Progressive Web Apps in 2018 - The Business Case Beyond the Buzz

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) have moved beyond being just a technical curiosity to become a strategic consideration for businesses across industries. While the technical benefits of PWAs are well-documented, this article focuses on the business case—examining how PWAs can drive tangible outcomes like increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and improved customer retention. We'll explore real-world implementations, cost-benefit considerations, and practical strategies for determining if a PWA is right for your business.

Understanding Progressive Web Apps

Before diving into the business case, let's establish a shared understanding of what makes a PWA:

Core Characteristics

PWAs combine the best of web and native app experiences:

• Progressive Enhancement: Functioning for all users regardless of browser choice
• Responsive Design: Working across devices and screen sizes
• Connectivity Independence: Functioning offline or with poor connectivity
• App-Like Experience: Using an app shell architecture for fast interactions
• Fresh Content: Regularly updating without user intervention
• Secure: Served via HTTPS to prevent snooping
• Discoverable: Identifiable as "applications" by search engines
• Re-engageable: Enabling re-engagement through features like push notifications
• Installable: Allowing users to add to home screen without app store
• Linkable: Easily shared via URL without complex installation

Key Point: PWAs aren't an all-or-nothing proposition—they represent a spectrum of capabilities that can be implemented progressively based on business priorities.

The Evolution of PWAs

The PWA concept has matured significantly:

• 2015: Google introduces the PWA concept
• 2016-2017: Early adopters demonstrate viability
• 2018: Mainstream adoption as browser support expands
• Current State: Robust ecosystem with proven business impact

Key Development: In 2018, iOS Safari (11.3+) added significant PWA support, making PWAs viable across both Android and iOS ecosystems.

The Business Case for PWAs

PWAs offer compelling advantages across multiple business dimensions:

1. User Acquisition and Engagement

PWAs can significantly improve key engagement metrics:

• Reduced Friction: Eliminating app store barriers to adoption
• Improved Discovery: Leveraging SEO and web linking
• Lower Abandonment: Decreasing initial loading times by 2-3x compared to native apps
• Increased Engagement: Push notifications and home screen presence driving repeat visits
• Broader Reach: Functioning on low-end devices and in poor network conditions

Case Study: Twitter Lite PWA resulted in:

• 65% increase in pages per session
• 75% increase in Tweets sent
• 20% decrease in bounce rate

Business Impact: For businesses struggling with app store discovery or high acquisition costs, PWAs offer a lower-friction alternative that can dramatically expand reach.

2. Conversion Rate Optimization

PWAs can directly impact revenue metrics:

• Speed Impact: Every 100ms improvement in load time can increase conversion rates by 1%
• Reduced Abandonment: 53% of users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load
• Seamless Experience: App-like navigation reducing friction in conversion funnels
• Offline Capabilities: Allowing users to browse products and even place orders offline
• Persistent Shopping Carts: Maintaining state between sessions without requiring login

Case Study: Alibaba.com's PWA implementation led to:

• 76% higher conversions across browsers
• 14% more monthly active users on iOS; 30% on Android
• 4x higher interaction rate from "Add to Home Screen"

Business Impact: For e-commerce and conversion-dependent businesses, PWAs can provide immediate ROI through improved funnel performance.

3. Development and Operational Efficiency

PWAs can streamline development processes:

• Single Codebase: Maintaining one application instead of separate web and native apps
• Faster Updates: Deploying changes without app store approval processes
• Reduced Development Costs: 20-33% cost savings compared to native app development
• Simplified Analytics: Unified user journey tracking across devices
• Streamlined Testing: Fewer platform-specific issues to address

Case Study: Trivago's PWA approach resulted in:

• 50% increase in engagement for users who add to home screen
• Significantly lower development and maintenance costs
• Faster iteration cycles for new features

Business Impact: For organizations with constrained development resources, PWAs allow focusing efforts on a single high-quality experience rather than diluting efforts across platforms.

4. Customer Retention and Loyalty

PWAs can strengthen ongoing customer relationships:

• Push Notifications: Re-engaging users with timely, relevant messages
• Persistent Presence: Home screen icon serving as a constant brand reminder
• Improved Performance: Better user experience leading to higher satisfaction
• Offline Functionality: Maintaining utility even in connectivity-challenged environments
• Reduced Uninstalls: Lower device storage requirements than native apps

Case Study: Lancome's PWA implementation achieved:

• 17% increase in conversions
• 51% increase in mobile sessions
• 84% decrease in time until the page is interactive
• 12% increase in conversion rates on recovered carts via push notifications

Business Impact: For businesses focused on lifetime customer value, PWAs provide engagement tools previously available only to native apps, without the high abandonment rates.

PWA Implementation Strategies

Translating the business case into action requires thoughtful implementation:

1. PWA vs. Native App Decision Framework

Determining the right approach for your business:

• User Behavior Analysis: Examining how customers currently interact with your digital properties
• Acquisition Channel Assessment: Evaluating the effectiveness of app store presence vs. web discovery
• Feature Requirements Mapping: Identifying must-have functionality and PWA capability alignment
• Competitive Landscape Review: Understanding competitor approaches and differentiation opportunities
• Total Cost of Ownership Calculation: Comparing development and maintenance costs across approaches

Decision Matrix Factors:

• Frequency of user engagement
• Complexity of required device integration
• Importance of offline functionality
• Development resource constraints
• Speed to market requirements

Best Practice: Consider a phased approach, starting with a PWA that addresses core use cases while maintaining native apps for specialized functionality.

2. Prioritizing PWA Features

Not all PWA capabilities deliver equal business value:

• Performance Optimization: Almost always the highest ROI feature
• Offline Capability: Critical for certain use cases, less important for others
• Push Notifications: High engagement potential but requires careful implementation
• Home Screen Installation: Important for frequent-use applications
• Background Sync: Valuable for transaction-based applications

Implementation Approach:

1. Start with performance improvements (app shell architecture, code splitting)
2. Add offline support for critical user journeys
3. Implement push notifications with clear opt-in value proposition
4. Enable "Add to Home Screen" with appropriate prompting
5. Add advanced features based on specific business requirements

Best Practice: Implement features incrementally, measuring business impact at each stage to guide further investment.

3. Migration Strategies

Transitioning from existing web or native applications:

• Incremental Enhancement: Gradually adding PWA features to existing web properties
• Parallel Development: Building a PWA alongside existing properties for phased transition
• Complete Rebuild: Starting fresh with PWA best practices (typically for major redesigns)
• Native-to-PWA Transition: Strategically shifting users from native apps to PWA

Considerations:

• Current technical debt and architecture limitations
• User base size and change sensitivity
• Business continuity requirements
• Available development resources
• Timeline constraints

Best Practice: For most businesses, an incremental approach starting with performance optimizations delivers the fastest ROI while minimizing risk.

4. Measuring PWA Success

Establishing appropriate metrics to track business impact:

• Technical Performance Metrics:

  • Time to Interactive (TTI)
  • First Contentful Paint (FCP)
  • Speed Index
  • Lighthouse scores

• User Engagement Metrics:

  • Pages/screens per session
  • Session duration
  • Bounce rate
  • Return frequency
  • Push notification opt-in and engagement rates

• Business Outcome Metrics:

  • Conversion rate
  • Average order value
  • Customer acquisition cost
  • Customer lifetime value
  • Revenue per user

Best Practice: Create a balanced scorecard that connects technical metrics to business outcomes, establishing clear causal relationships.

Industry-Specific PWA Applications

How different sectors are leveraging PWAs for business advantage:

1. Retail and E-commerce

PWAs are transforming online shopping:

• Instant Loading Product Pages: Reducing abandonment during browsing
• Offline Product Catalogs: Enabling browsing without connectivity
• Seamless Checkout Experiences: Reducing friction in the purchase process
• Persistent Shopping Carts: Maintaining items across sessions and devices
• Contextual Push Notifications: Alerting users to relevant offers and cart reminders

Case Study: Flipkart Lite PWA achieved:

• 3x more time spent on site
• 40% higher re-engagement rate
• 70% greater conversion rate among users arriving via Add to Home Screen

Best Practice: Focus on reducing friction in the product discovery and checkout processes, where speed and reliability directly impact conversion.

2. Media and Publishing

Content-focused businesses are finding particular value:

• Instant Article Loading: Reducing bounce rates on content pages
• Offline Reading: Allowing consumption of previously-loaded content without connectivity
• Push Notification Re-engagement: Alerting users to new content in their interest areas
• Reduced Data Usage: Saving bandwidth through efficient caching strategies
• Monetization Improvements: Better ad viewability through performance improvements

Case Study: Forbes PWA implementation resulted in:

• 43% increase in sessions per user
• 100% increase in engagement rates
• 20% increase in ad viewability
• 6x completion rates on video

Best Practice: Prioritize content loading performance and implement thoughtful offline strategies that align with reader behavior patterns.

3. Travel and Hospitality

Travel scenarios particularly benefit from PWA capabilities:

• Offline Itineraries: Accessing booking information without connectivity
• Lightweight Experiences: Functioning well on spotty hotel and airport WiFi
• Location-Based Features: Enhancing on-trip experiences with contextual information
• Push-Based Updates: Notifying travelers of gate changes, delays, and opportunities
• Reduced Data Roaming: Minimizing data usage for international travelers

Case Study: Trivago's PWA approach delivered:

• 97% increase in clickouts to hotel offers for users who add to home screen
• 67% increase in time spent on site
• Significant improvements in user experience in low-connectivity scenarios

Best Practice: Focus on offline capabilities that address common travel pain points, particularly around accessing critical information in connectivity-challenged environments.

Common PWA Implementation Challenges

Addressing potential roadblocks to successful implementation:

1. iOS Limitations

Working within Apple's PWA constraints:

• Push Notification Absence: Developing alternative re-engagement strategies
• Home Screen Addition Friction: Creating compelling prompts and value propositions
• Storage Limitations: Working within more restrictive caching allowances
• Background Sync Challenges: Designing graceful fallbacks for offline actions
• Performance Considerations: Addressing Safari-specific optimization needs

Best Practice: Design for progressive enhancement, ensuring core functionality works well on iOS while leveraging additional capabilities on platforms with fuller support.

2. Organizational Alignment

Securing cross-functional buy-in:

• Stakeholder Education: Building shared understanding of PWA benefits and limitations
• Success Metric Alignment: Ensuring technical and business KPIs are connected
• Team Structure Considerations: Addressing potential organizational silos
• Roadmap Integration: Incorporating PWA development into broader digital strategy
• Budget Allocation: Securing appropriate resources for implementation and maintenance

Best Practice: Create a PWA center of excellence with representatives from product, marketing, technology, and business teams to drive coordinated implementation.

3. Technical Debt Management

Addressing legacy system constraints:

• API Modernization: Ensuring backend systems can support PWA requirements
• Authentication Flows: Adapting existing auth systems for PWA contexts
• Analytics Integration: Modifying tracking to account for offline usage and new patterns
• Performance Budgeting: Establishing and enforcing standards for third-party integrations
• Legacy Browser Support: Determining appropriate support levels and fallback strategies

Best Practice: Conduct a technical debt assessment specifically focused on PWA enablement, prioritizing remediation efforts based on business impact.

Future-Proofing Your PWA Strategy

Preparing for evolving capabilities and expectations:

1. Emerging PWA Capabilities

New features on the horizon:

• Web Bluetooth and USB: Enabling hardware integration without native apps
• Web Share Target: Allowing PWAs to receive shared content from other applications
• Badging API: Displaying notification counts on app icons
• Web Authn: Supporting advanced authentication methods
• Shape Detection: Enabling QR code and face detection capabilities

Strategic Implication: These emerging capabilities will further narrow the gap between PWAs and native apps, potentially shifting the calculus for businesses currently committed to native-only strategies.

2. Integration with Broader Digital Ecosystem

Connecting PWAs with other digital initiatives:

• Voice Assistant Integration: Enabling discovery and interaction via voice interfaces
• Progressive Enhancement for IoT: Using PWAs as control interfaces for connected devices
• AR/VR Capabilities: Leveraging emerging web-based immersive experiences
• AI and Personalization: Implementing intelligent, contextual experiences
• Omnichannel Orchestration: Coordinating PWA experiences with other customer touchpoints

Strategic Implication: PWAs should be viewed not as standalone initiatives but as components in a broader connected experience strategy.

3. Organizational Capability Development

Building long-term PWA competencies:

• Skill Development: Training teams on PWA-specific development practices
• Process Adaptation: Modifying workflows to support PWA lifecycle management
• Vendor Ecosystem: Developing relationships with specialized PWA partners
• Knowledge Management: Capturing and sharing PWA implementation learnings
• Recruitment Strategy: Attracting talent with relevant PWA experience

Strategic Implication: Organizations that develop deep PWA capabilities now will have competitive advantage as these technologies become more central to digital experience delivery.

Conclusion: Building a Business-Focused PWA Roadmap

Progressive Web Apps represent a significant opportunity for businesses to improve digital performance while potentially reducing complexity and cost. However, realizing these benefits requires a thoughtful approach that:

1. Starts with business objectives rather than technology capabilities
2. Measures impact continuously to guide implementation priorities
3. Addresses organizational and technical challenges proactively
4. Takes an incremental approach that delivers value at each stage
5. Prepares for future capabilities while solving today's problems

By focusing on the specific business outcomes PWAs can deliver for your organization—whether that's improved conversion rates, expanded reach, development efficiency, or enhanced customer loyalty—you can move beyond the technical hype to create experiences that deliver measurable return on investment.

This article was written by Nguyen Tuan Si, a digital strategy consultant specializing in helping organizations implement effective web and mobile experiences that drive business results.