Why Mobile App Development

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Mobile devices have evolved from just a means of communication into highly versatile business tools. As technology advances by the day, so do users get addicted to their mobile devices and spend more time on these devices. According to a 2017 survey by a media marketing and analytics firm, an average American spends around 3 hours every day on mobile devices.

When the above estimate compounds over a month, it adds up to half the total time they spend on a full-time job during the same period. It’s emerging that the core functionality of mobile devices, other than making phone calls, is to run a whole suite of applications that serve unimaginable purposes.

Enterprises from all corners of the world offering a ridiculous range of services and products have begun transitioning from the physical world of printing leaflets, hanging billboards, and printing advertisements, to the mobile and digital realm. Most people think their businesses do not need a mobile app to sell products to their loyal customers simply because that’s been the case in the past.

However, if you want to prepare for the future and start seeing the benefits of going digital, you’ll need a mobile app. Are you still not convinced? Here are the top reasons how your business will reap by creating a mobile app for your customers.

Benefits of Mobile App Development

  1. Strengthens Customer Engagement

This is one of the most important benefits of mobile app development for individuals, brands, and businesses. A mobile app provides a direct marketing channel between your business and your customers, allowing effective communication. With a mobile app, you can communicate and send in-app and push notifications to as many clients as possible. If your notifications contain valuable and relevant information, customers will be attached and become loyal and opt for your offerings whenever they need them.

  1. Direct Communication

One of the reasons your business needs an app is to improve direct communication with your customers. With instant access to a wide array of information, business mobile application development has opened doors to a direct and clear communication channel between enterprises and customers. The information gathered from customers from these apps is invaluable, with buyer personas and shopping behaviors being incorporated to help with marketing strategies.

  1. Brand Awareness

One of the most crucial things a mobile app offers your customers is awareness of and communication with your brand. With a mobile app, you can foster regular interaction with your target market, thus fostering trust. The more your audience trusts your brand and your enterprise, the more likely they’ll be to listen to your sales pitches and commit to your products. In the same manner as calendars, disturbing fridge magnets, and other random memorabilia, mobile apps strengthen your brand and educate your customers.

  1. Marketing Channel

Custom mobile app development allows information and notifications to be sent to clients in an instant. If the information is relevant to the target market, for instance, containing information about exclusive offers and deals, it can help you market to loyal clients who value the app. The fact that information and notifications can be sent instantly implies that you can communicate to your clients anytime, thus fostering brand loyalty through targeted communication.

  1. Customer Connections

Customer service is no longer about face-to-face interactions between customers and smiling associates. Since 6.378 billion people currently have high-powered smartphone devices at an arm’s reach at all times, the ultimate game-changer in customer relationship management is mobile apps. Mobile phone ownership has escalated to 80.76% of the world’s population, meaning that businesses are restructuring how they approach customer service.

  1. Business Profitability

Apps increase sales by alerting customers about products and services they were not previously aware of and keeping connections with prospects while ultimately driving sales and increasing revenues. In a report by Flurry, revenues collected from mobile apps were estimated to be $25 billion by 2013. A study published by the research firm Deloitte found out that customers use shopping apps before and after shopping trips. Twenty-two of surveyed respondents acknowledged that they spent more money on shopping trips because of the information supplied by retailers via mobile applications. When business apps are integrated with social media applications like Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook, the amplifier effect can reach new clients.

  1. Attracting Customers

Integrating mobile applications in your existing applications allows you to meet and connect with customers on channels they already use. Mobile users spend a substantial amount of time on social networking sites, so interfacing your company’s mobile application with existing social networking channels has the potential to reach out to a large audience. By creating a mobile application for your business, you can control the environment of how the user learns and interacts with your product.

  1. Customer Service

Providing relevant content and empowering your customers to engage with your firm via mobile apps can free you labor to focus on other mission-critical activities. Since companies expect customers to be able to interact with products, it’s crucial to ensure that your organization’s mobile apps allow them to engage in ways they expect. Giving customers easy-to-find information and answers enables them to trace the information they require at their own time. While many businesses already have self-service features embedded in their websites, these same features do not translate to mobile devices. For these features to be seamless across mobile and web platforms, it’s necessary to develop custom mobile apps.

  1. Transforming Retail Experience

Mobile applications transform the retail experience, enabling retailers to remain ahead of customer expectations by delivering superior customer experiences. In addition, mobile apps drive the digital process and digital model that would ultimately cut down on storage costs and increase profitability. For instance, Walmart has bolstered its retail experience following the Covid-19 pandemic by offering seamless mobile shopping experiences. Customers presently identify this shift as a superior retail solution to the otherwise time-consuming and strenuous on-premise shopping. There are many retail stores built mainly on mobile applications. Transitioning from physical, on-store shopping reduces the overhead costs associated with typical brick-and-mortar retailers.

  1. Unique Payment Services

Mobile applications come with different features that match various sectors and industries. For example, if you’re in the service industry – healthcare, beauty, spa, salon, or online food retail – your app can be helpful for your target audience to book an appointment. The push notifications can be vital to update them on their appointment. There’s no doubt that mobile payment has become a powerful and popular means of making payments nowadays. Both small and large enterprises can integrate payment options in mobile applications that would be possible to receive payments from credit cards and debit cards. Mobile integrated payment platforms are fast, secure, and user-friendly.

Mobile Apps – The Next Frontier in Online Shopping

If these benefits have not yet solidified the importance of a mobile app, there are still more reasons to consider adopting a mobile app strategy to encourage more customer satisfaction and engagement. With mobile app development, you achieve the following for your business and your brand:

  • Inform prospects of new products, services, and exclusive deals
  • Stand out from your competitors who are yet to adopt mobile solutions
  • Reach out to younger and mobile-oriented demographics
  • Synch users’ social media accounts and emails

And if you structure your mobile integration carefully, you receive a ton of analytics on exactly how users interact with your app. These analytics range from how much time a user spends looking at your app to the amount of money you make from each online purchase. You can contact NS804 for any questions about mobile app development.

How to Develop a Fitness App

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The fitness app market is set to hit $14.7 billion in value by 2026. The market is currently seeing a Cumulative Annual Growth Rate of 23%. Although there are quite some big players in the market, there is still room for competitors to enter the market with a different value proposition. Customers in the market are open to a subscription model if they feel that they are getting premium features from an app. The development costs for a fitness app can be quite steep given the advanced features now present in the most popular apps. If you are planning to develop a fitness app for the mass market, here are a few basic steps you will follow.

Researching the Fitness App Market

The fitness market is filled with apps that offer different value points for users. Activity apps monitor all the physical activity a user engages in during the day and aggregates it. It can track progress over time and generate reports. The user can see improvements made in lengths of physical activity, body measurements and so on.

There are diet and nutrition apps to help users monitor their food habits. Users can use such apps to monitor calorie intake as they try to hit weight loss or weight gain goals. The apps can help users develop meal plans and grocery shopping lists so that they add variety to their healthy diets.

Finally, there are workout apps, mostly developed by trainers. These apps have a variety of curated workouts that a user can access from anywhere. The app acts as a personal trainer and helps users progress over time to longer and more complex workouts.

What’s the Goal of Market Research?

The goal of market research is to help decide the kind of fitness app you’d like to develop. For instance, if you want to develop a diet and nutrition app, you must conduct an analysis of the existing solutions in the market. Make a list of at least a dozen of such apps that are in the market. On a spreadsheet, list their monetization model, their user numbers on both Android and iOS and average ratings. Read through their reviews and find what users like most for each app and what they complain most about. This analysis will help you decide what gap your app will seek to fill in the market.

An example of an area where apps compete is the level of integration with other apps, especially social ones. While some apps try to build a community of fitness enthusiasts within the app’s ecosystem, others make it easy to share activities with people away from the app.

Minimum Viable Product

The product of your market research will be a list of your proposed app’s main features and business case. What should your app offer to users? Which monetization model will you use? What is the persona of your target audience?

At this stage, you can engage a business analyst to help review your proposal and see whether your idea can withstand scrutiny from a business expert. Such analysis is important before committing money into the development phase. Internal enthusiasm about a project can often lead to confirmation bias whereby you look just for evidence that suggests your idea will work. Getting an external party to review helps provide a more balanced analysis of the idea.

Hiring a Development Team

The developer costs will form the bulk of the app’s development budget. Developer costs vary with the location of the development team. Software engineers in North America charge upwards of $100 per hour, while Asian developers can charge four times less. However, you must be careful about hiring an experienced team. You might prefer hiring an external project manager to help recruit the team as well as track the progress.

Inception Phase

Once the team is in place, the first step of development will be determining the scope of work in detail. This will help develop a project roadmap and an expected date of completion. At this point, you will be able to estimate the development budget based on hours of work.

A technical writer will put down the project’s scope of work against which the work will be reviewed upon completion. This includes how each page should look and work.

Design and Coding

Your business analyst should help prepare the technical documentation to hand to the project team with the scope of work well recorded. The development team will begin with developing UI/UX wireframes for review. This could take several weeks up to a month to complete. Wireframing is important to ensure that the UI/UX is consistent with the brand’s colors and fonts. Once these are ready, the coding can begin.

The coding involves the development of the app’s frontend as well as backend. The backend carries the functionalities of the app including user logins, payments processing, geolocation tracking, notifications and more. This could take months although there should be weekly or check-ins with the project manager to give updates on development progress.

Testing and Debugging your Fitness App

A fitness app is complex owing to the numerous features it normally has. The testing phase is thus important and could take several weeks. Performance testing is necessary to ensure the app does not drain battery inefficiently across the various devices users will install it. The app should also pass a memory analysis test so that it does not crash by being unable to clear heap memory. Security vulnerability tests are also necessary to ensure the app can withstand brute force attacks and that there is no data leakage. Functional testing of the app checks whether all features are working correctly across all hardware devices where the app might be used. The app should be able to do all that it should, but it should not do what it is not designed to do.

Publicity, Reviews, and Marketing

It’s important to have a marketing plan for your fitness app. One way to do this is to invite opinion leaders in the fitness app to test the app before launch. You should also have a website from where people can visit and read up on expected app features and pricing. You can also share thoughts that informed the development process, including the gap it seeks to fall.

App Store Listing and Categorization

Publishing your app in various stores is an intricate process that should be approached carefully. You should include proper descriptions, categorization, and screenshots when submitting it for publishing. Proper information is important for App Store Optimization to enable users to find your app easily. Apple Store has a long review process before approving the app for publishing. Account for this in time planning.

Once the app is available for download, make sure to have download links available everywhere, including on your social media handles and your website’s landing page.

Conclusion

Developing a fitness app should be the result of deep research and identification of a gap to fill in the market. The development should begin only after a business case for your app has been justified by an analyst. You must pick the right development team based on your budget but also their experience. An external project manager might help track the project progress better than you can internally. Once the coding is done, the app must be tested for both performance and functionality. It’s important to have an elaborate roadmap of the publishing and marketing process for the app.

If would like assistance in developing an app for your business, check out NS804. We’ve partnered with clients for over 6 years to help them make the best development decisions for their businesses.

How to Create a Social Media App & How Much It Costs

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Social media apps have changed how we convey information and communicate with each other. Now more than ever, people spend much time online, scrolling news feeds on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. That is not to mention other social media apps that target a specific niche of users and can even motivate users to develop something similar.

The popularity of most social media apps is the freedom they extend to users. Users can share their thoughts, dreams, goals, and achievements with the whole world. Therefore, that is precisely why the social media app development market is one of the leading trends in IT today. People want to exchange ideas, share, and chat with other like-minded users.

So, if you want to know how to create a social media app, continue reading this post.

Types of Social Media Apps

If you’re thinking of starting a social media app, it’s first important to know what type of social media your idea belongs to. First, you need to define your target audience, identify competitors, and offer your targeted users more appropriate functionality in their overall user experience.

Let’s define the specific types of social media apps:

1. Social Networks

The primary aim of this type is to connect people with shared interests and who pursue different goals. For example, LinkedIn helps users find professional opportunities and build professional connections. Facebook offers a lot of thematic groups and more than 2 billion users to connect and befriend.

 

2. Media Sharing Networks

From its name, you can tell that these networks allow users to share different content. Users can share live videos, photos, and images. These days, the margin between social networks and media sharing networks is narrowing because such apps as Facebook are allowing users to share live videos and images.

 

3. Discussion Forums

These social media networks are gaining popularity because they allow users to learn from experts and share opinions on different topics. For example, discussion forums allow users to find the right information on specific topics. In addition, it’s possible to start a discussion, ask questions, and get responses from experts and knowledgeable users. The leading discussion forums include Quora and Reddit.

 

4. Consumer Review Networks

The primary objective of these social networking sites is to let users share reviews, opinions, and thoughts about products, locations, services, brands, and more. Consumer review networks can bring customers to the brand in case of positive reviews. In addition, company owners and stakeholders can get genuine client feedback and improve their products. Examples; Yelp and TripAdvisor.

 

5. Content Sharing Networks

Also called bookmarking apps, content sharing networks allow users to save and organize links to various online resources or websites. Users can save links in different folders according to topics. These platforms host more exciting features. For instance, Pinterest lets users upload their photos. In other content-sharing networks, users can download pictures they like. Most users choose these content-sharing networks to look through creative images and draw inspiration. Examples include Flipboard and Pinterest.

 

6. Blogging and Publishing Networks

Blogging is not as easy as it sounds. First, you must possess creative writing skills to keep your users engaged on a topic. Bloggers need applications that will enable them to pen their ideas from any device. It’s generally not difficult for you to build a social media app like this. YouTube and Facebook are the market leaders in this domain. But over the last few years, several other platforms have gained popularity like WhatsApp, Wix, Bubble, Squarespace, Microsoft Expression Web, and Medium.

Social Media App Development Cost

There are many websites offering clones of the Instagram app. These are templates with a few options for customization. So, it can be tempting to choose one of these and try to save money. However, utilizing them can breach privacy and security. In addition, you will still be required to develop a backend.

The truth is that a social media application development from scratch stands out because of its compelling brand, design, and functionality. But just like any other functional application, it takes time and money to develop. So, how long does it take, and how much will it cost you?

Let’s take a closer look.

Social Media App Development Timeframe

The one-platform version of a social media app may take upwards of 2000 hours to develop, including UI and UX design, app development (client-side and server-side), and accompanying activities like deployment, testing, and project management. In addition, if you want to create a promotional landing page for your app, it may require another 100-200 hours.

Social Media App Development Costs

The cost of a social media app depends on how much you choose to pay your developers. You usually have three main options as outlined below:

  • Freelancers – From $15 per hour.
  • In-house development team – From $90 per hour.
  • Outsourced development team – From $50 per hour.

The problem with freelancers is the difficulty and necessity to coordinate their efforts and the possible lack of expertise which is especially difficult to notice if you’re unaware of the complexities and intricacies of web development. On the other hand, hiring a local development team is way too expensive – it means spending far too much on simple fixtures.

Therefore, the way to go is to outsource a development team. The outsourcing option is a great way to tap into the expertise of a local in-house development team at just a fraction of the cost. For an Instagram-like social media application, you can take the below rough calculations:

Application development: Android/IOS – $25,000

Client-side app development – $13,000

Server-side app development – $25,000

UX/UI design – $9,000

Total Cost: $72,000

Social Media App Features and Their Costs

So, to calculate the cost of a social media app, you need to consider the required features since they affect the cost significantly. In addition, these features must perfectly fulfill the expectations of your target users and seek to solve their problems. There are two main features you must consider: the minimum viable product MVP and advanced features.

Must-have or minimum viable product features stand for basic functionality to satisfy users’ needs and offer them the appropriate user experience. It’s common for developers to launch the MVP version of the social media app, then gain feedback before investing more money in the idea itself. The MVP allows understanding what specific features need improvement. It’s only after this basic understanding that you can add more features.

Basic MVP Features to Build a Social Media App

With an MVP, you have better chances to get investments since a working app earns more trust from stakeholders. To give you a hint, we’ve singled out some MVP features.

  • Search
  • User profile
  • Sign-up feature
  • Chat
  • Newsfeed
  • Push notifications
  • Add post

Advanced Features

  • AR filters
  • Editing
  • Location-based content
  • Post-release marketing

Social Media App Development Trends

Social media is changeable. New app designs come and go. Therefore, the following elements can prove to be a game-changer in the coming years and something to add to your next social media app development project.

  • Interactive content. 91% of social media users are striving for interactive media content. Key aspects of interactive content include 360-degree video, AR/VR, games, quizzes, and many more.
  • Video content. Video is one of the most interactive content forms, and it’s gaining more popularity. Whether it’s short videos like on TikTok and Instagram Live or long videos like on YouTube, the social media video apps are defining the future.
  • Social commerce. Social commerce is becoming the primary way of retailing, whether online or offline. Shortly, this trend will intensify with the advent of an increasing number of social networks offering new sales features.
  • Leveraging social networks to serve customers. This change took place slowly as brands began noticing customers were contacting them through social networks. It’s simply the easiest way to get in touch with some social media users.

Contact NS804 for more inquiries about social media app development costs.

What Should You Know About Your App Analytics?

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It’s now a lie that the growth of your social media app depends only on the value you bring to your customers. Today, more than ever, many factors determine app performance. These factors include: complexity, design, app testing, butterfly effect, and the list is endless. So, developers are careful about how they view and assess their apps. Therefore, without knowing how your clients react to different marketing strategies and which acquisition channels work best for them, you’ll never be 100% sure of how to make your app increase traction. Today, using app analytics yields countless possibilities and endless insight. However, there are special benefits that stand out.

Here’s What You Should Know About App Analytics

  1. App Analytics Drive ROI in Every Aspect of Performance

Millions of apps on the stores are competing for customer attention and better visibility. In this cut-throat contest, you can’t afford to have an acquisition strategy that lacks monetary goals. Marketing costs huge money. As such, you need to measure how much different channels deliver and compare with different acquisition strategies to determine what results in the best ROI. A winning app analytics strategy includes the following two points.

  • Looking at which channels offer the best customer lifetime value. Customer lifetime value LTV is calculated by customers generating higher revenue and higher possibility for retention.
  • A focus on in-app messaging. Hearing from prospects who have the power to connect to your employees at any time throughout your app experience is helpful to improving your strategy.

  1. App Analytics Help You Gather Accurate Data to Better Serve Your Customer

It’s hard to listen and serve your clients without looking keenly at their feedback and use patterns. Thus, app analytics help you to gain insight into customer data to serve them across all lifecycle stages. Many apps suffer the unfortunate fate of gathering a bulk of followers and failing to serve their needs adequately.

  1. Personalized, Customer-Focused Marketing

Creating an individually targeted and customized customer experience is now possible with app analytics. Customer-targeted push messages sent to specific people can make your app double its rates in a short time. It also converts up to three times better than traditional push messages.

  1. Tracking Individual and Group Achievements

Most app marketers rely on marketing strategies they’ve experienced before to drive results. But, using app analytics gives you a whole new set of customer data. Now, more than ever, app marketers can gain insight around small groups and individuals completing specific, directed activities within the app. What’s more, the possibility of using this knowledge is endless.

  1. Data-driven Results in Issues Concerning Retention

There’s a lot of buzz concerning customer retention these days. However, you can’t have a strong app engagement score if you don’t have many customers using your app regularly. The bottom line is that apps with higher retention rates enjoy better engagement, and more engagement and retention helps the app to gain customers and achieve growth. The most successful apps use analytics by focusing on high life time value customers and acquisition channels. In addition, app analytics close the gap between churn and retention.

Bottom Line

App analytics work in your social media background to enhance your app marketing efforts. It helps you achieve better growth and higher ROI. The above benefits paint a picture of how helpful app analytics is in today’s marketing space. And now, with NS804, you can create a social media app and collect app analytics in just a few clicks.

 

5 Tips for iOS & Android App Development

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Both iOS and Android have had an enormous impact on the business, entertainment, and tech sectors. And both platforms have been embraced by developers and users alike for over a decade. The good news is that the popularity of these platforms will unlikely diminish in the foreseeable future. Therefore, it’s still worthwhile pursuing app development and investing the necessary resources into applications that will excite users eager for new experiences.

1. The Latest Trends in App Development for 2021

 

Nobody can deny that 2020 was an eventful year, and much has happened in the app development space. Some of the latest trends in mobile app design include advanced animations, convenient voice search, robust aesthetic with rounded corners, and universal device UX. 

But in 2021, expect app developers to kick it up a notch with improved design and powerful features. Some of the niceties users should expect; bolder and more colorful visuals, data-oriented design, embossed typography, Face ID integration, hand-drawn illustrations with more natural-looking graphics, and virtual reality (VR). Make sure to take advantage of these trends for your upcoming app to impress and retain users. 

2. Supporting iOS and Android

 

In the second quarter of 2020, Apple led the US smartphone segment with a market share of 46%. Samsung came in at a close second with a 25% market share, with LG in third place at 12% and Lenovo Motorola at 7%. Generally, US consumers are satisfied with Apple’s and Samsung’s smartphone offerings. However, given Apple’s higher penetration in the US, you may want to focus on this platform initially to save on development costs if you’re targeting the American market exclusively.

But if you’re planning on releasing your app globally, then you’ll want to support Android. As of October 2020, Android has gained almost 73% of the global smartphone OS market. While it’s a compelling platform, it’s also incredibly fragmented. It’s challenging to offer all Android users the premium experience that they can get on Apple devices.

Unfortunately, most Android users don’t own powerful smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note20, which can provide a comparable experience to the latest iPhones. The hard truth is that the majority of Android devices in circulation are cheap and underpowered. Manufacturers such as Alcatel, Huawei, and Xiaomi regularly release budget mobile devices for the lower end markets. Today’s high-end apps experience performance issues on these phones due to their low memory and weaker CPUs

3. Leveraging Results on iOS

 

Make the most of Apple’s popular platform with these handy tips:

Integrate easy payment options – If you wish to sell products, services, or in-app purchases in your upcoming app, then you should make the payment process frictionless. Integrate Apple Pay and express checkout functionality to make life easier for your users.

Engage users regularly – Ensure that your app has push notifications to notify users about the latest products, promotions, and updates. Better yet, segment notifications to target your users more effectively. For example, you should send notifications to active users, inactive users, and subscribers to make your messaging more personalized. 

Gain and track app reviews – Your App Store Optimization (ASO) strategy will be a determining factor in the success or failure of your app. You’ll need to gain and track those vital appreneur system reviews from your users by implementing a Call-to-Action (CTA) and app review tracking API.

4. Leveraging Results on Android

 

Take your Android app development to the next level with these methods:

Utilize contactless payment options – Nowadays, many smartphone users enjoy the convenience of contactless payments. Integrate Google Pay and Samsung Pay into your upcoming app, and enable their respective Near Field Communication (NFC) features.

Implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) – With over 3 million apps in the Google Play store, it’s getting harder for new apps to stand out. But many successful and top-rated rated apps, such as Google Assistant and Swiftkey Keyboard, are renowned for their excellent AI.

Keep your app relevant – The Google Play algorithm doesn’t respond kindly to uninstalls and user churn. That’s why you should regularly send push notifications and emails to inactive users, encouraging them to try your app again after implementing features and optimizations that they want.

5. Finding the right partner for mobile app development

 

Developing an app that will find success on both platforms and showcase the latest trends in mobile app design is harder than it seems. However, you don’t have to go it alone if you find the right partner. Experienced developers such as NS804 can help you create an app that will cut through the noise.

Furthermore, we can craft an effective CTA that will convert users and gain those essential appreneur system reviews. We can also help out with nasty edge cases, such as dealing with an app rejection from Apple.

What’s Involved In Maintaining A Mobile App?

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Input cost is always a primary consideration when embarking on the app development journey. That makes sense when a simple mobile app costs about $37,500 while a complex app is north of $500,000. Undoubtedly, designing and developing an app is a substantial investment that company leaders need to comprehend. But they also need to understand the importance of maintaining their applications after releasing them.

User expectations have risen considerably, and they seldom put up with buggy, obtrusive, and unengaging apps. That’s why it’s vital to listen to user feedback and roll out the necessary bug fixes and content updates. However, this is an ongoing process that increases the likelihood of — keeping users hooked — when done correctly. Below, we’ll take a deeper look at what’s involved in maintaining a mobile app.

1. App Development Is Ongoing

 

Pushing an application out the door is only part of the app development process. And the reason for this is that an app is never truly finished if it’s going to enjoy long-term success. There’s no shortage of applications in the App Store and Google Play, which means that users have an almost endless amount of options. Therefore, they’ll quickly delete lackluster apps to make space for those that seem more promising.

Many users have no qualms about removing applications that have intrusive in-app purchases, poor UX, security vulnerabilities, technical issues, unnecessary features, and when they lack content or violate user privacy. However, you can avoid or reduce the frequency of these issues by regularly rolling out updates for your apps.

2. Hidden Mobile App Costs

 

Developing applications comes with its fair share of hidden mobile app costs. Back-end hosting, gathering user feedback, keeping up with OS updates, maintaining a developer account, supporting new devices, and providing maintenance and support, all cost time and money. Since an app requires regular updates during its life cycle, the costs of maintaining and supporting it may exceed its initial development costs.

3. Listening To User Feedback And Requests

 

The apps that succeed are those made by developers that take user feedback seriously. That’s why you should always be listening to user feedback and responding to their requests timeously. Look out for reviews left by experts and regular users in the app stores, and always make sure to respond with the necessary bug fixes, updates, or replies.

Their feedback will also help shape your app since you’ll gradually implement features and improvements that users want. Furthermore, by understanding user behavior you won’t waste resources on unnecessary content and features.

4. Pushing New Content

 

It’s vital to keep users engaged so that they don’t lose interest in your app. A good way to achieve this is by pushing new content at regular intervals. And one of the most efficient ways to notify your users about these changes is with push notifications. But there’s a push notification cost that you’ll need to consider. While several analytics platforms and vendors offer a free tier to help you get started, eventually, you’ll need to invest in a paid service to increase your reach.

The Bottom Line

 

Maintaining a mobile app is an essential part of the app development process. And doing it right means that you’re ascertaining all the hidden mobile app costs and listening to user feedback. Furthermore, you’re taking advantage of push notifications and applying the right strategies to keep your push notification cost as low as possible. Contact us today to learn how NS804 can help you develop and maintain engaging mobile apps.

The Ultimate Guide To Managing Remote Teams

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The Ultimate Guide To Managing Remote Teams During and Post COVID-19

The impact of COVID-19 is far from over. In fact, we don’t yet know how far into the future the effects of COVID-19 will be seen. Some would say forever. Whether or not this proves true, one thing is certain: the shift to a remote workforce and the digital age is in a period of rapid acceleration. Therefore, businesses and organizations all across the globe have been making the shift to a remote workforce. With that shift, however, there are new workflows. New communication tools. And other new tactics that your company needs for managing remote teams.

First and foremost, with a remote workforce there are certain perks your company can use to their advantage. For instance, when managing a remote team, your company can utilize a much more flexible schedule. With employees at home, there isn’t as much pressure or urgency to get things done in a certain timeframe; and therefore tasks can be accomplished throughout the entire span of the day, and even into the night, without staff feeling overwhelmed.

A Decrease In Time-Wasters Improves Efficiency

Additionally, a decrease in “time-wasting” activities that only affected in-person staff improves efficiency. One such example is the commute to-and-from-work. Without a daily commute, employees are able to spend more time with their families and in their own home. This, therefore, leads to a stronger sense of work-life-balance, and a happier employee overall.

On average, remote employees are happier and have a better sense of work-life-balance, which usually leads to stronger performances at work. The mood of a staff-member directly affects their productivity, meaning that in the case of managing a remote team, your staff, on average, could have a significantly higher rate of productivity.

Understanding Expectations When Managing Remote Teams

When hiring or transitioning to a remote workforce, one of the core principles is to establish expectations. This is the same as it would be with in-person workers. However, it’s important to have a clear understanding of expectations from the very beginning when managing remote teams. While communication is important in every relationship context, it is specifically vital to managing a remote team. There is a lot of nuance to communication in-person. Between body-language and other non-verbals. However, most communication in a remote environment is non-visual. Hence why communication is so vital to managing remote teams.

Additionally, since many companies are utilizing more flexible scheduling with remote teams; it’s logical that expectations need to be set on both sides of the coin. These details should include things like time-commitment, weekly tasks, compensation, and everything else that would define the employees role and their relationship to the company.

Emphasizing Communication

As discussed above, communication is an integral aspect to any and every relationship. No matter the context. In managing remote teams, communication is more than essential. It truly is a vital aspect of successful teams working remotely. Correspondingly, then, it goes to reason that companies shifting to a remote workforce would want to implement business applications for communication. There are a myriad of business applications that your company can choose to use for communicating internally and externally.

Internally speaking, Slack is extremely popular as a part instant-messaging and part-email communication solution. Zoom is another company that has blown up astronomically since the onset of the pandemic. With global companies, domestic companies, and everyone in between needing reliable and consistent video conferencing capability; Zoom saw an unbelievable amount of growth in 2020, and set some records for themselves while at it.

There are many other internal communication solutions that you can implement for your remote staff, and even softwares that allow you to set up incentives for your team. This lets the culture of your company thrive even in a remote setting post COVID-19. Some incentive-based-softwares for remote teams are all managed by the leaders and decision makers, while others encourage and promote inter-colleague connections.

In other words, colleagues and co-workers can reward each other on a job well done with an internal currency that can then be redeemed for prizes, gifts, vacations, or even donated to a charity of the recipients choice. These are all great solutions to keep your company culture alive, and incentivize your remote staff to keep working hard and hitting goals.

Providing Some Structure When Managing Remote Teams

While flexible schedules and a stronger sense of work-life-balance are great; business is business, and work needs to get done. To help provide some structure to your remote staffs workweek or work-day, and to ensure that tasks are being accomplished managers and team leaders can schedule regular check-ins.

These check-ins might mimic the exact structure of a daily or weekly check-in that you’d conduct in the office. The only difference being that these check-ins occur remotely. Whether that be via a phone call, or a quick video-chat, a swift one-on-one with each of your remote workers is a great way to not only connect about work, but also get to know your workers and ensure they’re doing okay during these trying times.

Encourage Team Building and Team Bonding

Just because the world is shifting to a digital age and a majorly remote workforce, doesn’t mean that team members can’t connect and bond with one another. There are plenty of options for managers overseeing remote work teams who are looking for ways to bond the team. Some examples might be a virtual film-showing, or a remote happy-hour. Another popular choice is the remote pizza party.

However, while there’s nothing wrong with any of the above choices, staff and employees often enjoy trying something new. Being creative with team bonding exercises has gotten a little harder with the pandemic limiting so many options. Yet, where there’s a will, there’s a way, as the old saying goes.

For instance, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) can be an excellent team-building and team-bonding activity. For starters, D&D is all about a group working together, and usually overcoming a few character flaws or group-issues as well. But beyond that, good D&D campaigns, or even one-shots, require the team to think outside the box, put together some creative solutions, and ultimately work together. All in the context of having a good time, and maybe a few drinks.

Use Project Management Tools

While there are some differences and adaptations to managing remote teams, there are some similarities too. For instance, your managers can likely use the same project management software or project management tools that they were using in person. Transitioning to a remote use of these project management softwares is really simple, and they are already built for it, making it an easy and simple transition.

Using project management software when managing remote teams will allow you to set daily and weekly to-do lists, and share updates on project timelines with the whole team.

Wrapping Up

The world is changing rapidly. The shift to a virtual age and a digital workforce is upon us. Many companies are already prepared for the remote environment. Many others are preparing for the shift. Either way, it’s important to be able to properly manage a remote work team and remote customers.

For more information on the shift to the digital age, or managing remote teams, visit NS804 today.

How to Properly Execute a Mobile App Launch for Results

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Successfully launching a mobile app is challenging, but not impossible if you know what the process entails. But be aware that it’s a long and difficult process that often trips up novice app developers. NS804 specializes in mobile app development in Virginia, and we always try to demystify the craft of making engaging apps. Below, we’re providing several handy tips that are in line with current trends in mobile app development. 

1. Do Your Homework

Launching a mobile app is a lot more involved than one would think. It’s simply not about developing an app and then releasing it out in the wild, hoping that it will miraculously succeed. Only half the battle involves designing and developing a compelling application that will keep users engaged. The other half of the battle involves marketing, which may sound scary but is absolutely necessary.

Take the time to do extensive market research. And we do need to stress that there’s no such thing as too much market research. After all, you don’t want to waste time and money working on an app that users will ignore or won’t find appealing. Furthermore, investors and other stakeholders won’t be pleased if company resources are funneled into a project that will likely fail. 

It’s vital to understand your Product Market Fit (PMF) and subsequently develop the right product for the right market. Current trends in mobile app development include several handy tactics in regards to PMF. These include keyword search volume, which is a list of commonly searched words in the app store, conversion metrics that track user acquisition and other data points, and retention metrics that measure user retention after the mobile app launch.

Of course, your marketing efforts shouldn’t end there. Research your closest competitors, blog regularly, create engaging video content, share content on social media, and even set up a landing page for your upcoming app. Also, diligently measure all your marketing endeavors and audience engagement.

2. Discuss the importance of defining success for the app

Many individuals and companies want to put out an app. But many don’t have a clear picture of what they’re trying to achieve or have an end goal in mind. If you’re finding yourself in a similar situation, then we recommend you ask an important question: “What problem should my app solve?”

After launching a mobile app, it will either gain traction or languish in obscurity. Apps that solve particular problems or improve on existing solutions tend to do well. And some apps find an audience by dealing exclusively with customer pain points. Other more niche apps solve specific business needs or improve upon existing processes. After carefully conducting a PMF survey and doing extensive market research, you should have a good idea of what problems your app is trying to solve.

Furthermore, you’ll need to set specific goals that your app will have to achieve and that you can measure. These goals can include the number of users that you’ll reach, the number of active users, the retention rate, and lifetime value.

3. Testing & Feedback

Current trends in mobile app development include leveraging BETA test groups and focus groups. These groups will make up the initial audience that sees your app, apart from your internal development teams. Why BETA testers are so important is that they’ll rigorously test your app and then provide you with valuable feedback. This feedback will consist of bug reports, issues with the UI/UX, and performance issues, to name a few. 

Focus groups can help you to further refine your product before that crucial mobile app launch. Perhaps your target audience consists of medical professionals, but you’re unsure if your app’s color scheme and visual design will meet their expectations. However, a focus group that includes such professionals will be able to tell you immediately if they find your app’s aesthetics appealing. 

Prepare a roadmap that informs your development teams and testers about important milestones. If possible, make your roadmap as visual as possible, as this makes it easier for most people to comprehend and internalize. Ideally, you want your developers and testers to work in tandem and deal with issues early on.

4. Data Collection & Results

Launching a mobile app is both exciting and scary. Exciting because you’re finally releasing your masterpiece after months of hard work. But scary, because you don’t know how well it will do. While there’s no guarantee that your app will succeed in an increasingly competitive market, this shouldn’t deter you from moving forward. Moreover, every mobile app launch presents a golden opportunity for collecting data that will become invaluable for your current and future development endeavors. 

You can collect a wide variety of data, which may include device information and compatibility, functionality, location data, performance metrics, and user behavior patterns. Ensure that you’re only collecting data that’s necessary to the smooth functioning of your app and not intruding on user privacy. This data will show you whether your app is achieving the desired results or if you need to implement changes.

5. Be flexible in adapting and perfecting the app

You may think that you’ve released the perfect app, but it’s the users who ultimately decide that. The data you’ve collected and the reviews that users leave will give you a good idea if your app is meeting expectations. But regardless of your app’s overall performance, be flexible in adapting and perfecting your app. After all, current trends in mobile app development include the regular updating of apps to enhance their features and security.

But view this matter from the users’ perspective. Not only have users become accustomed to receiving regular updates, but they also expect them. Users tend to remain engaged if they’re receiving regular updates that enhance existing features or introduce new features. And they also feel more confident in using your app if they know that you’re regularly fixing bugs and issue security fixes.

6. Partner with an expert

Another vital part of your app that you shouldn’t skimp on is in regards to its Call to Action (CTA). Creating a CTA that converts prospects into long-term users of your app is a skill that you’ll need to master. However, we recommend partnering with an expert, such as NS804 that has plenty of experience in creating powerful CTAs that convert.

CTAs can be implemented in an ad, app, blog, digital platform, download, free trial, landing page, newsletter, and social media. Effective CTAs target the user, create a sense of urgency and are simple and straightforward. Furthermore, the effectiveness of CTAs are determined via A/B testing, and these tests need to be conducted regularly.

In Conclusion

Developing mobile apps that find and retain their audience in today’s competitive market is not easy. But if you do extensive market research, define what makes your app successful, test and receive feedback, collect data, and are willing to adapt your app, then you’ve got a shot at success. If you’re seeking mobile app development in Virginia and beyond, then contact NS804 today.

Why Communication is the Main Priority in Enterprise Apps

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Understanding Enterprise Apps

Enterprise apps are focused on providing solutions to the business world. Assisting with workflow, streamlining processes, and providing a myriad of other functions. These apps are designed with companies and organizations in mind that are executing large-scale, or even micro operations. With so many implementation possibilities, enterprise apps must have an integrated communication platform.

Built for Communication, Internally and Externally

Communication is essential for businesses both big and small. Strong communication channels are arguably one of the most valuable aspects of an organization – and with the implementation of technology, comes a necessary element of communication. Yes processes can be automated, and systems can be optimized; but if the staff running those apps have no reliable communication channels native to the systems the benefits of integrating technology may be completely nulled.

Not only does the staff need to be able to communicate; but the systems and technology need to be able to communicate with one another as well. This is key to identifying certain aspects of enterprise apps. For example, an app that is used to automate business to consumer communications might need a feature that identifies where the specific consumer is in their customer journey with that company. This information is then used to generate the right version of copy from a library, and deliver it to the user through their preferred channel.

This is a powerful example of an enterprise app that can completely alter the communications process, supplement customer support, and totally automate certain communication aspects of the consumer journey, like check-ins, status updates, and other pertinent information.

Communication During COVID-19

On top of the practical benefits seen from implementing strong communication channels into the design of enterprise apps, there are social and emotional impacts to consider as well. During COVID-19, feelings of isolation in individuals have started to climb. The lack of human-connection is palpable throughout society, and there is a real need for human-to-human connection.

Enterprise apps built and designed with systematic and personnel communication in mind can streamline operations and build efficiency into the culture of an organization. On top of that, it promotes a higher quality of company culture, and employee satisfaction.

In these hard times – being able to talk and share with members of an organization is vital for our societies success, as well as our individual mental health.

Enterprise apps are designed to be versatile, flexible, and user-friendly. This makes them marketable to businesses and organizations across industries and market sectors. Providing solutions for business owners all over the country that are looking to streamline processes and optimize their operations. Including a strong network of communication channels improves the efficiency and utility of an enterprise app and yields additional benefits to the company.

NS804 has experience in app development across the board, from AR to enterprise apps and beyond. Now, NS804 is changing the game and making app development and design services available to anyone with a great idea. Get in touch with NS804 to get the conversation about your app development project started today.

Internal Communication Solutions

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Communication is arguably the most important aspect of any company. The ability to collaborate, delegate, inform, and present are just a few of the common functions internal communication enables. Being able to communicate across teams and between departments is absolutely essential to the survivability of companies and the success of projects. Especially in today’s volatile economy dominated by work-from-home roles, and remote operations. Communication software is vital to ensuring that teams can continue to function, and deliver on expectations. Mobile apps offer a versatile and robust internal communication solution to companies that need to stay up-to-date with constantly shifting deadlines without hindering a busy professional’s ability to stay focused and efficient.

Most communication software designed today has some integrated productivity tracking functionality. This could include something as basic as a to-do list function. It could also be as robust as project-management software capable of generating complex production schedules, and designed specifically to improve efficiency and productivity. Designing innate productivity tools creates a more robust and comprehensive communication software, that allows business professionals to streamline activities, and keep communication focused.

Without strong communication channels enabled, customer requests can be ignored, projects can derail and productivity can come to a screeching halt. Both could spell disaster for a company striving to Consumers and customers both need reliable avenues to get in touch with knowledgeable support staff to handle any issues that may arise on the user-end of things. Consumers should also always, and without fail, have access to a sales-staff equipped to help them through any issues, and convert them into customers, or in the case of mobile apps: users.

Internal communication channels for personal connection, the development of company culture, and team building should also be made a priority during these unprecedented times. Building a robust and exciting company culture has been a mainstream focus for the better part of the past decade. As the workforce has become empowered with access more information than ever before employees no longer settle for hostile or subpar work cultures. Keeping this in mind, businesses need to emphasize personal connections in order to stay competitive and attract top talent. Especially during the global pandemic, it’s more important than it ever has been to make a palpable effort to support virtual-socialization in a time of almost pure isolation.

Effective Business Communication With Mobile Apps

Mobile apps can be life-saving for companies looking to pivot to remote operations and implement work-from-home roles. Working in tandem with desktop communication platforms like Slack and Zoom, companies can build an infrastructure of communication that competes with traditional in-person communication. One thing to note regarding Zoom and Slack is that they actually both offer their platforms in a mobile-app format; which gives companies a nice array of options when utilizing these platforms to supplement communication processes within an organization.

One of the strongest arguments for pivoting to mobile-app for business-communication solutions is that they are offer push-notifications. In the world of instant-gratification that we live in; smartphones have almost become an extension of our hands. Considering that the majority of workers have their cell phone within 3 feet of them at any given point during the day – the feature of a push-notification ensures that important communications are never missed.

Hipchat is another name in the internal-communication game. Offering a myriad of products that target internal communication, collaboration, and file-security. Hipchat is another player that provides both desktop and mobile app platforms and a nice suite of functionality that’s both user-friendly and corporate oriented. Enabling companies to communicate between departments and individuals while also offering file-storing and file-sharing capabilities that boost efficiency and encourage collaboration.

Internal Communication and Team Building

The work-from-home trend isn’t going anywhere. Not any time soon. With that in mind, companies need to get creative when it comes to team building. The traditional after-hour happy-hours, company-wide pizza parties, and team-specific outings are quickly being phased out of company cultures due to the pandemic, social distancing, and the remote-operations craze. The disappearance of traditional team-building activities leaves a glaring void that needs to be filled. Regardless of industry or profession, top talent candidates still expect a certain standard of company culture that both rewards performance, and promotes socialization.

Instead of heading to the bar after work for a few drinks, managers and team-members are replacing these in-person experiences with virtual happy hours that still promote socialization and team building. While nothing can replace the experience of going to the local watering-hole with your co-workers. Virtual happy hours and virtual pizza-parties are swiftly becoming a relatively popular alternative in order to promote social distancing and employee safety, while also encouraging team-building and internal socialization to bring employees closer together.

As the popularity of mobile-app communication soars, there’s a wide breadth of opportunity for developers and mobile appreneurs. While the virtual happy hours and pizza parties discussed above certainly offer some sense of normalcy – there is an abundance of possibility for bolstering mobile-app communication as it relates to team building. Beyond video conferencing, and instant messaging; mobile apps are capable of delivering real-time experiences to c0-workers, like gaming, going head to head in problem solving activities, or any number of other functions that have yet to be widely implemented in corporate communication solutions.

With work-from-home accommodations, and remote operations becoming the norm for most companies during COVID-19, and likely into the foreseeable future, reliable and reputable communication capabilities are more than essential. The ability to collaborate, conference call, and conduct normal business activities from virtually anywhere is invaluable to companies. This trend in the workplace should continue to grow in popularity over the years to come. The integration of business activities, communication, team building and productivity tracking all into a single mobile app could be the next evolution in the mass-communication industry. This would empower companies, professionals, and individuals alike to maintain the same levels of productivity from anywhere around the globe. An all-in-one communication app would also significantly contribute to a work-teams ability to conduct team-building activities, offer personal connection, and deliver a sense of community in a time of severe isolation to the point that it’s nearly crippling to some.

With new adversity comes new challenges, and 2020 has been chalk-full of surprising new challenges that are universal in nature. The world may never be the same again, and as is natural, the burden of inventing and adjusting to our new normal falls on the shoulders of entrepreneurs. Once again it is the duty of early adaptors, appreneurs, entrepreneurs and pioneers to maintain a sense of curiosity and invention in these dark times so to pave the path ahead by taking the first steps forward.

Wait for the “right” opportunity, and spend a lifetime waiting. There has never been, and never will be a “right time” to take on a new venture, and the risk is all a part of the journey, but with COVID-19 keeping the majority of people confined to their houses, while most businesses remain closed to the public, consumers and companies alike are turning to mobile apps for communication solutions, entertainment, and much more.

Contact NS804 with a mobile app idea and get professional consultation from tech experts dedicated to making mobile app development accessible to the average person with a great idea.