👀 See how easily you can turn your website into an app
With mobile ecommerce on the rise, it's becoming increasingly important to have presence on mobile app stores to give your store the best chance of reaching new customers. Turning your Thinkific store into a mobile app in 2023 doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Here, we'll explain how you can use a Thinkific mobile app builder to launch a high-quality app with minimal investment and maximum reach.
Harnessing the power of mobile apps for your Thinkific store isn't just about staying ahead of the competition - it also means maximizing the potential of your business. Apps offer added features, convenience for customers, and improved engagement, leading to more sales and better overall revenue.
Keep reading to find out exactly how you can turn your Thinkific store into a mobile app.
Mobile's presence in the ecommerce market has surpassed 72% in 2022, marking a significant rise from just over 52% in a span of five years.
This mirrors the ongoing trend in mobile internet usage, which continues to increase every year. Currently, mobile holds a market share of over 50% compared to desktop and tablet.
On top of that, 15% of Americans are exclusively reliant on smartphones for their internet access. This signifies the future of ecommerce, where customers are not merely mobile-first but truly mobile-only.
While optimizing your website for mobile is a crucial initial step, it alone falls short. Mobile apps deliver an enhanced user experience on mobile devices, resulting in various key metrics experiencing growth:
Another reported benefit? Studies show that users of ecommerce mobile apps are twice as likely to revisit the store within 30 days compared to those just using mobile browsers.
Mobile apps also offer the advantage of leveraging mobile push notifications, which exhibit high average opt-in rates of 81% for Android users and 51% for iOS device users.
Additionally, mobile apps provide an effective tool for nurturing loyal, repeat customers.
While it might not yet feel essential to turn your Thinkific store into a mobile app, doing so will undeniably yield substantial benefits for your business.
You can’t publish a mobile app straight from Thinkific. Thinkific is created particularly for webstores. To build a mobile app utilizing Thinkific, you’ll require some additional resources, like:
You can take a Thinkific store and convert it into an app using one of the methods we discussed above.
Though, most store owners should likely avoid the third option (hiring developers to craft native apps). The primary reason for this is that they are pricey. It will take somewhere from $30,000 to $150,000 to make a native app, and that's just for one platform. If you want to launch apps for both Android and iOS (which is recommended), you need to multiply this cost.
Creating an app is time-consuming, complicated and expensive from start to finish to ongoing maintenance. It's even more difficult when developers need to build an API and connect the backend of your apps to your Thinkific store.
It is likely - and understandable - that you don't have funds allocated for this endeavor, and that's before looking at the annual cost to keep your app running smoothly.
Many people don't think about the yearly recurrent expenses associated with launching an app. Keeping it up to date, finding and fixing bugs, introducing new features and other improvements will cost at least 15-20% of the original price annually.
David Cost, VP of Marketing for Rainbow Apparel, recently studied this topic and found the cost reach upwards of $1 million per year:
“If our resources were inexhaustible, we would probably choose a custom native app, but that would require over half a million up to a million a year for maintenance alone."
Let's use a more moderate approach and assume it costs $150,000 to produce the apps for both mobile frameworks. Then, the estimated cost for keeping it up and running should be around $30,000 per year.
That's too much for most store owners. And that's with no consideration for the extra work you'll have managing multiple platforms instead of just your website. Imagine the time and effort needed any time something needs to be changed, which would only complicate your process.
The best method is to transform your Thinkific store into an app using a Thinkific mobile app builder.
A Thinkific mobile app builder will convert your current Thinkific site to a similar-native mobile app, which consumers can download and install on their gadgets.
The most effective mobile app builders give you a mobile app that gives 90-95% of what you get with a native app, but cheaper and with less difficulty. But you should be mindful that not all available options on the market are suitable for building high-traffic, professional mobile apps that harness your brand's tone.
If you’re a giant corporation with a wealth of resources, like Nike, Amazon or H&M, you may be able to hire a team to code a native shopping app from ground up.
But if you're like the majority of us who aren't in that category, MobiLoud is your most reliable option for creating an app. It's straightforward, budget-friendly, and efficient. Additionally, taking care of your apps is much more economical and hassle-free in the long run.
Let's look at the process step-by-step.
You can choose from two options to begin.
In both cases, 90% of the work towards creating your app is already done given that your site is already mobile-friendly.
However, we're happy to help if you need to first ensure your site optimized. This is a critical step to ensure the rest of the process is easy and achievable.
When you’re ready to begin building, sign up to MobiLoud. All our plans have a 60-day refund policy, with no prolonged commitment required.
You’ll collaborate with our team to set up and design your app. You can rest easy knowing most of the work is already completed. You don’t have to create a fresh UI from the ground up, just a few minor alterations are needed to make it look and feel like a local app.
Once the design is approved, we’ll get to work and build your mobile app. We manage everything technical - you don’t need to know anything about HTML, programming and coding.
If you’d rather our team manage the whole process, start to finish, we can do that as well. Our full-service package covers everything necessary to configure, design and publish your app, allowing you to be completely hands-off.
Once your app is ready, you'll be prepared to launch it to the public. It's crucial to have a strategic plan in place to attract app downloads.
We offer assets for app store descriptions, launch announcements for your website and email lists, press releases, and more. Plus, you have the option to incorporate additional features at no extra cost, such as smart app banners and app-exclusive discounts, to incentivize your existing customers to shop using the app.
Finally, we'll release your apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
The submission process for these app stores is known for being complicated, particularly for first-time app owners and developers. But rest assured, we’ve completed the process thousands of times and are very familiar with it.
Our team takes care of the app submission process with both Apple and Google. We have a 100% app approval guarantee and will handle multiple submissions if needed. You don’t have to worry.
Once your listings are live, you can officially start getting downloads and taking advantage of all the benefits of having your own Thinkific mobile app.
The mobile era isn't going anywhere, and it's highly likely that a significant portion of your revenue comes from mobile users. If not, it won't be long before it does.
Your Thinkific store requires more than just a website optimized for mobile devices. To maximize your earnings from mobile users, offering your own branded app is essential.
Luckily, transforming a Thinkific store into a mobile app has become remarkably convenient, especially with help from MobiLoud. You no longer need to spend exorbitant amounts of money on mobile developers. MobiLoud provides an accessible and user-friendly solution.
In closing, here are the top reasons you should consider MobiLoud's Thinkific app builder:
With this simple and zero-code app builder, you can successfully launch your own educational apps and secure a place in the app stores alongside the world's renowned brands.
Feel free to reach out to us now to learn more about how we can assist you in launching an app for your Thinkific store. Simply book a free, personalized demo, and one of our app experts will guide you through the entire process.
