Website or app: which does your business need first?
The short answer
Most businesses need a website first. It is how new customers find you on Google, it works on every device without a download, and it is where an app would send people anyway. An app is worth adding when customers use you often, such as ordering every week, and you want to be one tap away on their phone.
What a website does well
A website is the front door of your business online. Anyone can open it from a search, a link or a social post, on any phone, tablet or laptop, without installing anything.
That makes it best for:
- Being found. Google shows websites in its results. Apps do not appear there in the same way.
- First impressions. A new customer can see who you are, what you sell and how to reach you in seconds.
- Everything you need to say. Services, menus, price lists, opening hours, legal pages and contact forms all live naturally on a website.
- Reaching everyone. No download stands between a customer and your business.
A website can also do a great deal that people think needs an app, such as online ordering, bookings and customer accounts.
What an app does well
An app lives on the customer’s phone. Once it is installed, your business is one tap away.
That makes it best for:
- Customers who come back often. Weekly orders, regular bookings or daily use.
- Speed for regulars. Saved details and past orders make repeat orders quick.
- Staying in touch. With the customer’s permission, an app can send notifications about orders and offers.
- Deeper use of the phone. Fuller access to features like the camera, location, and working with a weak signal.
The catch is the download. People tend to install apps only from businesses they already use and trust, so an app rarely brings you new customers on its own.
The questions that decide it
Ask yourself:
- How do new customers find you?
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If the answer includes searching online, you need a website.
- How often does the same customer buy?
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The more often, the stronger the case for an app.
- What do customers need to do?
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If reading, enquiring and ordering are enough, a website can handle it. If they need features tied to the phone, an app may be needed.
- Who else needs a screen?
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Staff often need their own tools, such as a dashboard for orders. That can be a web app used in the browser.
- What will you keep up to date?
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Both need looking after. An app also needs updates in the app stores.
When it is both
Some businesses need both from the start. Dairy King, a fast food business with two branches, needed to look and sell like a national chain. We designed and built a new website that sets out the whole menu, an allergens page and a branch finder, and a new app with click and collect. Ordering is in the app only, as Dairy King wanted, and app orders will reach a staff dashboard that runs in a web browser. The website is built to bring people in, and the app to keep regulars ordering. The app is coming to the App Store and Google Play.
When both are built by the same team, they share one look and one set of data behind them, so orders from either can reach the same staff dashboard.
A sensible order for most businesses
- 1
Start with a strong website, built to be found, fast on a phone and clear about what you offer.
- 2
Add online ordering, bookings or enquiries to it, so customers can act without calling.
- 3
Watch how customers behave. If the same people come back again and again, that is your case for an app.
- 4
Add an app for those regulars, connected to the same systems.
Web apps: the option in between
There is a third choice that many owners have not heard of. A web app runs in the browser like a website, but works like an app: people log in, see their own information and get things done. Nothing has to be downloaded or approved by an app store, and it works on any device with a browser.
Web apps suit tools used by staff or by trade customers, such as an order dashboard, a booking diary or a customer portal. Dairy King’s staff dashboard is one: it runs in a web browser, while customers use the website and the app. If the people who need the tool are your own team or a known group of customers, a web app is often the simplest route.
In short
A website is how new customers find you, and it works on every device without a download, so most businesses need one first. An app earns its place when the same customers use you often and want you one tap away. Many things people expect to need an app for, like ordering and bookings, can work on a website. When you need both, building them together keeps the look and the systems behind them in one place.