How Mobile Apps Drive Business Growth and Customer Engagement

In 2025, mobile apps are expected to generate over $613 billion in global revenue. Yet many businesses still treat them as digital accessories instead of core strategic assets.

If your business is still seeing mobile apps as “just another channel,” you’re underutilising one of the most powerful levers for customer engagement, operational efficiency, and recurring revenue. Despite years of mobile-first rhetoric, many established companies still build apps to tick a box missing the opportunity to create lasting, multi-touch engagement and real business impact.

In this article, we explore how high-performing mobile apps help established businesses deepen relationships, extend reach, and unlock measurable growth — and what separates the apps that perform from those that just exist.

Why Mobile Apps Matter in 2025

Mobile accounts for 54% of global internet traffic. Apps dominate time-on-device, with users spending 88% of mobile time inside apps, not browsers.

What this means for established businesses:

• Your audience isn’t “going mobile”, they already live there.
• Web isn’t dead but it’s no longer the primary engagement surface.
• Apps are now revenue platforms, not just support tools.

To stay competitive, established businesses must treat mobile apps not as add-ons, but as core infrastructure for customer engagement and growth.

5 Strategic Benefits for Established Businesses

1. Global Reach and Market Penetration

If you operate in multiple geographies or are scaling internationally, mobile apps let you:

• Deliver native experiences across languages/regions
• Integrate location-aware services
• Bypass browser friction entirely

Stat: In emerging markets, mobile accounts for around 75% of internet traffic. You can’t lead in these regions without a mobile-first strategy.

2. First-Party Data Collection (Post-Cookie World)

With third-party cookies phasing out, mobile apps give you:

• Rich behavioural and transaction data
• Consent-based first-party data
• User IDs tied to app profiles, not anonymous sessions

Example: Target’s app uses in-store location and purchase history to deliver real-time, personalised offers, a level of contextual targeting not possible on web alone.

3. Monetisation Beyond Transactions

For mature companies, apps aren’t just about facilitating purchases, they enable new business models:

• Freemium + premium subscriptions
• Tiered memberships (e.g. Nike Training Club)
• In-app advertising or affiliate revenue

You’re not just selling more, you’re selling differently.

4. Operational Efficiency

Apps are quietly streamlining internal operations at scale:

• Field service teams access real-time data via internal apps
• Logistics apps improve last-mile visibility
• HR apps onboard new employees faster

In short, mobile apps are becoming essential tools for driving efficiency, reducing costs, and accelerating decision-making across enterprise operations.

5. Increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)

Engaged app users are more loyal:

• Push notifications re-activate dormant users
• In-app rewards boost purchase frequency
• Embedded chat support reduces churn triggers

Data Point: App users generate 2–3x more revenue over their lifetime than non-app customers

From Functional Tool to Strategic Asset

What separates a high-performing mobile app from one that simply “checks the box” comes down to how strategically it’s designed and integrated into the business. Many companies build apps to serve a basic function — but the businesses seeing real growth use their apps as dynamic platforms for communication, commerce, and loyalty.

For example:

• Communication in underused apps is often one-way and limited to push notifications or promotions. High-performing apps turn this into a two-way channel with features like in-app chat, feedback loops, and community engagement.
• In commerce, weaker apps support simple transactions. By contrast, top-tier apps layer in memberships, bundles, and upsells to increase average order value and retention.
• When it comes to data, basic apps provide surface-level analytics. Strategic apps use behavioural insights to drive personalisation and predictive recommendations that impact real outcomes.
• For customer service, some apps merely submit support tickets. High-performing ones offer real-time chat, automated help, and self-service tools ultimately reducing costs and increasing satisfaction.
• And in engagement, low-impact apps rely on passive use (log in, browse, exit). The best apps build habits with content ecosystems, loyalty programs, and features that give users a reason to return regularly.

Customer Engagement: The Mobile App Advantage

Push Notifications: When Done Strategically

Bad apps spam. Good apps segment.

• Use behavioural triggers: abandoned cart, location, browsing history
• Offer value: reminders, content drops, real-time alerts
• Test timing: local time zones matter

Loyalty, Rewards, and Gamification

Starbucks, Sephora, and Nike don’t run loyalty programs, they run habit loops:

• Earn points ? unlock perks ? return to app ? repeat
• This drives 30–50% of their recurring revenue

Gamification isn’t about gimmicks. It’s about designing engagement.

Integration with Owned Channels

Your app should:

• Sync with CRM for email/SMS follow-up
• Pull in support tickets or purchase history
• Push user data into analytics dashboards

Without this, it’s a silo, not a strategic asset.

Strategic Considerations Before You Build

Here are four C-suite-level questions to ask before launching (or replatforming) your app:

1. What is the app’s primary job?

If it’s “just to be mobile,” you’re doing it wrong. Define:

• Core user flow
• Most frequent action
• Most valuable outcome

2. Who owns app growth internally?

A development team can build it but marketing, product, and customer experience must drive adoption, updates, and roadmap.

3. How does it plug into your existing stack?

API readiness, data integration, CMS control, these are foundational to scale and personalisation.

4. What’s the path to ROI?

Think beyond downloads. Define:

• Engagement KPIs (DAUs, retention)
• Revenue metrics (ARPU, CLTV)
• Operational savings or efficiency gains

Conclusion

Mobile apps are strategic. For established businesses, they represent:

• A first-party data goldmine
• A loyalty and engagement hub
• A platform for recurring and scalable revenue

But launching an app is not a win in itself. Launching the right app, with the right strategy, is what drives lasting impact. The best-performing companies treat mobile as more than a channel, they treat it as a core part of their operating model, tightly integrated with marketing, operations, and product strategy.

In an era where user expectations are rising and digital differentiation is harder than ever, your app can’t just function, it has to create value on Day 1 and compound it over time. Whether that’s through intelligent personalisation, frictionless support, or embedded commerce, your app should solve real problems and create meaningful interactions.

Want to explore what an app could do for your business in 2025? Book a mobile strategy call with our team  and let’s map it out.

DreamWalk is an award-winning Australian app development company. We pride ourselves on our ethical and transparent app development process and operate by our unique Ethical App Development Charter. To learn more about us and the work we do, head to www.dreamwalk.com.au.