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Progressive Web Apps (PWA) Vs. Responsive Website, which one is better for which use case?

July 08, 2020

In the era of technological development when the technology industry has fixed its focus on making more investment in web solutions, the utility of various PWAs (Progressive Web Applications) is getting prominent. PWAs are completely supported by Chrome and Opera. The usability of PWA for improvement of business has encouraged Microsoft Edge, iOS, and Firefox to provide support for PWA. Most significantly, the increasing demands of growing brands to utilize the full advantage of their capabilities through PWA can be considered as a reason behind this growing support for PWA.

Recently Twitter has taken an initiative of making its original site a responsible PWA to generate quicker user experience with an improvement of an interface by investing a considerable amount. At the same time, Forbes, The Washington Post, and BBC, the leading powerhouses, have come up to launch PWAs as a mode of distributing content more spontaneously among consumers as well as various forms of devices from PCs to mobile phones.

The scenario related to PWAs is continuously changing the structure of e-commerce and this rapid change has inspired other big businesses such as Starbucks, Twitter, Pinterest, Washington Post to launch PWAs in the recent past.

Statistics and facts based on use of PWA

Several statistics about use of Progressive Web Applications used by different users have been stated below:

1. 65% Smart Phone users have a tendency to use PWA

2. 20% increase in use of PWA is seen for mobile sales and revenue

3. About 8% shopping cart and online retail sales companies use Progressive Web Apps

4. PWA have demonstrated a rate of 50% increase in the area of Customer Engagement for a service<

5. PWA has shown a 33% use for the purpose of Research and Development in companies

6. PWA has also been recommended as the best application in order to develop the usage of Smart Phones in 2019 and 2020 especially after the onset of COVID-19 Pandemic.

Here is a discussion that will make you understand why top brands are inclined towards technology and looking for experts who are associated with PWA development.

What are Progressive Web Apps?

PWA indicates an application that is installable on your system. Cached data from users’ previous interactions are used by PWAs to operate offline in the absence of an unfluctuating internet connection.

A progressive web application can be regarded as a website that performs just like a native application. It comes with all the functionalities that have been included in a native application. The difference between PWA and native application appears to be the feature of PWA that enables PWA to manage in delivering the usability of a website. PWAs have been designed to address a great range of problematic issues from insufficient network to complete lack of connectivity or data obstruction.

As mobile technology is redefining what consumers experience online, many brands are getting interested in investing in PWAs to utilizing the latest trends of mobile marketing to reach customers more effectively. PWAs as a form of regular web pages use sophisticated Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to make users feel that they are having an interaction with an application rather than a webpage.

Google has described the web experience of PWAs in the following manner:

Fast : PWAs are potent enough to easily respond to the interaction of users, with super-smooth animation, and without difficult scrolling.

Authentic : The authenticity of PWA lies in its feature that enables it to load instantly without ever showing a website to be down even under any non-assumable condition of the network.

Engaging : Users feel like using common applications that offer an intuitive user experience.

PWAs are designed by integrating all advanced technologies to combine both mobile and online applications. The process of progressive web application development is gradually becoming a future norm which is inevitable. As business organizations are opting for optimizing user experiences, PWAs are ideal for fitting to all requirements in terms of time for development, feature, budget, and so on. PWAs provide improved and better users experience through progressive enhancement. Powerful PWA solutions are potent enough in accelerating capabilities of various technologies, empowering business organizations by adding proper balance to the business.

Since when PWAs have evolved, many business organizations have come forward to make use of the power of this particular platform for reaching new markets as well as improving users- experience. All the leading business organizations are getting interested in using PWAs as these web applications are simple and easy to develop, test, and maintain and post deployment.

Major Benefits of PWAs

The major benefits of PWAs are:

It enables business organizations to make better engagement with consumers.
According to Google Developers’ report, the average PWA has increased conversions by 52%.
As PWAs can be accessed online, those are more secure for use.
PWAs being a combination of mobile applications and website features, serve consumers better than traditional mobile applications.

How are Brands utilizing PWAs to connect with users?

Cross-browser compatibility and ease of use have made PWAs popular among business organizations to a great extent that they are now utilizing these applications to impress consumers and stick them to services provided by those organizations. Leading business organizations have selected the following ways for using PWAs.

Increasing consumer expectations

Customers who are accustomed to digital experience show intolerance for brands providing poor digital experiences. They are prone to move on to another Brand to enjoy a smoother digital experience. After launching PWAs, Pinterest has found a 60% rise in mobile interaction with faster page loads, whereas Starbuck has designed its PWA for web-based order management as per the preferences of the consumers.

Appeal like native application

Users get access to adaptive and consistent interfaces across any device by PWAs. Although it loads like a website, it comes with multiple advanced features like native mobile applications. It also has the ability to operate offline and to allow push notifications. PWAs also offer website benefits like availability from all modern web browsers and search engine discoverability. PWAs can get a chance to be added to the App Store and Google Play Store like all other native mobile applications.

Adaptive

Leading brands can understand well how technology is changing rapidly with the flow of time at an unbelievable speed. Therefore, those organizations should always implement more advanced technologies so that they need not bring changes in strategy, design, products, and reconstruction of digital solutions. Progressive web applications are versatile and changing continuously to meet the requirements for improvement.

Reduced Resources and expense through streamlined coding

PWAs require to have only one code base to provide website application-like experience. Organizations are utilizing PWAs not only to reduce the cost of production planning, development, and maintenance but also to save money for organizations by delivering bug fixes and features faster.

How Progressive Web Applications Become Solution to Biggest Mobile UX Challenge

PWAs are solving the oldest challenges related to mobile marketing. If brands invest a proper amount in them the average ROI of mobile marketing will automatically rise. This can be considered as a boon for business organizations in different industries, platforms of mobile marketing, and consumers who can be benefitted from a lower cost.

The security benefits of PWA are considered to be valuable to many brands and they are getting interested in using PWAs instead of mobile applications.

Final Thoughts

There is no doubt that the future of PWAs is bright and business organizations should come forward to accept the usability of PWA to improve their business. World-acclaimed brands have found how PWAs can be helpful for their business. Implementing a PWA can be especially beneficial for start-ups that do not have any native applications. Instead of spending time on mobile application development, it is better to utilize the beneficial aspects of PWAs to improve business and to satisfy customers by providing them a better digital experience. As the usability of PWAs is getting evident for improvement of business with time, business organizations should make decisions faster regarding what they should do to improve business.

With our expertise, we could turn any of your intangible ideas into tangible revenue-generating machines. If you’re unsure how to get started, get in touch with us.

Bhavesh Parekh

Bhavesh Parekh is a Director of X-Byte Enterprise Solutions, an ever-emerging Top Web and Mobile App Development Company with a motto of turning clients into successful businesses. He believes that client's success is company's success and so that he always makes sure that X-Byte helps their client's business to reach to its true potential with the help of his best team with the standard development process he set up for the company.