What is Progressive Web Apps (PWA)?
Progressive Web Apps is a term that was brought in by Google engineers which intrinsically combines the best of both worlds: the app and the web. Since the majority of traffic is increasingly coming from mobile devices. Hence, the PWA is the best approach to drive traffic and increase revenue. Responsive apps yes, help re-form the layout depending on the devices but quite ignore the expectations of today’s customers for speed, app-like experience & easy access to features.
The principles the PWA encompasses include:
Reliable: Irrespective of the network or the browser the PWA loads quickly & the Service Worker written in JavaScript is primarily responsible for this.
Fast: Besides the instant loading the interaction is quick and scrolling is smooth
Engaging: The PWA app feels and looks like a native app offering various features of a native app.
How to empower your e-commerce store with PWA
The PWA with its various features and functionalities empowers the e-commerce website that creates an engaging and great shopping experience for the customers.
Web Push Notification:
The web push notification re-connects with its customers even if their mobile browser isn’t open. As compared to email and SMS, the notification doesn’t get lost in the pile. Web notification has a high open rate compared to email.
Instant Page Load:
The App loads the cached content instantly. For instance, the product list on an e-commerce store can have placeholders loading & the remaining page quickly giving a perception of instant page load instead of having flashes of the white screen. Common elements like the header or side banners will persist across the transition. This reduces the bounce rate drastically.
Home Screen Shortcut:
Once a customer engages regularly with the website, the customer can be prompted to add the site to the home screen. Thus, giving ease of access and visibility as an app.
Full Screen:
The Full-screen mode provides an intuitive and ease of use giving an app-like feel without the URL bar.
Offline Mode:
Offline mode allows the user to browse through the site in the time of low or no network. It continues to serve the customer request by displaying the pre-cached content and displaying an alert that the site is working in offline mode. Thus building on the customer relationship.
Why are businesses taking the Progressive Web Apps (PWA) route?
Building websites and then apps for various platforms and maintaining them can be a tedious process. Progressive Web Apps (PWA) helps business brings the best of both the web and mobile platform together. Building a single app with utmost quality without really the need to download improves the conversion rate and the reach. The hassle in terms of integrating, updating, and publishing the app on the app store is reduced. Search engine optimization is more detailed in PWA as compared to mobile native apps. The Service Workers update the content for the users as soon as the app owner deploys it on the server without the user needing to do anything, unlike the native app. PWA runs on any device effectively irrespective of the browser.
Looking around in the market tech giants like Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, and many others are moving towards the PWA route! the future of PWA looks promising. Many more businesses are excited to roll out the Progressive Web App’s (PWA) version of their web store or application in the upcoming time.
