What is a Zalo Mini App and why businesses use it

Zalo Mini App is a “new frontier for online business” for companies in today's digital age!

It is a place where businesses can promote their brand, improve the user experience and save the most on developing their apps, consulting, customer care and shopping services. So what is a Zalo Mini App? Why do Zalo Mini Apps matter to businesses? And which principles should you focus on if you use a Zalo Mini App?

Find out with MONA Media learn more about Zalo's mini apps in the content below!

What is a Zalo Mini App?

Zalo Mini Apps are small apps built on the Zalo platform. Although they are “child” apps running on top of the parent Zalo app, Zalo Mini Apps work like independent full apps with plenty of appealing features. By building a Zalo Mini App, a business can reach a large customer base, promote its brand and streamline its shopping services through features such as:

• Providing product and service information and receiving messages, with professional customer care.
• Customers can use a Zalo Mini App to browse products, shop and pay for transactions.
• Customers can conveniently check their shipping status, just as in standalone full apps.

Zalo is regarded as the social platform with the most users in Vietnam, with a friendly interface and a diverse ecosystem. So when a business builds a Zalo Mini App, it can make the most of the parent Zalo app to shape an excellent business strategy.

How Zalo Mini Apps support business operations

What a Zalo Mini App is and why modern business experts call it an “All in One” solution. These apps do more than simply mimic an e-commerce marketplace. They also support business operations through their multitasking ability. For example:

• Make use of the Zalo user base to automate customer care and find potential customers. Based on that audience, you can nurture loyal customers and keep growing your customer base.
• The parent Zalo app provides automated marketing strategies for the Mini App to attract more potential customers as effectively as possible.
• Help businesses handle consultations and online booking for customers. Both customers and businesses save time and keep better control of data and information in the age of digital shopping.
• Users get every activity optimized: shopping, consultation and product browsing in the Mini App, which raises conversion and gives them an ideal experience. 89% of businesses are using the Mini App all-in-one solution, and 73% of customers who convert make their purchases on the Zalo Mini App channel.
• Businesses use the “shortcut” inside the parent Zalo app and take advantage of the Zalo Mini App to build strong competitiveness in the market.

Benefits of a Zalo Mini App

Using a Zalo Mini App gives businesses many benefits in customer care and outreach, shopping conversion and budget optimization compared with building a standalone mobile app. Here are the benefits when a business uses a Mini App:

Implementation costs 3 times less than a mobile app

Building a regular app needs a team to come up with ideas, design the interface and code the app to create a professional system with all the necessary features. A regular mobile app also has registration, publishing and system upgrade costs. Such apps can take 500 to 800 hours to finish and need 60,000,000 to 200,000,000 VND to complete and go live.

A Zalo Mini App, by contrast, is built on Zalo's existing platform, so it uses all of Zalo's technology and ecosystem. A business can save 50% to 70%, making it 3 times cheaper than building a new app. A Zalo Mini App goes live quickly, and registration, publishing and maintenance fees are waived, which makes better use of the business's online communications budget.

Reach up to 75% of Vietnam's population

Zalo has over 70% of the population as users (about 70 million people), and businesses inherit this customer base to promote their business and reach the largest pool of potential customers.

No installation required

Most mobile apps require users to install them on their phones. Many phones do not have enough storage to install them, or the app is so forgettable that users never interact with it even after installing it.

With a Zalo Mini App, a business is built into the Super App platform (Zalo) and inherits the Zalo user base to promote its products and brand. Users do not need to install any extra app as long as they have Zalo on their phones.

Content you can trust, verified by Zalo

All businesses and brands selling on Zalo are verified for trustworthiness. Users do not have to worry about poor-quality goods or products of unknown origin, as on other shopping channels. A business that holds the gold tick gains even more credibility and earns customers' trust for the best conversion.

Use Zalo's diverse ecosystem for marketing and customer care

Zalo has a diverse ecosystem with many appealing features such as Zalo Broadcast, Zalo Ads, Zalo Post and more. A business can use this ecosystem for its marketing and customer care strategies. For example:

• Zalo Broadcast lets a Zalo OA (Official Account) send messages to potential customers interested in the business's products or services.
• Zalo Ads supports strategies for marketing Zalo, promising ads and reaching the right audience.
• The Zalo Store system lets businesses list products and manage orders, with features comparable to well-known e-commerce marketplaces.
• Zalo Post helps businesses reach customers through advertising content strategies, slogans and engaging stories.
• Zalo Menu helps businesses create web link buttons, contact the shop, or let customers browse the storefront flexibly inside the chat window.

Simplify shopping for customers

Customers do not need to download an app or perform any installation on their phones, which saves storage. The Zalo platform already supports and integrates every feature a Zalo Mini App needs to work professionally,

Customers only need to open Zalo to search for products, compare prices, chat with suppliers, buy, track their orders and pay, which simplifies the whole shopping process and gives users a seamless experience.

Help businesses build brand awareness

Zalo helps Zalo OAs find the right potential customers to share information about the business's brand, products and services. These features raise brand awareness, spread the brand and spur demand, driving more action and helping the business win more customers and grow revenue.

Beyond the benefits above, a Zalo Mini App also gives businesses payment tools through Zalo Pay, cash flow management, and automatic data analysis and financial reports. With this data, businesses can adjust advertising and promotion strategies more flexibly to generate revenue, run more effectively and manage cash flow more professionally.

5 Zalo Mini App interface design principles businesses need to master

To build a successful Zalo Mini App and reach customers well, focus on these 5 interface design principles for Zalo Mini Apps:

1. The principle of simplicity

Keep the tasks in your Zalo Mini App streamlined. Most Zalo users install the app on their phones and use it more than Zalo PC or the web version. Phone screens are small, so too many tasks or a complicated interface cannot display fully. That would not give users the best experience in a Zalo Mini App.

2. The principle of structure

Businesses should plan the design with a pre-drawn structure that lays out features clearly. Zalo Mini App providers will advise on how to arrange feature groups logically and appropriately to make the Zalo Mini App appealing.

Remove unrelated elements so users can tap and swipe comfortably with one hand. Study how far customers' thumbs reach on a phone, and test how the Zalo Mini App performs before it goes live.

3. The principle of feedback

A Zalo Mini App has a feedback feature that notifies users when they make a wrong action, enter incorrect information and so on. When using feedback, pay attention to a readable font and size that fits within the screen, and keep the message short and in plain language. Also add a close button so users can interact easily.

4. The principle of consistency

Keeping a Zalo Mini App consistent in color, logo, fonts and overall interface is the best way to make it look professional. Too many design styles, typefaces and colors in one Zalo Mini App is visually messy, makes layouts hard to remember, and prevents customers from forming habits and reflexes when using your app.

5. The principle of error tolerance

Users will inevitably make mistakes as they go. Add undo/redo and edit functions to help them repeat tasks. You can also add a Back button so customers can return to the first page and start over.

Popular types of Zalo Mini App

Zalo Mini Apps are now used in many different fields. For example:

E-commerce apps

E-commerce supports retail and gives suppliers storefronts, and it is growing strongly on Zalo. These Zalo Mini Apps combine search results, price comparison, add-to-cart services, checkout and payment, and order tracking in one Zalo Mini App system.

Finance and banking apps

Zalo Mini Apps also support financial institutions, banks and insurance companies, making money and insurance services simple and efficient. In these industries a Zalo Mini App works like a “Lite” version and inherits the Zalo ecosystem, so it is very flexible and convenient.

Entertainment apps

The power of Zalo Mini Apps goes beyond finance and online selling. They are also used to promote entertainment and gaming platforms, so users can reach a huge world of entertainment through Zalo alone. Today games such as Tá lả, Tiến lên, Đuổi hình bắt chữ, fish shooting games and ZingPlay Animal are growing strongly on Zalo through Mini Apps.

Connection apps

A business's marketing and customer care become easier with a Zalo Mini App. Businesses get to know their customers, schools can connect with parents and students, and courses and centers can connect with learners easily.

Steps to create a Mini App with Zalo

To create a Mini App with Zalo, a business needs to follow this process:

• Create a Zalo Platform app
• Start building the Mini App
• Program the Mini App to be optimized, with appealing features and simple tasks.
• Submit it to Zalo for review and release.
• Once Zalo approves it, release the Mini App

This process has smaller steps within it and requires IT specialists and staff who understand Mini Apps, so the app can be completed and launched on the Zalo platform as professionally as possible.

Why choose MONA Media to build your Zalo Mini App?

Finding a company that specializes in researching and developing Zalo Mini App will help you get the most out of your Zalo Mini App.

MONA Media has a strong in-house IT team that knows Zalo Mini Apps well and provides website design service, web apps, software and Zalo Mini Apps to thousands of businesses. We help client businesses grow revenue, attract potential customers and expand their market through Zalo Mini Apps as effectively as possible. If you need more advice on Zalo Mini Apps, please contact MONA Media qua HOTLINE 1900 636 648 for a more detailed discussion!

We hope the information about Zalo Mini Apps that Mona has shared is useful to you and your business!

See also: A guide to integrating Zalo into your website