How to Build a Mobile App for Your Hygraph Website

In 2023, approximately 57% of web traffic came from mobile devices. This means that if you have an online business and you want to connect with a bigger audience, a mobile app is a must.

If you’ve built your eCommerce store using Hygraph, have you thought about converting that website into a mobile app? That’s where things get exciting.

In this article, we’ll explore why mobile apps outperform websites, your options for building a mobile app from your Hygraph-powered site, and how MobiLoud offers the perfect solution to convert your site into a fully functional mobile app.

MobiLoud is a far more cost-effective and sustainable way to build mobile apps than custom development. As long as you've already got a website, and it's optimized for mobile, MobiLoud is likely perfect for you. Learn more with a free demo call.

Why You Should Build A Mobile App For Your Hygraph Website

In 2023, mobile eCommerce sales reached $2.2 trillion and made up about 60% of all eCommerce sales around the world. This global trend is expected to even grow bigger in 2027. As of the first quarter of 2024, smartphones alone generated around 77% of retail site traffic globally, responsible for generating two-thirds of online shopping orders.

Conversion rates, engagement and key metrics are also higher across the board for mobile apps vs mobile websites. Here are some of the key figures:

• Users view 4.2x more products per session on mobile apps vs mobile sites.
• Conversion rates on apps are 3x higher than mobile websites.
• Entertainment apps convert 233% higher than mobile web in the same industry.
• Travel apps convert 220% higher.
• Retail apps convert 94% higher.
• On-demand apps convert 307% higher.
• Overall, apps average 157% higher conversion rates than mobile websites.

As internet usage continues to shift towards mobile, shoppers are also spending more time on mobile apps than mobile websites. 90% of mobile users’ time is spent in apps. With this in mind, why not consider building a mobile app to compliment your website?

These statistics clearly show that if you do not have a mobile app for your business, you’re probably missing out on a large chunk of potential customers.

Do you "need" to turn your online store into a mobile app? Perhaps not. But a mobile app can bring a number of massive benefits for your business:

A better mobile shopping experience

Your customers will have a better time shopping on mobile than on your mobile website. Your store will be easier to navigate, with fewer of the annoyances and distractions you get when shopping on a mobile website. A mobile app allows them to shop anywhere and anytime.

Increased loyalty and retention

The better user experience directly correlates to increased loyalty and retention. If people love shopping with you, they'll come back and do it again.

Apps are tailor-made for fostering loyalty and increasing retention rates. They make it easy for people to get in, with just one tap from their home screen. And that home screen icon is a constant reminder of your brand, a permanent fixture in your customers' headspace.

This all translates to a higher lifetime value from every one of your app users.

An owned sales channel

Worried about a dip in Google SEO rankings, or the constant cost of driving traffic from paid ads?

An app gives you an owned channel, not susceptible to the platform risk of Google, Facebook, or online marketplaces.

You can reach out directly to your customers through push notifications, and re-engage your customers, even if your reach on external platforms is diminished for whatever reason.

App store presence

Finally, getting into the app stores is a powerful thing.

They can provide a new acquisition channel. They also provide a ton of social proof. When someone sees you have a mobile app in the iOS App Store or Google Play Store, your brand instantly looks more legitimate and trustworthy.

How to Build a Mobile App for Your Hygraph Website

Mobile app development costs a lot, and adds a lot of ongoing work to your plate, plus significant overhead expenses. 

If speed, cost-efficiency, and maintaining your existing site’s functionality are top priorities, MobiLoud offers a solid solution to build a mobile app out of your website.

Our platform allows you to convert your existing website into a fully functional mobile app for both iOS and Android, without the need to rebuild everything from scratch.

This method leverages the responsive design of your website, packaging it into a native app that can be distributed via the app stores. It supports native features like push notifications, offline functionality, and in-app purchases, providing a smooth mobile experience for your users.

Since you’re not starting from scratch, this approach saves time and money, making it a smart choice for businesses that want to go mobile without the high costs of custom development.

If you’re a big brand with a ton of resources at your disposal, you might be able to afford rebuilding from scratch using these options:

Custom Native Development: This is the most customizable option, where you build separate apps for iOS and Android (which doubles the development time and cost). While this offers full control, it’s also expensive and time-consuming, requiring a dedicated team of developers to create and maintain the app. 

Cross-Platform Development: Frameworks like React Native or Flutter allow you to build a single codebase that works across both platforms. This is faster and more affordable than custom development but still requires a substantial level of coding expertise and cost as you will still need to hire a team of developers to create and maintain the app for you.

Keep in mind that the right choice depends on your business's specific needs, budget, and timeline. So, which one would you choose?

Convert Your Hygraph Website to a Mobile App with MobiLoud Today

MobiLoud is the perfect option to convert your Hygraph website into mobile apps. We help you take your site and convert it to apps that mirror your website without touching a single line of code.

Our solution adds native navigation, a native tab menu, native animations, loading indicators, native sharing, analytics, splash screens, push notifications, and 30+ more features to get as close as possible to a full native app experience.

We also integrate with OneSignal, the best push provider on the market. You can send out notifications easily through our dashboard to all your users, either automatically when some specific event happens, or manually whenever you see fit. Your apps will come with both a message center and push preferences for your users, making them all the more effective. 

There’s no need for you or your team to do anything remotely technical, and nothing to rebuild or recreate. 

It’s easy to manage your apps going forward. As your mobile apps will be synced 100% with your site, all your existing content will be automatically available and they will update instantly with anything you change on your website.

That means you can make changes to your app at any time, without needing to hire and communicate with expensive mobile developers.

We handle the app store publishing process entirely. We’ve done it thousands of times and know exactly how to satisfy Apple and Google’s criteria, so we guarantee your app will get approved. 

When your apps are launched on iOS and Android, you’re ready to start enjoying the benefits.

Our support doesn’t end there, we are with you for the lifetime of the apps and handle all ongoing updates and maintenance, all included in our monthly or annual fees. There will also be none of the expensive surprises that are all too common with app development.

If you have something in mind and don’t see it on the list just get in touch with our team. Over the years we’ve seen almost every edge case and custom request, and there’s a good chance we already have a solution for what you’re looking for. 

We’re here to help you build high-quality mobile apps from your website and get you ready to go live in just two weeks!

Let’s make it happen! Just book a free consultation and one of our app experts will walk you through the whole process.