Thread: Would Your Tenants Use a Mobile App?

Are a sizable percentage of your tenants now carrying smartphones, and if so, do you think they are demanding mobile apps for self-storage?

Do you think they'd use a mobile app to rent space, pay bills, etc.?

I wonder if there are any management software vendors out there who are selling or including the development services for a customer-facing mobile platform.

Last thing: Any of you who actually have a mobile app, share some details: What platforms is it available on? What features does it have/what can people do on it? Have you found the ROI to be worth the cost of development/maintenance.

Thanks, all. I'd like to write on this next week.

We have been tossing around the idea ourselves but so far have not come to a decision. I would love to hear the pros and cons of others who have implemented this into their day-to-day system.

If your website has pay/rent/reserve functions you can direct the smart phone to your site quickly with a qr code - right to the exact page.

We are in the midst of doing this - will let you know how it works.

Mobile websites seem to be far more effective in helping customers in my opinion. Customers generally want to compare you to others, and they aren't going to download 3 apps to do that. Not to mention do you create an app for IOS (Apple), Android, Windows Phone 7. Blackberry?

Web versions of your current website seems to be a far cheaper option that works on any smart phone. This also means it works on future versions etc.... and very easy to modify.

Also there are lots of web design companies that will do this (there are far less app development companies) which means they are waaaaayyyyy cheaper to build.

Originally Posted by Michaeld

Mobile websites seem to be far more effective in helping customers in my opinion. Customers generally want to compare you to others, and they aren't going to download 3 apps to do that. Not to mention do you create an app for IOS (Apple), Android, Windows Phone 7. Blackberry?

Web versions of your current website seems to be a far cheaper option that works on any smart phone. This also means it works on future versions etc.... and very easy to modify.

Also there are lots of web design companies that will do this (there are far less app development companies) which means they are waaaaayyyyy cheaper to build.

Very good points, thanks for the input.

Anyone else?

Originally Posted by jcarlisle

Are a sizable percentage of your tenants now carrying smartphones, and if so, do you think they are demanding mobile apps for self-storage?

Demanding is such a strong word....Not only are mine not demanding, they aren't even softly asking for it.

I'd say that most of mine who carry smartphones are still trying to figure out how to send a text message...but we cater to an older crowd here...lol

^^Ha, you're right, Lisa T. I meant "demanding" in the economic sense; as in, they have a demand for.

I was trying to price mobile app development (and maintenance) today. Are these figures in the ballpark? $100/hour for a mobile app developer?

http://appmuse.com/appmusing/how-muc...-a-mobile-app/

I have tenants that would probably like an app to monitor the security system like we do but they don't seem to have any problem just calling with CC numbers.

I think the best thing to do is optimize your website to be easily viewable on a smartphone. I wouldn't pay to develop an app simply as a mobile website. Especially not when Google offers you an option at no cost for a mobile landing page. But then again, no one has demanded one from us yet.