Keeping your online shopping store always up-to-date is a vital factor in staying ahead of the competition. And one of the emerging e-commerce trends now is integrating Progressive Web App technology. However, one of the main concerns is whether it is better to convert the website to PWA or stay with the existing website.
So this article will analyze the difference between an ordinary website and a website integrated with PWA to shed light on this matter.
PWA Is A New Powerful Concept For Your Website
What is PWA?
Before we begin, make sure you have a thorough understanding of what a Progressive Web App is. It is simply a mixture of the original web and native app, delivering the elites of both worlds.
Taking advantage of modern web technologies and design patterns, PWA provides a reliable, fast, and engaging user experience.
In other words, with PWA, your website will appear in full-screen mode with no URL bar on desktops. Moreover, your website will have an app-like interface on mobile devices.
What is the structure of a PWA?
The first noticeable difference after integrating PWA technology is the change in your website structure.
In a normal website, the frontend and backend will connect directly with each other. Every change in the backend will appear instantly in the frontend. As a result, any error in the backend can have a significant impact on the front end.
Conversely, PWA uses headless technology. PWA storefront will replace the frontend of the original website and be connected with the backend through APIs.
This structure then offers more flexibility as you have total control over your content, not limited by backend configurations.
PWA Upgrades Your Website To A Higher Level
Improving mobile-friendliness
It is a fact that e-commerce growth has been driven in part by an increase in mobile usage. Therefore, to bridge the gap in the e-commerce industry, the first and foremost way is to design a mobile-friendly website.
Meanwhile, a regular website is no longer intended for mobile users. That is why upgrading your original website to PWA is strongly needed.
Responsive design:
Besides, responsiveness is crucial to make your original website mobile-friendly. The higher the responsiveness of your website, the greater the reach to customers using smaller devices.
A Progressive Web App can adjust in a fluid and flexible way according to screen size. So, your website will look great and work smoothly on a desktop, a tablet, or a mobile phone.
The website design, text size, buttons, and page elements, on the other hand, are all customized to provide a positive experience regardless of the device used.
Instant access on the home screen:
Apart from it, Progressive Web App will appear right away on the mobile home screen through the “Add to Home screen” feature. Additionally, installing a Progressive Web App is as easy as pie.
All the user needs to do is click the “add to home screen” pop-up. Then, after a few seconds, there will be an icon displayed on the users’ screen. Thereby, make it easier and handier for mobile users to access your website.
In conclusion, PWA helps your website reach more prospective users, engaging better with most of your mobile customers.
Enhancing user’s engagement
Keeping your customers satisfied is a vital factor in determining the success of your online store. The higher the customer engagement, the higher the conversion rate.
Undeniably, PWA brings a richer buying experience compared to a regular website with the following awe-inspiring integrated features.
Incredibly fast load speed
With ever-evolving technology, users quickly become impatient. 70% of users will never come back to your website again if your website speed is slow.
The website integrated with PWA has a loading speed 2-3 times faster than a normal website. As a result, it just takes less than 3 seconds to load the web page. This event leads to a lower bounce rate and higher session duration, thereby increasing the conversion rate.
So, with lightning web load speed, PWA will surely delight even the most demanding customers.
Access on the offline network
Another outstanding advantage of PWA that a normal website cannot offer is offline mode.
The black-and-white dinosaur will undoubtedly be the most infuriating thing for users when they are disconnected. However, this problem is solved thanks to Progressive Web App.
PWA enables your online customers to browse the product even when no Internet connection is available.
An uninterrupted shopping process will help you keep your users on your site longer, making them more engaged with your store.
Seamless shopping experience
Background sync is also a noteworthy characteristic of Progressive Web App. It works for both the news websites with comments and reactions and the online stores with common add-to-cart, sign-in, checkout, contact actions.
In simple words, your users do not need to refill once again, and you do not lose any order. Everything is stored and updated automatically when there is a connection. It will ultimately increase the order success rate, thriving on your sales revenue.
Useful push notifications
The feature that makes a PWA stand out from a native website is push notifications. It works like notifications from mobile apps like Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter.
Customers often have busy schedules, and most of them are not in the habit of checking e-commerce stores’ websites. Thus, push notifications to keep your customers constantly updated with your news and special events. In turn, it helps to enrich customer re-engagement and increase customer loyalty.
Boosting SEO rankings
Undeniably, SEO brings organic traffic, which is central to digital success. PWA helps to improve the SEO ranking of your website on popular search engines like Google, Bing, etc.
To improve the SEO ranking of a normal website, you need to put in lots of effort and money. For example, to increase the SEO score, you will have to install extensions to optimize performance and speed. However, the effect is sometimes under expectation.
On the contrary, with splashing web load speed, PWA generates an increased session duration and a decreased bounce rate. It makes your website easier to gain a better SEO ranking.
Besides, PWA works better in boosting user experience and optimizing mobile-friendliness. Subsequently, leading to a higher SEO score.
PWA In Real Life
Nowadays, many businesses are taking advantage of the Progressive Web App and have achieved overwhelming breakthroughs. Here is a closer look at some of these successful businesses by using PWA technology.
Lancôme
The first one is Lancôme. It is a luxury French perfume and cosmetics brand.
At Lancôme, there is a paradox that even though the number of mobile users has increased significantly, their mobile conversion rate was still low.
That is why the high-end cosmetic brand Lancôme has built PWA. They needed an app-like agile solution to drive traffic and sales. Lancôme’s achievements are
- 17% increase in conversions
- 53% increase in iOS mobile sessions
- 15% drop in bounce rate
Moreover, when it comes to a successful PWA example that can inspire you, we can not ignore Twitter. It is a free online social networking service that allows users to read, message, and update small news called tweets, a form of microblogging.
Twitter works intending to keep its mobile web experience as fast, reliable, and engaging as possible. 80% of their customers are mobile users. Hence, it is not unusual when Twitter decided to upgrade its website to a PWA. This action brings many optimistic results:
- 65% increase in pages per session
- 75% increase in Tweets sent
- Bounce rate lower than 20%
Starbucks
Another example that has gained success when switching normal websites to Progressive Web App is Starbucks. It is one of the most famous coffee brands in the world today.
The reason why Starbucks developed the PWA was to make its website more accessible to emerging markets. Starbucks launched its PWA in 2017 to deliver faster performance. It aims to meet customer needs in places with unstable Internet connections, like rural communities.
Since its launch, Starbucks has reported a two-times increase in its daily active users.
It’s Time To Switch Your Website To PWA
It is a fact that the original website no longer meets the high demands of modern users. Therefore, PWA is a superior tool that brings along to your website higher customer satisfaction, boosting your mobile conversion rate.
Switching your website to a Progressive Web App is a crucial step if you desire to put a leg to the e-commerce competition.
Read More: Top Construction Organizations in Lahore
