Do you have an online store? Are your pages taking a long time to load and do you lack in conversion rates? If so, we have the solution for you. Progressive Web Apps are the best option for eCommerce because they provide your customers with a fast, safe, and reliable way to shop online.
What are Progressive Web Apps?
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are web applications that deliver an experience that is similar to apps. Web apps are an upgraded version of web pages which must meet specific requirements. They must also be accessible through URLs, and they’re deployed in and by servers. They’re mostly a combination of responsive web design and native apps.
The PWA website can also be converted into an app later on if you want it to. They use application shells, which are the lowest standards of HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and they use service workers, which independent scripts that help to run the PWA page.
Useful Functionality of a Progressive Web App
Many will convert to responsive web design in order to make their apps more efficient. That said, simply optimizing your web page to be more responsive isn’t enough. That’s because responsive web pages only make it easier for information to be shown on different devices and formats.
Because responsive web design doesn’t always provide eCommerce businesses with the conversion rates they want, these businesses will invest in native apps. Native apps, on the other hand, are expensive and don’t have enough reach.
PWAs are unlike responsive web design and native apps because they attempt to solve many of the problems that eCommerce businesses face. They can provide retailers with higher conversions, as well as an experience that’s very app-like. Google also introduced this feature to give companies with SEO and, thereby, expand their reach.
Add to Homescreen
You can have this feature installed to add a shortcut on your customers’ home screen. They’ll have more access to your online store, and they’ll be more likely to buy from you in the future.
Offline Mode
Every web page has cached data. Offline mode uses pre-cached data to allow customers and clients to browse through web pages and sites when they have either low or no connection. While this doesn’t work for days on end, it will work for short periods of time when the connection is limited.
Payment Request API
Web security is a concern for anyone who shops online. That’s why your customers will appreciate payment request API, which provides everyone with a secure and fast way to shop.
Instant Page Loads
Instant page loads are one of PWAs most valuable features. Instant page loads mean that all of the information on a given web page is loaded instantly. In many web pages, a white page will appear before the page loads; however, PWAs resolve this.
By having quicker loading times, your customers will be able to navigate through pages more efficiently, and they’re more likely to come back to your store.
Useful for you:
Web Push Notifications
Web Push notifications are useful because they aren’t as intrusive. They’re made to draw someone’s attention when their phone or tablet’s browser isn’t on. Most often, it’ll pop up as a notification box on their main screen. For retail companies, it can say things like “Your order is almost ready!” when they haven’t completed their order or “Items you might like!” if they’ve already ordered from the store.
ECommerce businesses appreciate push notifications because their customers are more likely to click on them than they are emails. This is because emails from retail stores are more likely to go in a junk folder or, like in most email accounts, they get lost in thousands of messages.
Full-Screen Mode
Sometimes clients want to be able to shop with their entire screen and without the URL bar on the top of the page. By having a larger screen, your customers will be completely immersed in the eCommerce store and have the opportunity to see the items more clearly.
PWA For eCommerce: When and How to Use
If all of the above advantages are appealing to you, you might now be wondering when and how to use Progressive Web Apps.
You should decide to use PWAs if your website needs to be frequently updated. This is because mobile web pages will continuously have new content to upload and without instant page loading, your site will run more slowly.
You might also want a PWA website if you’re going to give your customers the opportunity to surf through your site offline, or if you have a chat platform that will allow push notifications to update your customers with new data. To use a Progressive Web App, you should make sure to use a supported browser and to avoid Googlebot cloaking.
You should continue to use your URL structure to improve your site’s SEO. This is because there are some PWAs which have hashtags in the URLs, which doesn’t work in Googlebot. Whichever numbers or letters come after the hashtag will be erased.