Benefits of Rich Internet Applications

In today's global business environment, where customers are more demanding than ever and brand loyalty is increasingly difficult to obtain, deeper customer engagement is integral to an organization's success. RIAs can make customer interactions compelling, dynamic, and useful — in a word, engaging.

Business executives increasingly recognize the value customer engagement brings to their businesses. For example, in a recent study on engagement conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Adobe, 80% of executives said that better engagement translates into improved customer loyalty, and 75% said they believed it meant higher profits.

Engagement is also critical to transforming customers into active advocates for brands and businesses; 79% of respondents said that engaged customers will recommend products and services to others.

In March 2007, Forrester Research published "The Business Case for Rich Internet Applications," a report based on interviews with RIA technology providers and designers, as well as Forrester Research clients and customers. The report revealed that "well-designed RIAs can produce eye-popping results that can help prove the value of current investments and make the case for future RIA projects."

According to the findings, "firms that measure the business impact of their RIAs say that rich applications meet or exceed their goals." Specific findings demonstrate that improved ease of use for customer-facing RIAs "drives higher conversion rates and order size....More shoppers convert to buyers when they can easily trade off product options and costs in real time....And because of increased ease of completing complex orders online, fewer customers give up."

Additionally, the ability for RIAs to incorporate rich media pays dividends. "Rich media helps boost margins. RIAs not only enable better configurations, they also allow firms to embed video and other contextual help content into applications....Users who access these types of help features convert at a higher rate than those who don't."

Building RIAs with Adobe technologies offers additional benefits. Adobe's clients have a long history of delivering consistent, cross-platform experiences. The Adobe® Flash® Player runtime reaches 98% of Internet-enabled desktops and more than 450 million devices, offering businesses greater reach than with any other client technology available. Adobe AIR™, the latest client from Adobe, leverages the power of Flash Player while adding the capability to deploy RIAs directly to the desktop.

Finally, since Adobe technologies enable designers and developers to build RIAs with their current tools and skills, businesses can leverage existing personnel and assets to enhance customer engagement while minimizing expense.