PWA, or Progressive Web Apps, are a new type of website standard that requires a modern browser to load and run. While they aren’t exactly new (they were first proposed in 2015), it’s only recently that the technology has become accessible to smaller companies on a budget and not just for large corporations with significant investment. PWA is an umbrella term that describes different techniques that help websites provide the same fast performance, user experiences, and app-like features as an app. Because of this efficiency, PWA can reduce your user abandonment rates by as much as 70% because users are able to access your site faster and more fluidly. Further, visitors get prompted with an option to save your site as a PWA when they visit from another browser. If you’re still unsure if you should develop a Magento 2 PWA or not, here are 5 reasons why it’s worth the investment:
PWA’s Provide a Fast and Easy User Experience
A major advantage of PWAs is that they provide an excellent user experience. This is largely due to the fact that they are: – Fully integrated with a user’s browser – While websites can be easily accessed via browsers and served via web servers, apps have to be downloaded and installed on each device. Since a PWA is integrated with your browser and can be easily accessed via a link, it’s easy to use and doesn’t require any additional installation. – Easily shareable – When you share a website link, you’re taking a risk that the visitor will have the right browser, device and OS to access it. With a PWA, you can easily share the link to the website and allow the visitor to access it, regardless of the browser or device they’re using. – Source-independent – One of the biggest challenges for many businesses is that they need to manage their website from different sources. If you’re using a CMS, for instance, you’ll need to use their app to update the site. PWAs provide a single source for managing and updating your site, regardless of the platform where it’s being accessed. – Easy to update – Whether you’re adding a new product, publishing a new blog post or making changes to your site’s design, updating a PWA is easy. It’s as simple as updating the content in your CMS.
PWAs Are More SEO Friendly and faster Than Normal Websites
PWAs have a big advantage when it comes to SEO. If you’re developing a PWA, it’s automatically given a boost in search engine rankings because PWAs are easier to crawl and index. Further, you can also host your PWA on a CDN and make it accessible to any country and region without any additional work. When compared to a standard website, the PWAs are faster to load and index by search engines, which makes them more appealing to those using the internet to find information. This also means that your bounce rates will drop, which could translate into increased revenue for your company. Compared to a normal website, the PWA solution is faster in three ways: – Served from the user’s device instead of a web server – Users’ devices are often closer to the internet than a web server, so a PWA can be served much faster. – Served over HTTPS – HTTPS is a more secure and reliable protocol than HTTP, which means the connection between the browser and server is more stable and efficient. – Reduced load times due to caching – The first visit to a PWA can take a few extra seconds, but subsequent visits are lightning fast due to cached content.
PWAs Are Responsive by Nature
Many of the advantages of PWAs are inherent to the technology, but the responsiveness of PWAs is one of the biggest advantages. Because PWAs run on a browser, you can create a responsive design for your website. While responsive web design (RWD) has been a viable option for many years, it’s not a perfect solution. With a PWA, you can create a responsive design right in the browser and make sure it works across multiple devices. While this is a significant advantage when it comes to designing your PWA, you need to take time to ensure that it’s done right. Make sure your responsive design is intuitive and easy to use on multiple devices so that you don’t scare off your visitors. While a responsive design will make your PWA easier to navigate and use on multiple devices, you also need to take time to ensure that the design is intuitive and easy to use.
Consumers Prefer Apps Over Websites
While most people will still open their browsers to access a website, there’s also a growing trend towards using apps to get the same information. If you’re creating a new website, you should keep in mind that more and more people are using their smartphones to get information and buy products. If you don’t create a PWA, visitors who are using a browser on their phone might not even bother visiting your site; they’ll just download an app. While this might not be a problem for large corporations with the resources to create a dedicated app, it’s a serious issue for smaller businesses that can’t afford the investment. By creating a PWA, you give visitors on their phone the same experience as you would with an app and keep them on your site. You can even prompt visitors on their browser to install your PWA and make your site more accessible.
It’s the Future of Website Development
Finally, you should know that PWAs are the future of website development. Over the past few years, browser developers have been making changes to their platforms to make PWAs easier to develop. They’ve also been making changes to improve their functionality, such as allowing PWAs to be integrated into the home screen of a device. While it’s unclear when exactly the technology will be implemented on a large scale, it’s clear that the development of PWAs is a priority. By creating a PWA, you’re setting your company up for success in the future. Once the technology is more widely adopted, you’ll be able to take advantage of the best user experience practices without having to create an app from scratch.
Summary
In this article, we explored the benefits of creating a Magento 2 PWA. A PWA is a new type of website standard that requires a modern browser to load and run. Since a PWA is integrated with your browser and can be easily accessed via a link, it’s easy to use and doesn’t require any additional installation. Served from the user’s device instead of a web server, PWAs are faster to load and index by search engines, which makes them more appealing to those using the internet to find information. They are also more responsive and accessible to consumers on their phone. Finally, they are the future of website development, which makes them worth the investment for any company.
