The options for reaching consumers on mobile devices are growing broader and less expensive. Two of the most engaging options in the mobile marketing are mobile apps and mobile websites. Almost a year and a half ago when SDP Labs launched the “Made for iPhone” website service, the two options were very different, and choosing the right one for your business was a bit of a no-brainer. But now, mobile apps and mobile websites are more similar in the features and user experience they provide to marketers and consumers.

The decision to build an app or a mobile website–or both–involves more thoughtful consideration.

Mass Market or Niche Appeal?

Apps only work on the phones they are designed and developed for. Where on the other hand, mobile websites can be designed and developed to work on any device with a web browser. The iPhone, the Palm, the new BlackBerry, and Google’s Android phones all support an open source framework. If you are targeting mass market for your business, mobile websites are the way to go. But if you are only interested in reaching a niche market represented by usage of particular device or operating system, a mobile app is a good choice.

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User Experience

The next thing is to consider is ‘What User Experience Do You Want to Provide?’. Apps can provide more feature-rich functionality because apps are built using the device’s available resources and can work great with the device’s native applications. Also, these apps don’t necessarily require a connection to the internet to run, like utilities and games.

Mobile websites are better choices for delivering real time data, content, shipping functions since that content is accessible by search engines. Another benefit of mobile websites is that it’s easier to drive advertising traffic to a mobile landing page than it is to drive to an app store to download before visitors are able to view your content.

Since the number of mobile phone browsers that support richer versions of HTML is increasing rapidly, expect mobile website functionality to rival app functionality in the near future.

Costs to build and ROI

Mobile websites can be updated easily, content that is delivered to the visitors can be managed without extensive device experience.

There aren’t any do-it-yourself options for mobile apps. It is possible only if you’re an expert programmer with extensive device experience and knowledge.

Mobile apps and mobile websites can both be expensive to develop from scratch, and aside from the DIY options, there’s another key difference in startup costs. In the case of mobile apps, you need to develop a new app for every type of device you want to reach, while just one mobile website can reach anyone with a device that has web browsing. So if you have mass marketing goals, developing an app could be the more expensive choice.

Mobile websites tend to cost less to maintain over time. That’s because to change an app you have to hire a programmer, and you need approval from the app store. Plus, every time a particular device is updated, you’ll need to change your app accordingly.

Summary

If you’re just beginning to create your mobile marketing footprint, most experts agree that mobile website is the better way to get started and that’s because well-designed mobile sites can easily be turned into apps later.