As the mobile
app scene hot topic in 2015, we need to ask the question, what are the trends
that are driving mobile app development today? Are they here to stay? And how
is it going to span out in the coming years? These are some of the questions we
hope to answer in this article.
Use APIs Innovatively
Mobile app
development demands that you develop an app across a variety of devices and
channels. Now what do you do to achieve that? This is where you need an
API-first approach. When your development is focussed on APIs you ensure
flexibility and agility.
Among the
biggest obstacles to seamless implementation of mobile apps is data storage.
This problem is solved to a great extent when you use a catalogue of mobile
REST APIs where you can access systems of records in an easier manner. This way
you can implement all your security policies under one umbrella.
Leverage the Cloud
Now, the
development process is agile, which means business and infrastructure development
take place in parallel. While the business department works at its own pace,
the other teams ask for tools to speed up their integration and development. It
is here that the Cloud plays a very important role. Streamlining back-end
integration, user security and management becomes extremely easy with Cloud.
Convenience is King
However high
your app might score on functionality, in the end it needs to guarantee a
sumptuous experience for the user. Though a million apps populate the Appstore,
hardly a fifth of them are used. If your mobile app developers can’t
synchronise functionality with user experience, then it is not going to find
traction among users.
What we’ve
mentioned in this article are just 3 of the important trends that are sweeping
the mobile app industry today. For more, watch our next article in the series!
To know what
goes behind the making of a successful app, you should know what mobile app
requirements are in the first place. More often than not, developers do not
spend enough time on working out the modalities of what the app should deliver
and how it needs to be designed. The fault lines of every app that has failed
originate here. In this article we take a look at the 10 check boxes that need
to be ticked if your app is to be a success.
1. Who Are You Building The App For?
You need to be
clear about why you’re building the app in the first place and who you’re
building it for. What will be your app’s standout features and functionality?
Who are your target users? Analyse the market you want to release your app viz.
their preferences of your users and align your app with it.
2. Decide Your Revenue Model
Your app
competes with a million others on the Appstore. Have you got the right model to
generate revenue for your app? You need an analytics/pricing expert to decide
your app’s pricing and ad rates. If you are choosing a pay per download model,
your app needs to have features that justify it.
3. Choose Between Native, Web and Hybrid
Which category
does your app belong to? Native, web or hybrid? This decides on how much you
plan to invest in your app, how many platforms you want to target, what kind of
app suits your app’s desired user experience and so on.
4. Get the Design Right
The design of
your app must reflect your business in a way that is enriching and engaging.
Since your app’s design is the first thing that strikes the customer, it needs
to greater attention. Make sure that your design is responsive, touch-friendly
and simple.
5. Create a Message Flow for Your App
Your app needs
to respond to various situations and get the customer back to engaging with it.
Create a message flow to respond to customers in various situations while being
focused on the functionality.
6. Ensure Security and Scalability
Is your app
secure and scalable? These two qualities are important if you are to attract
customers. Get your app certified for both these. Ensure proper maintenance too
from time to time to get this right.
7. Focus on UX
There is no
point in creating content for your app if the content is not focused on the
intended user experience that your app is supposed to give. Remember that if your
app ultimately sells, it sells for its user experience and not anything else.
8. Make Your App Well-Integrated
If you’re
designing an ecommerce app, make sure you integrate it with a secure payments
module. If it is a travel app, you need to integrate it with business listing
and classifieds sites apart from social media.
9. Monitor App Metrics with an Analytics Tool
Make sure your
app has an appropriate analytics tool to get a clear picture of how many users
visit your website, how long they stay, what percentage of users abandon and
why, impact of social media on user traffic and so on. Google Analytics is the
default choice now.
10. Test Thoroughly and Act On User Feedback
Do a case by
case user acceptability test for your app. Once your app goes live, look keenly
at user feedback for any actionable suggestions that can enhance the usability
of your app and implement them.
The only way to
get an increased audience to know your brand or to buy your products is to get
a mobile app that bears your name or a part of it. And let us assume you have
done the difficult part: building a responsive and well-designed mobile app
replete with all the necessary integration's with a user experience to top it
all. But how do you get your target audience to use your app? That is what this
article wishes to throw further light on.
1. Understand Your User Base
-> This
might sound cliched, but is totally meaningful. You need to have a clear
understanding of your target audience. For this, you first of all need to
analyse how other successful apps in your genre have reached there.
-> What is
the strategy that they’ve adopted and study how they approach their customers?
Remember, all of your marketing and SEO efforts work only if have an app that’s
real quality.
2. Get the Right Optics
-> Many apps
get the functionality right, but fare low on optics. Make sure your app doesn't
suffer from the same illness.
-> Get a
good graphic designer to decide the best colour and contrast for your app. A
realistic colour shade does impact your app’s optics.
3. Search for the Right Keywords
-> When a
user wants a particular type of app, he/she is going to do a keyword search for
it.
-> You need
to know what keywords the user will search for. Leverage the power of social
media to drive keyword searches to your app.
4. Diversify Your Promotion Approach
-> Don't
stick to the same promotion approach for every platform. What works for Android
needn’t necessarily work for iOS too.
-> App
platforms differ in their approval process and store reporting and this needs
to figure in your promotions as well.
5. Get Multiple Traffic Sources
-> Target
more than one platform to market your app. Remember; you can never predict
where your customer might come from.
-> Target
social media sites. Create a separate FaceBook and twitter page and re-tweet
positive user reviews about your app. Build positive talk about your app on
peer sites as well.
6. Peer Reviews Matter
->
Knowledgeable users will first look at app reviewing sites to first get to know
about your app before using it. It might cost you a few dollars, but it is
well-worth it. Get your app reviewed on quality sites.
-> But
remember, a positive review on any site of repute cannot be ‘bought’. This
again takes you back to the basics via, a great design, responsiveness and UX.
7. If None Of This Works, Slash The Price!
-> Now, if
you’ve decided upon the price of your app after having done a thorough research
and have done it competitively, then your app won’t suffer any handicap in the
market.
-> But it
may sometimes be the case that your app has been priced a little too higher for
its functionality. In this case, you need to cut-down on the prices of your app
in order to stay competitive.
Mobile apps are
influencing business across verticals in the way they communicate and establish
a relationship with the users. Be it banking and financial services (BFS) or
health and fitness or travel and tourism or gaming and entertainment, mobile
apps are redefining the way users consume and utilise content. And this is
aided in great measure by the mobile surge in South Asia.
But the impact
of mobile apps on the travel and tourism industry has gone unnoticed for the
most part. In this article, we take a look at the impact of mobile apps on the
travel industry.
User Experience That Takes You Closer
Now if the
function of a travel and tourism app were to merely provide you information
about the place you want to visit, you can make do with a map or a Google
search on the particular place. Where a mobile app differs is that it connects
the place with the contextual information, images, maps, restaurants and motels
around.
Say you have
developed an iOS app about Venice tourism. The app must contain details about
the city’s history, places of historical importance, and its connection with
other places of interest in Europe.
Community Travel Apps
Price
comparison websites have revolutionised the pricing policies of tour operators
as they allow tourists to plan their holidays as they want it. Creating
community apps make it possible to exchange information and good deals besides
offering conventional online auction. These kinds of apps comprise images, videos
and social networks to share views and comments on the quality of hotels,
restaurants and tourism services in real time.
Digital Tour Guides
Apart from
offering locals and tourists accurate geo-positioning of everything, depending
on the time of day and GPS location- users will be informed of the nearest
sites or activities. These digital tour guides allows vivid monitoring of
social networks like FaceBook or Twitter and respond to visitors when they
mention the area’s tourism facilities.
Bookings 24*7
Whether it is
purchasing a flight ticket, finding accommodation or booking a holiday, mobile
apps are the top choice for consumers across the world. This is because when
you search an airport, the restaurants and bookstores that are near it and what
is available in them on that particular day are available as well!
No Wonder
Travel Mobile Apps Are a Fad!
If you were
following the daily dose of tech news (which does appear occasionally apart
from the usual staple diet of politics and sport), you would know that Cortana
is now on Android. For the uninitiated, Cortana is a personal assistant created
exclusively for Windows and in particular, for the Window Smartphone. So, why
did it have to venture into the Android space?
The answer is
actually pretty simple: Because the Windows Smartphone simply didn’t take off! If
Microsoft had continued with its strategy of releasing its
products/applications only on its own operating system, the application too
would have bombed along with Windows. The apps, no matter how good they were
would have failed to find a larger audience and tanked for loss of users.
The change in Redmond’s strategy
Microsoft has
sought to make up for the failure of the Windows phone in two ways: by focusing
on cloud-based products and by making Microsoft applications available on other
mobile platforms. The latter a decision that stems from the realisation that
Windows is no longer a credible option in the Smartphone segment.
Cloud-Based Services
That Microsoft
would make a mark in the cloud-based services segment was never in doubt. This
is evident in the success of Azure with services like Operational security
assurance (OSA) that protects power and utility companies from security attacks
and PhotoDNA, that prevents online stalkers from gaining access to protected
photographs gaining well-deserved appreciation.
The Android foray
When the
Windows phone was released, Cortana was a key part of the marketing campaign
around it. Cortana was in fact the vital link that strung together various
parts of the Windows phone such as Bing, Xbox, email etc neatly. In short, it
was a niche service available only for Windows Smartphone users.
So Cortana on Android means that Windows
under Satya realizes that it is not a good strategy to let other Windows apps
die at the altar of the Windows phone and that the only way to popularize its
mobile applications would be to make them available on popular mobile OS
platforms.
This is
actually a good move by Microsoft though observers might say it had no other
way out. But now that Windows’ premier app is on Android, it paves the way for
more exciting apps from the Microsoft stable.
Use APIs Innovatively
