3 Examples of Successful PWAs That Will Inspire You

If you want to achieve success with your app, all the signs point that you should invest in building a Progressive Web App. Many companies already took advantage of this new technology to bring success to their businesses. Above all, data indicates that PWAs allowed them to gain more users and significantly increase engagement. Find out what these companies achieved and get inspired!

Progressive Web Apps exist like websites but can be added to the home screen, and after that, they look and act like mobile apps. Developing one product, you get an excellent mobile website that transforms into a mobile app on every platform and device, and also works perfectly on desktops. As you probably guessed, the process of design and development is much faster and cheaper than in case of developing a separate app for each platform.

These multiplatform apps are fast, reliable and super-light (some of them require 300x less storage than their native equivalents). What is more, thanks to the technologies they use, they are accessible offline. With a PWA, you get access to the device’s features like the camera or GPS. They also have the power to send notifications to your users. 

Now let’s take a look at some success stories to show you what PWAs can do for your business.

TWITTER

What did they want to achieve?

Twitter wanted to improve their mobile web experience, make their website more reliable and faster. They wanted to reduce data consumption and ensure their users with instant loading times. What is more, Twitter also struggled with re-engaging users on the mobile web.

The solution: Twitter Lite, a Progressive Web App

Twitter decided to create a PWA – Twitter Lite. The app delivered a great experience to its users. It was exactly what they needed.

What Twitter achieved with a PWA:

• Increased engagement: Push notifications, just like in native apps, are sent to users even when their browsers are closed. PWA generates more than 10 mln push notifications per day to extremely encourage user engagement.
• Better experience for users: The web app has almost the same performance as a native Twitter app. The first load is after under 5 seconds over 3G networks, and subsequent loads are practically instant.
• Lighter and more accessible Twitter app: Twitter Lite uses fewer data and smaller media resources. It relies on cached data, so almost every functionality is available offline. What is more, the PWA optimizes image size reducing data consumption. 
• Reaching more users: The app works excellent on slower connections and less powerful devices. Therefore, Twitter Lite reached a broad set of users in places where it’s a common problem.

Success in numbers:

• PWA size: 600 KB , Android app size: 23.5 MB, iOS app size: 116,5 MB
• 65% increase in pages per session, a 75% increase in Tweets sent, 20% decrease in bounce rate.
• 250 000 users launch the app as a native app – directly from the home screen – 4 times a day on average.
• Average load times reduced by over 30%.

What did they want to achieve?

Pinterest wanted to improve user experience and reach more users globally, also in places with poor internet connections. In addition,Pinterest also analyzed their users’ behaviour on the mobile web and learned that only 1% was converting into sign-ups, logins or native app installs because of poor mobile web experience, so they wanted to change that.

The Solution: Pinterest Progressive Web App

Pinterest decided to develop a PWA to improve their mobile web experience and increase the number of sign-ups. The app was ready in three months.

What Pinterest achieved with a PWA:

• Better user experience: App loads instantly: the old mobile website needed 23 seconds to load, and the new one loads in 5.6 seconds (3.9 seconds for repeat visits). What is more, the app is more interactive and reliable, providing fast, native-like experience.
• Lighter and more accessible app: The PWA is a lot lighter than the native app (it weighs only 150 Kb). It doesn’t need to be downloaded from the app store; it’s indexed by Google.
• Increased engagement: The app sends push notifications to constantly engage its users, even when the browser is closed.
• Increased number of active users: More people are joining Pinterest through the website. Therefore, mobile web has become their top source of new sign-ups.
• Reaching emerging markets: Pinterest were able to reach new markets by making their app accessible in places where lower internet connection is common. Moreover, the app is available offline.

Success in numbers:

• PWA size: 150 KB, Android app size: 17 MB, iOS app size: 56 MB.
• New sign-ups increased by 843% year-over-year.
• In less than 6 months, 800K people weekly using PWA like a native app – from the home screen.
• Weekly active users on the mobile web increased by 103% year-over-year, 153% in Brazil, 312% in India.
• 5% more >5-minute visits on the PWA compared to the native app.

What did they want to achieve?

Starbucks wanted to improve their mobile web experience and reach more users with lower connectivities. Above all, the goal was also to build a user-friendly ordering system on mobile web, so people can easily browse the menu, customize their orders, and fulfill the order, when the internet connection is weak or even temporarily absent.

The Solution: Starbucks Progressive Web App

Starbucks decided to develop a PWA to create an ordering system available for everyone on the go and for their customers with bad internet connections.

What Starbucks achieved with a PWA:

• Doubled number of website orders: Thanks to the intuitive ordering process and the reliability of the app, the number of users who make an order through a mobile web doubled. Starbucks managed to create an excellent ordering system for people on the go, with poor internet or devices not compatible with their native app.
• Better user experience: The app is faster and more reliable, animations are smooth, and everything works great even with a slow internet connection. What is more, the experience for desktop users has also improved thanks to the PWA.
• Increased engagement: The app sends push notifications to its users, encouraging them to take up the special offer or to visit the nearby coffee house.
• Reaching emerging markets: Thanks to the PWA, now it is possible for users that do not have access to 4G or Wi-fi to make an order. Moreover, the app works great with low internet connections, and it can be used even with no internet.

Success in numbers:

• PWA size: 600 KB, Android app size: 20 MB, iOS app size: 146 MB
• 2x more daily and monthly active users on the website.
• Desktop users place almost the same number of orders as mobile users.

Building a Progressive Web App is a future-proof solution. Above all, PWAs are reliable and respond to modern user’s requirements. That’s the technology of the future that won’t get old any time soon. Therefore, many companies are already achieving success thanks to PWAs. They allow to gain more users, reach emerging markets, and build engagement. Your users will love your PWA for reliability and lightness.