stay focused and don’t try to measure everything. Just know what’s important to your success, and then have a plan for improvement, adjustments and growth. Because there will be adjustments needed.

Are you prepared to engage?

Today’s audiences require attention. They want to talk to you and they want you to talk back. Regular engagement will make them want to use your products; it makes them feel special. Regular engagement gives your audience a reason to come back and use your app, as opposed to a standard one-time campaign tool that they might fuss with and forget. Build a campaign around the launch of your app, support it with other marketing, and keep the conversation alive.

Do you have the team to support it?

Apps need to be updated periodically after release. Data needs to be analyzed. Tweaks and improvements need to be identified and executed. Growth opportunities need to be capitalized on. And as we said earlier, a successful app can live for a long, long time. It can never be completely ignored. Make sure that you’re prepared for that kind of time (and cost) investment.

There’s no definitive “yes” or “no” answer that will universally apply to every business. But if you have a marketing partner who understands your business and how it can (or can’t) be enhanced by a mobile application, you can determine the answer that is right for you.