We use passwords everywhere. We need them to log in to our websites, apps, online accounts and even the devices we access them on. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have discovered increasingly clever ways to find out what they are. To keep you up to date with their growing sophistication and to put you in a better position to defend your business and private accounts, here are seven of the most common ways hackers can crack your passwords.
1. Phishing attacks
Phishing attacks are the most common way that a hacker will attempt to get access to your passwords. They involve sending some form of electronic communication, typically email but also SMS or other forms of message, that contains a malicious link. Clicking on the link will result in malware being downloaded onto your device which will silently collect your usernames and passwords and send them to the hacker.
2. Social engineering attacks
Social engineering attacks are a specialised form of phishing that has been used heavily in recent years, particularly against businesses and their customers. The attack begins with the arrival of a seemingly legitimate email from a reputable company informing you that there’s an action you need to take. A link will be provided for you to carry out that action and when you click on it, you’ll be taken to a website and asked to sign in.
The website you are sent to is a scam site, often a clone of the genuine site with a URL that is not too dissimilar to the original. When you log in, that scam site records your username and password for the hacker’s use.
Another version of social engineering involves sending employees legitimate-looking emails that pretend to be from the company they work for. They often appear to come from people they know and trust within the organisation. These too will ask for an action to be carried out (e.g. your password is about to expire, please click here to update) and, once again, logging in will result in the login credentials being stolen.
3. Spidering
Spidering is a form of investigative hacking in which cybercriminals seek to build relationships with their victims as a way to steal passwords. In a way, it takes phishing and social engineering to a new level but the depth to which it goes to often provides better results. Hackers will often pretend to be potential clients or contractors and will ask for information about a company in the hope of gaining insights into its systems and networks. Any information it receives will then be analysed to help it find vulnerabilities to attack.
4. Password stealing malware
Our day to day use of the internet makes it possible that we can unwittingly click on malicious links or visit compromised websites. If you do, there’s the potential for malware to be downloaded to your device – especially if you do not have antivirus protection. There are specific types of malware which are designed to steal passwords, usernames and other personal information. The most common are keyloggers and screen scrapers, which record the keys you press on your keyboard or take screenshots of your activity.
5. Brute force attacks
A brute force attack is when a hacker will make multiple attempts to try and guess your password. This may look like an impossible feat, but it isn’t. Cybercriminals can cheaply purchase databases containing billions of stolen usernames and passwords from the dark web. These are then fed into password cracking tools that make use of AI and machine learning so that the guesses made, rather than being random, are algorithmically generated. The speed at which these tools make login attempts means that a password can often be cracked within minutes.
6. Rainbow table attacks
Systems generally encrypt stored passwords which means it’s impossible to discover them without having the right encryption key. Sophisticated hackers keep directories of stolen passwords and their associated encryption keys, helping them cut the time needed to break in. A rainbow table attack, meanwhile, uses an encryption algorithm to generate a list of every potential plain text password. These are then compared to the encrypted passwords on an organisations system to speed up the discovery of the right version.
The enormous number of possible passwords in a rainbow table means they can be terabytes in size. As a result, cybercriminals are making increased use of the cloud to help them process the data during an attack.
7. Network analysing tools
Network analysis tools enable cybercriminals to intercept data sent over a network and steal any unencrypted passwords they contain. To carry out an attack, hackers need physical access to the network or the use of malware.
SSL and other forms of encryption are the best defence against this type of hacking, together with VPNs. Companies can use network analysis tools themselves to discover if they have plain text passwords unwittingly being transmitted.
Conclusion
The growing number of sophisticated ways hackers can find passwords means organisations have to continually find better ways to protect themselves. Today, there are numerous defences you can use: encryption, SSL, email signing certificates, firewalls, antivirus, intrusion protection, email filters, logical access control, multi-factor authentication and biometric authentication, for example. Additionally, the training of staff and the implementation of rigorous security policies and procedures can also help.
Hosting is integral to the success of your WordPress website and something you should never be complacent about. A poor hosting provider or a wrongly chosen hosting plan can impact the performance of your site and the customer experience of your visitors. What’s more, they can result in lower search engine rankings and make it more difficult to manage your website. In this post, we’ll look at six signs that indicate it’s time to upgrade to a more powerful package or move to a better web host.
1. Your website keeps going offline
In a 24/7 marketplace, you need your WordPress website to be constantly online and available for your visitors. If it isn’t and your site goes down, even for short periods, visitors will become frustrated, damaging your reputation. What’s more, when search engines see your site’s availability decline, they’ll downrank it in their search results. Combine these and you’ll end up losing business and long term customers. If this is happening to your website, it’s a clear signal that you can no longer rely on your hosting solution to keep your site online.
To discover if your site is frequently going offline, you should monitor its uptime. As a WordPress user, you’ll find several plugins to do this which you can install directly from your admin panel. Recommended plugins include WP Umbrella and Site Uptime Monitoring, both freely available from the WordPress Repository.
Ideally, you should look for a host whose WordPress hosting packages guarantee a minimum uptime of 99.5%.
2. Your WordPress hosting lacks the features you need
WordPress hosting has moved on considerably over the last few years in order to meet the demands of today’s websites and the needs of their owners. If your hosting plan lacks these new features, it might mean you’re having to spend more time and effort than necessary managing your website.
At Anteelo, for example, you’ll find WordPress pre-installed and ready to go, you’ll get a free domain on annual accounts and free SSL certificates for your sites. You’ll even have use of our specially developed WordPress Toolkit that lets you install, secure, update and manage your WordPress sites all from a single, easy to use interface.
What’s more, we provide the advanced security that WordPress sites demand with our application firewall protecting you from hackers and bots and our daily backups ensuring that you can rest easy should you ever need to recover your data. There’s also 1-click website hardening, automatic WordPress patching and more.
3. Your website is slow
Visitors and search engines expect websites to load quickly and respond swiftly to interactions, like clicks and data inputs. When they don’t, customers abandon the site and search engines downrank it. Ensuring the site performs well, therefore, is critical to its success.
WordPress does have some speed issues, often caused by the number of plugins working in the background and the size of the images used in a site’s content. While there are well-known actions you can take to speed up a site, such as caching, compression, image optimisation and content delivery networks, these only go so far.
By far the most important factor in driving the speed of a website is the performance of the server on which it is hosted. If you find your site sluggish, even when you have optimised its performance, it’s another sign you need to upgrade to a more powerful solution.
The WordPress hosting at Anteelo is built from the bottom up to provide enhanced WordPress performance. We use the latest Xeon processors and super-fast SSD hard drives in our servers and then configure them to provide optimal performance for WordPress using Apache + NGINX, PHP7.x + OPcache and HTTP/2. We even provide an in-built caching engine, so you don’t need to install a separate caching plugin.
4. Your host suspended your website
There are only a few genuine reasons why a web host would take a site offline or suspend a user account, for example, if the site was infected with malware, if it was being used to carry out illegal activities or if the hosting bill hadn’t been paid.
Some hosts, however, will take a site down and even suspend an account if the host’s usage limits have been exceeded, such as reaching a maximum bandwidth allocation. Meeting a maximum bandwidth allocation is a sign that your website is doing well in terms of the visitors it receives. It’s a time when the company should be reaping the benefits of its success, not getting punished by finding its site offline.
If your hosting has bandwidth restrictions, it’s time to move to a solution where this isn’t an issue. At Anteelo, our WordPress hosting plans have unmetered bandwidth – in other words, there is no data transfer limit, just a simple, fair use policy.
5. You have outgrown your WordPress hosting package
Over time, you’ll want your online venture to grow. This could mean having a bigger website, multiple websites, dealing with far more visitors or even running other applications on your server besides your websites. When this happens, there may come a time when the hosting plan you currently have lacks the resources (storage, CPU, RAM and bandwidth) or the features (number of websites, email addresses, databases, etc.) that you need.
This is one of the most obvious signs that you need to upgrade. And while there are bigger WordPress hosting packages you can upgrade to; at some point you’ll need to move on from shared hosting to a larger solution, like VPS. The issue for many WordPress owners is that dedicated WordPress VPS hosting is something of a rarity. This is not the case at Anteelo.
At Anteelo, we offer WordPress Starter and WordPress Standard shared hosting plans. However, for those making the move upwards, we also have a WordPress Pro-Server plan hosted on your own VPS. Unlike a standard VPS, this has been optimised for WordPress in the same way as our shared hosting solutions but with the added advantages of 50GB of storage, 4vCPU core processors, 4GB of dedicated RAM and unlimited websites and mailboxes.
6. Poor technical support
Who do you turn to when something goes wrong with your website or hosting? While there is a monumental amount of WordPress help available online, when the need is urgent you want a WordPress expert that can help you sort out issues quickly so that your site remains online and working as it should.
A key requirement of a good web host is providing technical support to its customers. At Anteelo, we go above and beyond. Our technical support is free with all accounts and our technical experts (not merely customer support) are available 24/7, 365 days a year. What’s more, you can contact them via online chat, phone, email or ticket – and about any problem you have with your site or hosting.
If you find your host lacking in the technical support department, then it’s another sign that you need to move on before you find yourself in a tricky situation with no one to help.
Conclusion
WordPress hosting is specially designed to improve the hosting of WordPress websites. However, not all plans or vendors are the same. Hopefully, the information given here will help you know when it’s time to make the move.
Do you often look up to other successful startups and wonder how they made it?
Are you constantly pondering over an idea at the back of your mind, waiting for that defining moment to turn it into a reality?
So, if you have stumbled across your eureka moment, and are now faced with multiple challenges as to how to put into action what you have envisioned, you are on the right page.
We will break down the steps that can help you make the cut and are crucial to successfully run a startup in the mobile app industry.
Since the world is going digital, and the most amount of time we spend is hooked to a screen, any successful small business is involved in startup app development solutions.
We netizens are well aware that Playstore and App Store are flooded with innumerable mobile applications – Business, Lifestyle, Educational, On-demand apps, etc. But it is equally essential to realize early on that very few apps get trending.
Studies show that few startups are successful and most appreneurs tend to commit some common mistakes. So the first step in your startup journey should be to look before you leap.
1. Validate Your Idea: Ideate, Pause, Rethink
We understand that it is attractive to let your creative juices flow but it is equally essential to reflect on other possibilities and not dive right in without testing the waters.
Make a list of all your potential ideas. It not only gives you an insight but provides due clarity regarding which idea to pursue.
In case you are confused whether the idea is worth giving a shot, get it validated from leading experts and see if it sparks their interest. An approach that the best mobile app consultants follow when checking the validity of your product is through a product discovery workshop. The 5 days workshop is known to have brought a number of successful startups in life.
Another tip is to never overlook other ideas. Understand that there is always a scope for improvement, and sometimes the whole process of ideation leads to new outcomes.
After finalizing on which idea to pursue, make sure that you have a comprehensive understanding of the pain point and the solution you are offering.
After all, your unique idea, besides making you one of the most successful startups, is also solving a problem. This leads us to the next step.
2. Detail-oriented Market research
No matter how revolutionary your idea is and how likely it is going to transform the mobile application industry, if you do not conduct a thorough market research and are not able to establish a target audience, you are bound to fail.
Understanding the market and finding a product-market fit is a prerequisite to run a successful startup. The key is to ensure you are solving real user problems and even though what you may be doing is not overtly unique, you have to find a place for yourself in the market.
Study the competitive landscape and conduct a competitor audit. Download some apps that work on similar pain points, use them personally and determine the scope for improvement.
Research on apps that failed and explore the reasons for the same.
Why? Because it eliminates the chances of failure and learning from others’ mistakes is a usual practice in the startup ecosystem.
Conducting an in-depth market research can help you find your unique value proposition and ensure that you are way ahead of your competition.
Also, during the preliminary research, one should conduct surveys to understand the user demographic and engagement. Knowing what the target audience likes helps in building a product that they truly want.
Remember, user engagement is the key and at every step of the way keep your niche audience in mind.
3. Choose an Ideal platform
Choosing an ideal platform for your app is the next step in your mobile app development journey.
In order to decide whether your app will cater to Android, iOS, or both, you should take into account a couple of factors. The key is to research which platform is ideal for mobile startups and understand what aligns with your business idea.
According to Statista, as per the third quarter of 2019, Android users were able to choose between 2.47 million apps while Apple’s App Store offered almost 1.8 million available apps for iOS. This makes Google Play, the app store with the biggest number of available applications.
To choose a viable platform you should study factors like market share and revenue for both Android and iOS. Arriving at a conclusion would not be possible if you do not have an in-depth understanding of the respective play stores. So, carefully assess the number of downloads and revenue models for both the app stores.
The choice between native and hybrid apps is another factor to consider. Both come with their set of pros and cons, and factors like technicality, functionality, cost and time play a defining role.
4. Focus on Designing an Impeccable UI/UX
One of the common elements in most successful startups is the impeccable design that the applications are made with. No matter which successful app you pick up – Instagram, Canva, Telegram – you will find intuitive design being a part of them.
The role of UI/UX design doesn’t just lie in the eye-catching appeal. The application should be usable and functional as well. Additionally, it should meet the standards set by Google Material Design and Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.
The UI/UX design guide that we follow at Anteelo is one that not just meets the guidelines but also solves a number of additional areas like – getting visibility, app spend time, and user retention rates.
5. Product Development
The next step is to jumpstart the development process and for that, you would require an app development team.
There are effective ways to choose an app development company and see months of planning and strategizing come into action.
To ensure that your idea materializes into a successful product, you need to give a lot of thought to the people you will partner with.
In that context, you generally get two options:
Hire an in-house team of developers
Partner with a team of remote developers through the mode of outsourcing.
Reflect on the challenges you are currently facing.
Do you want an In-house team or do you plan to Outsource?
Take a decision based on what aligns with your business needs.
While the former ensures a faster level of communication and a deep understanding of your product idea, outsourcing provides you the opportunity to hire highly skilled designers and developers.
The next question you need to ask yourself is whether you will be able to monitor the development process yourself? Accordingly, choose an app development company.
Before hiring an app development company, make a list of potential partners, ask the right set of questions and go through their portfolios and case studies. Not only it documents their work, it gives you due clarity if the company is the right fit for you.
Get feasible options by analyzing the app development cost worldwide.
Hire the best developer but make sure you sign a Non- Disclosure Agreement.
Besides building a scalable app, your focus should lie in delivering a delightful experience to your end-users. Any user first perceives an app through the User experience. To retain your users in the long run, the
User experience should be immersive and the UI should be modern, innovative and intuitive.
Being ambitious is great but we suggest, you do not get lost in a maze of features. First, concentrate on building an MVP for your app, address the core pain points and then gradually shift to improved features after garnering feedback from your users. The emphasis should be on the ‘must-have’ features, the ‘nice to have’ features can always be added later.
Making a wireframe solves a lot of problems. It outlines the layout of an app and plays a fundamental role in structuring the product early on.
It also provides necessary insights on how the users will engage with your app and helps you identify the problem areas.
6. Look for Raising Investment
After spending a considerable amount of time on building your app, you need to consider the problem at hand- How to raise money for your mobile app startup?
Generating a large amount of funds implies greater resource availability and higher chances of success.
There are various ways to generate funds. Decide on ways for fundraising that align with your business model – Seed funding, Bootstrapping, Crowdfunding, ICO, etc.
Craft an Elevator Pitch and be on the lookout for potential Investors. Now is the time to be ambitious. Make sure you have a product that investors chase.
7. Create a Strategic Marketing Plan
How do you make sure your app gets traction quickly and reaches far and wide?
Through strategic marketing.
Marketing is one of the key startup success factors that makes a regional brand a global one.
Through compelling marketing strategies, you can create the buzz around your app and ensure people go gaga over it.
Use Social media and PR to gain market visibility and facilitate rapid user acquisition. Use effective mobile app marketing strategies and leverage the power of App store optimization to make your app go viral.
8. Have a Monetization Plan in Place
One of the ways of creating successful startup companies is to decide the best monetization strategy for your mobile app.
There are a number of options for the industry to choose from: Advertising, Sponsorship, In-app purchases, subscriptions, and pay-per-download are few options to choose from. Read into the pros and cons of each to understand which monetization model can be the best when seeking ways on how to run a startup. You should aim for ways that would guarantee
9. Update and Improve Your Application
If you think your digital journey ends by launching your app and diving into the market, you are wrong.
The mobile app development lifecycle does not end by launching the application. Regular updates improve app visibility and ensure you are providing value to the user at every iteration.
So, for lasting success, keep improving your app by taking user feedback into consideration. Maintenance, updates, new functionality, is an ongoing process. Ensure maximum user retention along with a steady revenue model in place. Another element that you need to consider well in advance before execution is pivoting your startup.
10. Have an App Retention Strategy
The reasons behind app uninstallation are numerous – and so are the instances of app uninstallations. Keeping users interested in your application, in the presence of 50s of similar apps.
Here are the different ways you can retain your customers –
Plan your notifications timing properly
Be transparent about the permissions and how you’re going to use their data. Being transparent continues to be one of the secrets of successful tech startups
Although your partnered startup app development company must take care of it. But, update the application only when necessary.
So here are the different ways you can ensure that the business model of app development for startups works for you.
While all websites need to protect themselves from hacking and infection, eCommerce website that carry out online transactions and collect customers’ financial and personal details need to take extra special care. In this post, we’ll show you some essential tips to keep your online store safe.
1. Use a secure eCommerce platform
All website platforms have their strengths and weaknesses but some are more secure than others or have security plugins that can make them more robust. Magento is a CMS specially designed for eCommerce website and with security features built around the needs of online stores. WordPress, the world’s leading CMS, has numerous plugins you can use to keep the site secure, including the well-established and respected Wordfence and Sucuri.
These defences can protect your site against a range of threats including malware infection, SQL injections, Denial of Service attacks, cross-site scripting and zero-day exploits.
2. Make sure you scan for malware
Most web hosts offer a malware scanning service that detects and prevents the various types of malware infecting your files. Using such services can prevent these stealthy programs carrying out their malicious activities, such as ransoming your site, stealing your data, infecting your users’ computers and so forth. Ideally, choose a service that will notify you immediately if an infection has been found.
3. Install SSL certificates
SSL is essential to online stores, as most payment gateways won’t allow you to undertake financial transactions on your site without it. Essentially, installing an SSL certificate enables the encryption of financial data as it is sent from the customer’s browser to your server, thus preventing it being stolen during the checkout process.
With an SSL certificate installed, your web address changes from ‘HTTP’ to ‘HTTPS’ (S standing for Secure) and this enables search engines to put a green padlock icon in your visitors’ browser, increasing the likelihood that they will trust and buy from you. It also increases your chances of ranking higher.
4. Better management of customer data
Customer data is valuable to hackers as they use it to steal from people or sell it on the dark web to other criminals. If you collect customer data, this means you are a target for hackers. That said, a criminal can’t take information if you haven’t got it. The first rule of managing customer data, therefore, is to only collect the information you actually need. If that information can be taken anonymously, so it cannot be linked to individual users, even better. Encrypting data, such as with the SSL certificates mentioned above, also makes it more secure. Finally, consider where you store your personal data. If it is stored along with your website files it is more vulnerable than being stored remotely, perhaps in the same place where you would keep your remote backups.
5. Enforce strong passwords or use 2-step authentication
While strong passwords can be a pain to use and two step-authentication makes signing in take longer to do, both of them massively reduce the chances that you, your employees or your customers will fall foul of a brute-force attack.
As modern computers and phones securely store strong passwords for you, so that people don’t even have to know what they are, there is really no excuse for not using these measures.
6. Train your employees in security
Unwittingly, employees are a major cause of cybersecurity breaches. Using weak passwords, clicking on links in infected emails and sending valuable information to fake emails that pretend to come from their bosses are all common ways for eCommerce website to get caught out.
One simple solution is to train your employees so they know what the threats are and how to stop them. You can also put essential good practice into your IT policy to ensure that your staff know they are obliged to follow the rules you set.
7. Use authentic plugins and themes
There are tens of thousands of themes and plugins available for the various CMS platforms and these can be obtained from a variety of online sources. Not all of them, however, are guaranteed to be secure. It wouldn’t take very long for a criminal organisation to develop a theme or plugin with a built-in virus or spyware and make it available on a third-party website as a legitimate piece of software. Indeed, such a theme or plugin could function perfectly without you knowing it was infected.
To protect yourself, always use software from reputable sources and from a verified developer. The safest place is from the website of the actual CMS, such as installing a theme directly from the WordPress Repository. That’s not to say that there aren’t any reputable third-party developers, there are. You just need to be careful.
8. Monitor website activity for threats
Website monitoring can spot risks and help you to stop attacks. It can, for example, tell you if someone is making too many failed login attempts, a clear sign that there may be a brute force attack taking place. It can indicate if people are trying to log in from countries that you wouldn’t expect your visitors to come from or if they are using usernames which they shouldn’t be using, such as ‘Admin’. Monitoring can also discover the initial signs of a DDoS attack and put a stop to it before it takes your site offline.
9. Ensure software is updated as soon as possible
Cybercriminals intentionally search the internet looking for eCommerce website that run vulnerable software. Luckily, most developers will issue an update or a patch to fix a vulnerability as soon as it is discovered. Any website that uses automatic updates or which manually updates as soon as a patch is released is immediately protected once the new version is installed. It is those websites that delay updating that leave themselves wide open to attack. In essence, its no different to leaving a shop unlocked overnight when you know there’s a burglar working in the area.
10. Use remote backups
60% of companies that experience a cyberattack go bust within 6 months. For many, the reason for going under is that it takes too long to recover. Losing their website files, content, customer data and sales orders means it would take months of work to get back online, by which point, the company is no longer viable.
Quite simply, by taking regular, up-to-date backups and storing them remotely, such disasters don’t need to happen. If your site goes down, whether from a cyberattack or any other reason, a backup means it can be restored very quickly and your business can be back online in no time.
Conclusion
As an eCommerce website , it is crucial that you keep your website as secure as a traditional retailer would their bricks and mortar store. Hopefully, the ten tips we have raised here will provide comprehensive guidance on how to prevent your online store suffering from a cyberattack and, should the worst happen, show you how to recover quickly enough to keep your business from going under.
In a market fraught with stiff competition, a quick time-to-market app can make all the difference. An app that takes forever to build and deploy can crash and burn even before it goes off the shelf. Developing a mobile app is an expensive process. Creating a mobile application is a costly process, as bringing ideas into reality requires time and effort, and expenses. For instance, after the development you’ll have to pay for hosting or for marketing campaigns to spread the word. One approach to keep costs back from spiraling crazy is to decrease the application development time. In the realm of mobile apps, time is money, so the more you spend working on your app, the more it will cost. Although Android app development for business is a good choice, however, it is especially notorious for its sluggish speed. CEOs of businesses are constantly struggling to meet deadlines and take their app to the market before competitors pinch the app idea. In this tussle between speed and quality, often quality is sidelined and what results is a product that doesn’t meet your or your audience’s needs and expectations. We will be discussing in detail how to develop apps faster in the below article.
Since android application development speed is such a relevant issue, we have compiled a set of handy android tips and tricks 2021 that can help you create android apps speedily, without compromising on quality.
Android Development Tips
1. Use the latest tools
All android developers are faced with the same dilemma: too much to do and too little time to do it! Designing, prototyping, coding, testing, debugging, and the list of tasks goes on. While some of these vital steps have no short-cuts, there are valuable tools to help with others.
Here’s our countdown of developer must-have android development tools that can speed up android app development service process:
A. Genymotion
A sleek emulator that can simulate built-in sensors that a device model has. This emulator supports all existing versions of Android, cutting the need for re-configuring for different devices.
B. Hierarchy Viewer
A great tool to view your app’s tree and analyze its flaws for debugging and testing purposes. This tool, available in Android SDK, helps speed up app development by letting you merge and remove redundant elements in your app.
C. LeakCanary
Detecting memory leaks is a specialized function of this tool. These bugs are very hard to debug and the tool will ensure no leakage escapes your notice. Debugging becomes rapid and mobile.
D. Vysor
This tool helps android app maker in sharing screens between their workstations and Android devices, using just a Chrome plug-in. The tool is an answer to most developers’ prayers who find it complicated to root devices via USB. With this tool, you can share app features live with the client and receive instant feedback which is always great for the development process.
E. Butterknife
An awesome tool to improve the coding rate and readability of your boilerplate codes. This tool is a great time saver for all businesses looking to cut down app development time.
2. Low-fidelity wireframes are speedier
Wire framing is an essential step in the app development process. Using low-fidelity wireframes is better option than high-fidelity ones. These wireframes are less detailed and more fluid but they give a clear enough picture to developers and UI designers.
Going headfirst into coding is not advisable and most experienced Android app developers in New York, Florida, Texas, and other areas know this. The most crucial first step is to get designers, developers, coders and project managers on the same page. Low-fidelity wireframes do just that. They are quick to develop and are a good blueprint for the entire development team.
3. Go lean
A commonly-accepted best practice in the quick android app development process is to launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with just the basic features and no frills, instead of waiting to develop and launch a full-fledged app. The MVP will help you collect user data about what’s working and what’s not. Use the build-measure-learn feedback loop to get invaluable lessons about customer feedback. This approach diminishes the risk element of your app and makes for an app that is more likely to appeal and succeed.
Another facet is using short iterations or “sprints” to break up the entire app model into smaller, doable cycles. Each sprint is complete in itself-it has the entire gamut of development steps and results in an improvised version of the previous sprint product. Speed up android and go agile in your development process. Reduce redundancy of effort and resources. This not only helps reduce development time but also saves production costs. And of course, the ultimate benefits of android app development is a risk-free product that starts churning ROI from the moment it’s launched.
4. Hire experienced developers
Once you are settled with the development platform and the tools, now comes an ideal opportunity to hire the best android developers to accelerate android application development projects. While hiring android developers, one thing that should be considered is their experience and flexibility. Why? Because if android application developers are experienced, this means that they will have proper knowledge or information on every issue that may come during the app development process.
Also, if the android app maker is interested to learn and adjust to new technologies and platforms, then that will enhance and accelerate your app development process. Adaptability plays an important part in deciding the interest level of your development group. Thus, you should employ android developers that are prepared to learn and update their abilities according to the project.
5. Delegate off-core activities
One of the android tips is to always take a wise choice to offload additional activities such as enhancing app engagement, measuring app analytics and converting free subscribers to premium ones. These activities eat up a lot of time and are better off with pre-designed applets, available at mobile engagement platforms. These applets can be incorporated in your ready app with just a few lines of code. Applets enable activities such as sharing tools, offer notification, new features tools and feedback tools.
6. Use hybrid app development
Cross-platform apps allow you to code for one app and get multiple apps that can run on all covered platforms. Hybrid app development is speedier than native app development, though it has its own set of drawbacks. But for quick market penetration, cross-platform apps may be the best choice. Later, one can go in for native apps that are more inherent, fluid, robust, and focuses on android app performance optimization.
7. Opt for automated testing
Automated testing is a sure shot measure to get secure, fully-tested apps in a fraction of time than the ones deploying manual testing. Automated testing tests an app against a full suite of testing tools simultaneously, instead of one-by-one as in manual testing. This improves test coverage, reduces testing time, and guarantees a bug-free product that is market ready.
8. Outsource specialized development steps
In-house app development is not everybody’s cup of tea. The app market is fast evolving and new apps are entering the market every day. To remain competitive, timely, and relevant, one can outsource app development to a skilled, efficient Android app development company. Even if you possess the capabilities to code or design an Android app, use domain experts for putting the whole product together and maintaining it. Not only will you get better returns on development costs, but you will also offload the hassle of running tasks that will be better handled by experienced professionals.
A common misconception shared by businesses is their misplaced fear about the cost of outsourcing. Android software development company mostly have flexible engagement models that can match product development costs to your budget. Fixed cost; time and material; and build, operate and transfer models can be evaluated to arrive at a business solution that works in your favor.
9. Cross-platform development tools
Cross-platform is the most convenient way to decrease app development time. The cross-platform tools allow users to focus on numerous mobile platforms with a similar codebase, eliminating the time that one would normally spend deciphering, reworking, and re-compiling the same code to work across various platforms.
Developing separate native applications for every platform is costly, while a hybrid app utilizes a single sharable code, which assists you to save your pockets. Cross-platform applications have a native look and feel, which is great for user experience.
There are plenty of cross-platform development tools, but some of the most used tools include:
Xamarin
Ionic
Flutter SDK
React Native
Adobe Phonegap
10. Create build variants
Loading your app with unnecessary configurations can slow down your app’s incremental builds. Retain only those configurations in your app that are required in its development and release versions. Plus, don’t waste time and effort in compiling additional resources that hold little value. Such resources include screen density resources and additional language localizations.
Wrapping Up
Manage your app development time strategically to get ahead of competition and meet tight deadlines. A minute lost in android application development services can translate to huge monetary losses. A good mobile app development company will micro-manage tasks of developments in such a way that your app hits the markets at top speed!
Also taking the above mentioned points into consideration will on how to create an app for android.
Fill up the form through this link and hire android app developers in USA that will help you validate and convert your app idea into an efficient product and create android apps.
Blockchain technology is progressively taking over the business world. The technology was once considered to be confined to bitcoins. But with time, it has proved that bitcoin is just the tip of the iceberg; the potential of the technology is beyond decentralized transactions and even our expectations. Blockchain technology revamped several industries, including Real Estate, Healthcare, Education, and Legal industry to name a few. It opened new doors of opportunities and profit for the entrepreneurs and established brands. However, the most surprising application of Blockchain is in the mobile app economy.
Wondering what is the need of Blockchain technology in the mobile industry? How can Blockchain revolutionize the world of mobile applications?
The mobile economy is undoubtedly growing rapidly and is expected to be of worth $6.3 trillion by 2021. The app stores are jammed with millions of apps and both the app developers and users are getting access to better facilities. However, despite this exponential growth and technological innovations, the mobile application development economy is still facing various issues which cannot be overlooked.
Major Mobile Economy Concerns and How Blockchain Technology Can Solve Them
Alike other centralized systems, the mobile economy also involves various intermediaries between the mobile app developers and users. These entities help in discovery, distribution, and financial transactions but at the same time, deters transparency. As a result, we face situations like security threats, inaccessible in-app purchases, data leaks, and malware-plagued downloads which not only have an adverse impact on the user experience but also affect the mobile app performance and ROI.
As we saw in our Entrepreneur’s Guide to Blockchain, the technology, with its decentralized, distributed and secure ledger feature, has the potential to revamp the way app economy functions and make the end user experience seamless and enticing. If applied correctly, blockchain can tackle the following major concerns related to mobile app economy:
App Approval
With Google and Apple’s app store being the duopoly, the current app approval process is completely handled by them. They decide which mobile app will be published on their app store and which not, based on various non-transparent quality assurance processes and distribution policies. This not only makes the process cumbersome and time-consuming but also increases the confusion among mobile app developers in case of app rejection. On the flip side, less transparency app approval process raises the risk of distribution of malware-plagued apps by the users, and thus, lesser security in the app market. With the introduction of Blockchain technology into the process, the app approvals can be made universal and transparent through a developer reputation system. The reputation system will be directly linked to the financial transactions on the public ledger and will be available for investigation all the time (as you can see in the image below). Besides, various means will be employed for identity verification and users will be empowered to create rankings for the mobile app developers and the apps they create. This will streamline the app approval process and help the smartphone users take the decision of downloading the app based on the ranking (see the image below), which will ultimately build trust, enhance security, boost downloads, and uplift app revenue.
Advertising
According to Statista, there are more than 2.8 million apps in Google Play Store and about 2.2 million apps in the Apple’s App Store. To reach the target audience and enjoy the limelight, the mobile app developers have to invest in CPI, i.e., Cost Per Installation campaigns. These campaigns are non-transparent and overpriced, which makes the situation shady and risky. Moreover, as you can see in the picture below, the profit gained by the mobile application developers from the advertising is divided and shared to middlemen because of which the developers get much lesser earnings than expected.
Blockchain technology can reinvent the advertising method by eliminating all the middlemen and establishing a new CPI campaign. Termed at CPA (Cost per attention), this campaign will let the mobile application developers directly reward the users for spending time on their mobile app (as you can see in the image below).
Blockchain technology, in the form of Smart contracts, will allow the developers to examine if the users spent required time on their app or not. Apart from this, the technology will let the users store their earnings in wallets and use to buy in-app items efficiently.
In-App Purchase
A recent report by We Are Social and Hootsuite revealed that nearly two-thirds of the world’s population uses a smartphone now. However, only 2 billion of the mobile users have access to the payment methods that are necessary for in-app purchases. Apart from this, according to the traditional app in-app process system, the user pays to the app store, deal with the bank transfer fees, credit card fraud cases, circumstances of chargebacks, and so on. Then, the mobile app developer receives the payment from app store going through the same hassle. The consequence is that neither the end users are able to enjoy the perks of in-app purchase nor app developers are able to get the best out of their app monetization strategy (check the image below). Blockchain technology will let the mobile app users use and spend their CPAt reward even in the absence of credit card and other such payment solutions. In addition to this, the Blockchain will empower mobile application developers to get 85% instead of 70% of transaction value by eliminating the middlemen (as shown in the image below).
Other Applications of Blockchain in the Mobile Industry
Apart from solving the aforementioned concerns, blockchain technology will also generate new ways to streamline the mobile application development process and cater user needs significantly, such as:
Infrastructure Protection
By gathering DNS entries on a decentralized secure platform, the blockchain technology empowers the app developers to keep the whole domain records under their control – no one can alter the entries without their consent.
End of Passwords
By investing in Blockchain app development, the app developers will be able to authenticate devices as well as users without asking for any password. Its network decentralization feature will help create consensus among the involved parties for the authentication of Blockchain based SSL certificates. This will ease the transaction process and again, boost trust among the two involved parties.
The Blockchain technology, though in its initial state now, will redefine the mobile app economy and offer the opportunities to the mobile app developers and users that they have been waiting years for. The technology will solve the three major concerns associated with the mobile economy, will build a trustable and transparent connection, and provide an open-standard platform where all could communicate and add value to the mobile world.
Now, we know that you’re ready to break new grounds in the app industry. You’ve got a great app idea, your market study on the technology it would require and the features it would have, is on point. To make it all way less complex, you have even partnered with a great team of app developers. You are now looking forward to a bright and profitable future.
And since you are the one who has come up with this revolutionary mobile application idea, what can go wrong? Believe it or not, such wishful thinking can be the death of your app.
It is important that you realize that you won’t operate in isolation. You will be competing with millions of other apps in both Apple and PlayStore combined, which will be staring at you as your competition in the app industry. So, the chances of yours being a never thought before app idea is very slim. Hence, it is absolutely imperative for you to perform a mobile app competitive analysis.
In this post we would like to acquaint you with the why and how of running a competitive analysis for your app idea.
What is a Competitive Analysis in terms of Mobile App?
Competitive analysis is a nerdy term for identifying and evaluating your current and potential competition’s strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own whole app or even some of its features.
Why do You Need to Perform a Competitive Analysis for Your Mobile App Idea?
Competitive analysis is no exact science. While every app developer will have their own way of performing the analysis, the upshot would largely remain the same: Identify your competitors, see how you can outwit them (of course, by compensating where they are lacking), and draft a plan to do so.
Delving deep into your competition would help you analyze the position of your mobile app in the market and reassesses the viability of your app idea. It would help you with acquiring competitive intelligence, which will not only demonstrate your great business acumen to the investors but will also give you an edge in the crowded app industry.
Let’s begin with the fun part
While this is no battle, you would need to equip yourself with the correct armoury to take on your competition. There are a few app competitor analysis tools that can help you with performing competitive analysis for your mobile application idea efficiently and effectively.
Here’s what you would need:
Internet
Spreadsheet
Some quiet time for assessment
The 2 steps mentioned below to do a competitive assessment matrix for your app
Step 1– Profiling current competition
Mobile app developers are part of a very competitive industry. Hence you need a complete understanding of your competition to get an idea as to what you are up against. Map each and every one of your competitors, even the potential ones.
For this, you can search for keywords that are related to your app idea. It’s a relief that you don’t have to be an SEO expert to do that. All you need to do is put yourself in your target audience’s shoes and imagine what they’d search.
For instance, if yours is a professional photo editing app, your searches should look something like this: “best photo editing app” “photo editor”, “photo editor with cool camera effects” etc.
Even a simple Google search as this, will garner a series of photo editing based apps currently available on the App Stores.
Step 2– Market Analysis of an App
Be a Stalker! (A harmless one)
After identifying your competitors, the first thing you would want to do is going through their website, apps, social media profile. Make a log of each competitor based on your research.
You can use tools like SimilarWeb, Alexa, Ahrefs, etc. You can rely on their expertise in revealing your competition’s analytical and online strategies. If there’s a new kid on the block, they would be sure to know about them and keep you up to date to the competition.
Another good place to scrutinize is ProductHunt. It can be a great pit stop in your long journey in deciphering your potential competitors. It’d give you details about new app ideas or people are coming up with across the globe. It would be instrumental in mapping out your completion at a very early stage.
This would open up a door for you and let you see right through their strategies, tactics, weaknesses and strengths that are relative to yours.
Your research should essentially focus on the following parameters.
Competitor’s Web Presence
You can copy your competitors’ website URL and paste it on the search bar of pages like Alexa, Quantcast. These will help you attain competitive intelligence and help you gain information about a website’s traffic and consumer demographics, which will eventually help you enjoy better benefits of creating user personas.
The work doesn’t end there. You also need to keep tabs on their social media presence.
What kind of articles or reviews were published to promote your competitor’s app? How do they serve their customers via social media? What sort of paid campaigns do they run? Which social channels are they missing? Is there an opportunity for you there?
Basically you need to get a feel of their web and social media strategies that they use to endorse their app. This would help you gain a competitive edge.
Competitor’s Unique Value Offering
Every business has its unique selling point (USP); something that distinguishes it from the others. What we mean is that each business brings with itself it’s own “value offering”. You can discern your app competition on this particular paradigm.
For your competitors, it can be anything – timely response to customers’ grievances, regular updates, greater look into security, or a feature that others are adopting to at a very slow rate.
Knowing your competitors’ unique selling proposition and measuring it up against what your common audiences are looking for, will give you an understanding of what you need to offer as your USP.
Rankings of Competitors’ Apps
An app’s ratings speak volumes about its foothold in the market. You can tell whether or not your competition is treading well in the market.
Sensor Tower is one such tool that can get you access to critical data regarding your competitors’ keywords and rankings in app store. It would also help you discern them on the basis of threat they post to your app idea.
While App Ratings matter to a great extent, there can be a number of reasons affecting them. For a more detailed study on how the users are liking the apps your competitor has to offer, go to their reviews section.
Reviews on Competitors’ Apps
App reviews are a great indicator of how successful an app is. And one of the most important stages of App Competitor Analysis.
Look for complaints made by the users, especially the ones that are repetitive. Don’t forget to look out for recurring praises as well. If a competitive app has negative reviews saying that it is quite difficult to navigate, you should remember to keep your interface smooth and easy flowing.
Combing through the reviews will tell you exactly what your potential customers’ pain points are and what is keeping them happy. With that information in hand, you can add more features into your mobile app development process or even plan an update plan at the back off.
Competitor’s Strengths and Weaknesses
Remember the much learned and talked about SWOT Analysis concept? While generally used for internal business analysis, you can use the concept for making a tab on your competitors’ as well. Use the Strength and Weakness part of the SWOT analysis for understanding what they have to offer on both these fronts. And, keep the Opportunity and Threat part on hold for now and come back to them at a later stage (when you are analyzing your brand).
After such diligent research, you can map out your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. Try to avoid the mistakes that might have cost your competitors dearly. Aim at outdoing their strengths by pushing your own limits and achieving newer horizons.
All of this superfluous competitive intelligence might get you confused or overwhelmed. However, do not lose sight of your task at hand, which is to meticulously analyse your competition. Planning your mobile app competitive analysis with these elements, will bring you at par or even way above your competitor’s level.
So now you know where your mobile app competitors’ stand, what next?
But what do you do with this information? Now that your bubble of being the sole proprietor of the app idea has burst, what next? How should you go about utilizing the generated insights into your app business plan?
Once you know where your app competitors stand, the next step in line is to see where you belong. Note how your app ranks among the ones the others in the similar category. Chances are you will have to get back to the development stage and make some tweaks here and there to give your users an app they ideally want.
The idea is to constantly update your app to give your users newer, more useful updates, those that will keep them hooked to you, all the while keeping a lookout on how your competitors are performing. You can make use of tools like Google Alerts, Ahrefs, Social Media, BuzzSumo to remain updated with what’s new with your competitors.
Need More Information on How to Perform Competitive Analysis for your App? Contact our Team of Mobile App Marketing Experts, today.
User privacy concerns and lengthy checkout processes often partake the accusation for high shopping cart abandonment rate of m-commerce apps. Whereas, the metrics on users consideration at different stages of virtual shopping, often skips the bare eye. In this read we will narrow down upon- What are the main reasons and how can m-commerce apps lower their cart abandonment rate?
Imagine you are at a shopping store. You pick all the stuff that you intend to buy, place it in your cart when suddenly your phone starts buzzing. It’s a call from your longtime friend. You lose focus from shopping, or rather forget about the shopping bucket altogether before you leave the store.
We all know that is very unlikely to happen in a brick and mortar store.
But for virtual shopping carts on mobile and web, this scenario is recurring, common and obvious.
Even the slightest of interruption from calls, messages, notifications, or environment can make your buyers leave the cart without making an actual purchase.
Marketers must know that there is a reason for every cart abandoned!
What are the major shopping cart abandonment reasons? In an empirical study by Research Gate, we find the following cognitive and behavioral reasons for high shopping cart abandonment rate in 2019:
Fact: MasterCard and University of Oxford came together to hold a study in 2017 that reveals a drop in one-third of purchases is due to users forgetting their passwords. This leads to a common user preference of biometrics over passwords.
Statista Shopping Cart Abandonment Statistics:
Shopping cart abandonment is the pain in the foot of every m-commerce or online retail store today. For vigilant marketers, they bring meaningful learnings about user behavior. You can try and turn your cart abandonment into key insights to restabilize all that is wrong with your marketing plan.
Let us look at the shopping cart abandonment Statistics 2019, to see if there is a silver lining to this problem- A technique for every m-commerce app that needs shopping cart abandonment optimization.
So how to fix cart abandonment? One thing that is fairly evident is that a good conversion rate optimization approach can sustain and re-engage your audience to lower your cart abandonment rate.
How to convert abandoned carts? The Conversion rate Optimisation Approach
What if you choose to do nothing about the high cart abandonment rate?
You miss a lot of revenue and fail in conversions as your users continue to jump off the ship. On an average rate of cart abandonment is 68% for ecommerce retailers.
Everyone is looking for a quick fix to develop a customer base that keeps returning for more. The quest to recapture the lost value has become the food for thought, for many bloggers, marketers, entrepreneurs, and agencies.
We all are users at some point in our day.
Think like one! One technique to reduce shopping cart abandonment is to get the knack of your customer’s mind is to step in their shoes and generate your own perspective. What makes you snap back before you enter your cart details?
Make a list of these points just like we did to arrive at the main causes for effective abandonment cart strategy. While we took a generalists approach, you need the one specific to your business needs.
Many think of their mobile apps as currency vending machines, which they are not. Your mobile app is a platform that brings you an opportunity to develop a relationship with your customer, promote loyalty and leave a lasting impression in your heads.
1. Guest Checkout
Save your shoppers from new account fatigue. Allow them to make a purchase without creating and signing in to their user accounts.
Remember all those times when a paywall or overbearing request kept you from accessing the products on an app. Enabling guest checkout will let your customers browse through the products and share their details only when they are ready.
Understand and accept that the user wants to compare, assess and evaluate the value you offer against the purchase. Encourage users to sign up and log in once they ensure that you offer the maximum value.
In fact, the e-commerce market leaders like Amazon, Walmart, and others are already doing it. They all have a one-step checkout implementation option on their mobile apps.
2. Device optimization
With smartphones taking over the internet, another thing you will like to consider is the device your customers are using to access your website. Users spend about 15 hours a week on their smartphone browsing products on different m-commerce applications. Once the users set their eyes on a product about 45% switch to their laptops or tablets to make the purchase.
Make the mobile-responsive design your first priority. This approach is a great value add to your competitive growth. Optimize your website for mobile shoppers.
Come to think of it from a users point of view. A user who comes to your site has already been there through a smartphone.
Mobile shopping cart abandonment rates are high pertaining to casual browsers. Carts abandoned on mobiles are reopened on websites. So if you let them save the products that they like, you can seal the deal. Later they will come to your site with their visa and keyboards.
3. Add to Smart Wish List
We all have a long list of items that we want to purchase. A wish list lets your user bundle all on that list. With emerging technologies, Smart Wish List can make you stand out and nurture your audience.
The basket works and that is why the cart format has stuck. But very few have the Wish List feature.
Taking an example of an m-commerce app that deals in clothes. Suppose a user really likes a scarf but can’t find a matching pullover with it. Wishlist helps your customers to make a bundle of items in their own time.
Another scenario can be that you are out of stock and running low on the inventory of the pullover. The user can simply add it to the wish list. Once the stock is in the inventory the user gets automatically notified.
Wish least can also help manufacturers make pre-launch bookings, like on new gadgets before the price is disclosed. This brings a lot of customer feedback to the retailers and manufacturers to devise combos, offers, and discounts on selective merchandise. These are all part of the Shopping cart page best practices.
Now make the wish list feature smart. Add options to categorize the wish list for birthdays, anniversaries, paydays and others. Allow users to share the wish lists with each other.
A little push can add the right spices and increase sales revenue. Add a ‘buy before’ criteria to the wish list to bring a sense of urgency. Suppose an expiry time of 60 days can bring the shoppers back before their itinerary disappears into the black hole forever.
4. Quick sign-ups
It’s good if you are not forcing user registration. But it does more harm if you do not remind your shoppers to log in before they go. Keeping it simple and subtle, can capture the user’s attention.
‘Sign up with Google’ is a simple yet strong call to action. Users recognize google in a blink. It is secure, familiar and ideal. Give users the perception of choice, with a quick sign up.
This also tells you about when, where and how users prefer to communicate with you. So strive to secure your m-commerce app using best practices of network encryption.
Communicate with your customers to re-stimulate their interest. One of the wise old tricks of marketing is direct communication with your user. Workaround a great email reminder campaign. Being too zealous won’t put you at the right foot here, like bombarding the inboxes with a streak of reminders. By rule of thumb, here is a list of what a good reminder email encloses:
Vibrant images of the product- To remind the buyer
A strong call to action- To stimulate decision making
Brief service guarantee or refund policy- To alleviate any concerns
Another alternative you have is of smart push notifications. If you make good offers the ones that bring a sense of cost incentive to the users, you will hit the jackpot.
6. Short-lived discounts
Cutting down prices may critically affect your bottom line. But it’s a good bait to drive in the shoppers waiting on the fence.
A study of the effect on price discounts and bonus packs on online impulse buying speaks of the impact on users. Percentage discounts make the best detours for items bought for pleasure, while combos and bonus packs work best for utilitarian items.
Time-bound discount offers on items with elastic prices can show your intent that you value your customers. And to a customer that is a great feeling.
7. Brand Familiarity is not a myth
Google Trusted Store badge is one heck of a tag that ensures certainty, reliability and trust factor through visual representations.
A name that your buyer has not heard before is bound to add skepticism about your credibility and offerings. Promote your brand to raise familiarity with your audience. Showing up in google search or social media advertisements will not bring you great returns.
8. Eliminate surprise costs
High shipping costs and taxes often switch off the buying intent in customers. Free shipping on orders above a certain value is not a new idea but the one that makes magic happen. Disclose the additional costs early in the buying funnel.
A Forrester study confirms that surprise costs make 44 percent of online shoppers drift away and uninstall the apps.
Make a serious attempt to reduce all potential barriers between you and the wallet of your users. An active, persistent approach to curb the checkout leaks, navigation and performance issues are a few other things to spot.
Ecommerce shopping cart abandonment solutions are easy to implement if you understand their customers. Implementing the Techniques to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment as discussed above will soon make the bounce rates wind down and conversions ramp up.
Application development can be a little overwhelming for some people since it involves so many decisions and choices. If it’s your first time then we sure can understand the questions you might be asking yourself. With technology advancing so rapidly apps have to be developed in a way that it matches the latest technological trends.
Going for application development will be the best decision for your business especially if you are a startup. Startups need to gather an audience and convert them into becoming their regular customers. This can be achieved with the help of mobile apps as it will give the audience a platform to engage, interact and gather information about the startup.
An app must be developed in a way that there is no waste in the application development process, every opportunity is explored and the end result is worth all the effort and costs. To make this happen, we are writing this blog about things to consider when developing mobile apps for startups.
Let us begin with why should you get an app for your startup.
Why build a great mobile app for your business?
The fact that by 2020, there will be 20 billion mobile devices makes building an app that can profit your business is very important. Majority of the mobile users are preferring mobile apps to get things done and apps are more of a lifestyle than just a technological solution.
Here are some compelling reasons why businesses should have an app.
Additional sales
With a mobile app in your customer’s pocket, you have a lot of things to use to increase your sales. The simplicity and convenience of using an app to buy a product encourage users to buy repeatedly. When compared to websites, apps have more accessibility and people can make a purchase on the go. Another way to gain revenue is by showing ads on the apps. You can also charge users for your app. If the app is worth paying for, customers will buy it.
Reduces marketing cost
Marketing costs are huge and not every startup can afford it. With apps, you get a free marketing tool which reduces the cost of marketing, unlike traditional marketing. Mobile apps are low-cost marketing tools where push notifications can be used to market new products, inform about offers and re-invite users to increase the activity of the app. Not to forget that it takes less time, low cost and reaches a large audience at the same time.
Customer experience
A business runs because of its customers and impressing them is the biggest job. Mobile apps are no doubt a great way of enhancing the customer experience. Websites are great to reach a larger audience but it cannot give the same feel as an app. Apps are deliberately designed such that it fits small screens while giving visual satisfaction to users. Apps have quick access to the device features like calling, camera, GPS, etc. which makes them more likable.
Edge over competitors
Even though most companies have got an app, there still might be a chance for you to flourish. There are two possibilities that make your chance to succeed with an app possible. First, there might be companies in your niche that haven’t gone mobile which gives an edge. Second, even if some businesses have, they might not a great app. A poorly developed app is of no good use and you get a chance there.
Broader Reach
There is a population that only operates its business through mobile apps. If you don’t have an app, you are missing out on that particular population. A large number of users prefer a mobile app over the website as seen in the statistics above. To know what percentage of your users are mobile-driven, check out the percentage of website visitors that access it through mobile phones. Also, younger users are more likely to use mobile apps as compared to adults.
Feedback from customers
If a business doesn’t meet the needs of its customers, it’s hampering its own growth. Most businesses take the smart route and consider the customer feedback a serious benefit. With feedback from your customers, you can reshape the business or make necessary changes. A great way to gather feedback is through reviews from the app store or from the in-app feedback section. You can also run in-app surveys from time to time.
Stickiness
Mobile apps are a strategy to get into the customer’s pocket. The convenience it brings for the users is very much appreciated by them. Having an app in their pockets and being able to access it anytime and anywhere creates stickiness with your brand. Unlike websites, apps are always a click or a tap away and that encourages repeated interaction with the business. There are also high chances that mobile apps can bring your business a great percentage of loyal customers.
Now that we have seen why you should get an app for your startup, here are some tips for creating an app that is profitable.
What are the main points to consider when developing a mobile application?
It’s easier to decide to get an app than actually planning to build a good one. Mobile app development is a process that needs proper consideration. It requires one to look into tips for bringing success to app business, implement them, and much more. In this section, we will state some things to consider when developing mobile apps.
Solidify the app idea
One of the mobile application development tips for beginners is the app ideation. Before you even think about the application development process, make sure your app idea is great. The entire base of the app is the ideation and you need to make sure you have everything it takes to make the app a success. You have to ask yourself whether the app idea is strong enough to survive the cut-throat competition or not. The app should also have an edge over the competition and should be able to solve problems on a business level.
Define your elevator pitch
One of the things to consider when developing mobile apps is the elevator pitch. You get a short time to present your business in front of investors and that’s why having a perfect elevator pitch is important. This also helps in finding the clarity in your app idea and business model. You should be prompt about your business, the problems it is going to solve, the funding it will need and the audience it’s going to target.
Identify the target audience
People think that the entire app using population is their target audience since they all can use an app. But there is a huge difference between someone who can use an app and someone who wants to use an app. Defining your target audience will bring more traction to the business. Knowing your target audience helps in building an app as per their liking. An app that satisfies the customer needs is going to become successful.
Consider the app platform
Factors in developing mobile applications also include the app platform. It is actually one of the most important things to consider when developing mobile apps. In the world of mobile apps, iOS and Android have become the top platforms for application development. There is an ongoing debate between Android vs iOS for startups and it isn’t going to end any time soon. Some find iOS to be the right platform for them and some find Android is the way to go. Both platforms are great in reality and have their pros and cons. iOS uses the Swift or Objective-C language whereas Android uses Java or Kotlin.
However, there is an option to select both platforms at the same time. Cross-platform apps are developed to be accessible on multiple platforms. The cross-platform frameworks that we use today are Ionic, Xamarin, etc. A simpler name for cross-platform apps is hybrid apps.
App store optimization
So far you have seen many things to think about when building an app. App Store and Play Store optimization are other crucial factors for consideration. Your app store page is a way of creating a good impression in front of users. 60% of apps are found through organic search and they are directed to the app store page of your app. You need to make the app look as appealing as possible while following the app store optimization guidelines.
Monetization options
One of the things to keep in mind while developing a mobile app is the way of monetization. As good as earning money off of the app directly is, there are other ways to earn money from the app.
If your app is good enough then you can earn from different ways using your app. You can earn money directly from your app in the following ways:
Freemium apps: These apps are the most common types of apps. The apps can be download for free, however, to access some features users have to buy it from the app.
Paid apps: The paid apps have to be bought by the users in order to use them. But for this to work, the marketing of the app needs to be strong so that the true value and unique features of the app are displayed.
In-app purchases: Apps can have special features that the users can pay for. These features are only accessible to those who have made the in-app purchases.
Subscription: Subscription is a way of earning on a regular basis. Users can subscribe to an app on a monthly basis and enjoy the best version of the app. Most apps have freemium for the simple version and subscription for a premium version of the app.
In-app ads: Earning revenue from the ads is quite common these days. There are no barriers for users since watching ads don’t cost anything. The app can have a section to display ads or can add video ads to the app. However, user experience should not be compromised with when going for in-app ads.
Sponsorships: This method of earning money is possible when you have generated a good user base. You can partner with some brands and advertise their products on the app. There is a two-way benefit in sponsorship for you. First, the brands will pay you for the user actions and second, users will increase the in-app engagement.
App security measures
If your app is not secure then your app is not for the users. With so much advancement in technology, there comes a great risk of security breach and hacking. This is why you need to make sure you follow security practices for a hack-proof app to protect your users’ data. Most users are naive with the concept of hacking and need an app they don’t have to worry about.
Marketing strategies for pre-launch and post-launch
The marketing strategy of the app is one of the things to consider when developing mobile apps. Before the app is launched, proper awareness should be created about the app. This will help in boosting the app downloads once the app is launched. The pre-launch is as important as post-launch and the marketing strategies for both should be ready.
This was our take on tips for mobile application development. Have an app idea? Contact our team of developers today.
Imagining Artificial Intelligence in situations and use cases where there are a massive number of data in picture makes perfect sense. But what happens when the situation is entirely based on human discretion? Will an artificial intelligence user experience design would also be able to do what AI did to several other industry verticals?
Designing, almost in all its different forms is driven by keeping the human part of process at a much higher ground than the analytical and data driven side. While there are some domains like CAD design or Product Design that leaves some space open for machine learning to enter, when the design form in question is mobile app design, the gap seems to become negligible.
However, Artificial Intelligence, like a number of other industries have found a place in the Mobile App Design vertical as well, giving birth to the concept of artificial intelligence user interface design. A concept that is ought to bring a new level to the relationship between artificial intelligence and customer experience.
While, the answer to whether machine would replace designers is next to impossible, there are ways that the designer community has started taking AI user experience together in their journey to designing memorable mobile apps in multiple ways, like –
Getting time-taking manual works like image resizing automated
Making designs localized by taking help of AI based translation
Bring system consistency between users and products
Give insights into which elements are users interacting with, which needs attention
This participation that the deisgning industry is witnessing coming in from the AI driven UI domain is something that is showing to have a huge impact on the industry’s present, while paving the way to a world where AI and the future of design is much better linked.
Now that we have seen the impact that AI carries on Mobile app Design and how it is soon becoming one of the proven tips to enhance mobile app design, the next step is to look at the principles that guide their unison in the domain of designing AI experiences
The Guiding Principles that Combine Mobile App Design with Machine Learning
Develop a Shared Language
Elements like user experience review, product vision, and business goals are something that needs to be understood and shared by the complete team. You would only be able to create a meaningful and truly intelligent user experience if the mobile app design and machine learning development methods complement each other through shared concepts and common language. The machine learning experts and user experience designers should come together to develop a common blueprint which includes data pipelines and user interfaces, with the aim to set a blueprint that grounds the team’s product planning with the users’ reality.
Focus on Use Case
The important thing when developing a consumer facing app, as the top software designers would tell you, is not the technology that backs it but the business goal and the user experience that you plan on achieving. And so, it is extremely important that you crystallize the use case. With a separate focus on the use case, you can then put your intricate attention on the user flow, which then allows the team to identify the main points where machine learning can be added to enhance the experience.
A clear understanding of the use case also enable teams of the mobile app design company to determine the right KPI for the development of user experience program, which in turn is aligned with machine learning metrics.
Mix Quantitative and Qualitative Data
In order to understand the true impact of combining the machine learning solution and user experience design, it is important that both qualitative and quantitative data is considered. You should make use of qualitative research methods like questionnaires, interviews, etc to measure how the users are experiencing your app.
The reason why we are emphasizing on using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data is because when designing a new app, it is possible that you meet unexpected factors that affect machine learning developmant and user experience. Factors like: Effectiveness of feedback loop, ability of data point capturing intention and user behaviour, which are must to know parts of Artificial Intelligence app design can best be answered only after a deep consideration of both the data types.
Bring Your Combined Data to Real Life Setting
How do you make sure that machine learning is actually used to develop comprehensible and fluent user experience? By setting up an end to end solution that shows how machine learning and user experience fit together in real world. An MVP that includes the working data pipeline along with the machine learning models makes it easy to iterate the AI assisted design together and helps in getting a direct feedback from the users via beta or user testing.
When both UX designers and Machine Learning experts of your partnered AI app development company share the understanding of product design issues, iteration is productive and fast. While on the other hand, user experience designers become aware of possibilities that surrounds machine learning: when it can be used to improve the user experience and how.
Be Transparent About Collecting Data
Designing for AI and with it, needs a constant effort and for it to be absolutely on point, it is important that you give a special focus to the data you have collected. It is very important to consider the end user side in this cycle of collect data – convert data into information – iterate design. Tell users that their data is being used to feed the AI and give them the option to alter the collected information in a way that the best context comes through. In addition to giving users the option to change what data is collected by the AI, you should also give them the option to change what the AI learns – to ensure that the predictions are what the users desire.
While these principles that we just saw help in giving some clarity into how the combined AI and UX design should function, let us look at how some of the famous designing and editing tools that are backed by the developers community across the globe are using the technology to offer better mobile app user experience.
Tools That Use Artificial Intelligence for Design
Tailor Brands
The Tailor Brands logo maker is a famous product used by businesses to get professional logo in a small budget. The AI designs are built upon with your input coming in form of information that would be entered in logo.
Adobe Photoshop
The Select Subject functionality that Photoshop offers make use of AI for memorizing the shape, and then shifting, changing, and editing them with much ease. The tool works on an internal AI system known as Sensei that enables changing backgroungds by recognizing the different subjects in the image.
Prisma and Deepart
Both the famous image editing tools/AI design software make use of artificial intelligence for identify the different aspects of your video and photo and transforming them in a style of your choosing. They give you the option to work around filters and colours among other things.
Let’s Enhance
One of the most frequently arising issues in the designing industry is low quality images. Let’s enhance, powered by AI improves the quality of images using three filters. Anti-JPEF filter converts image to high quality PNG while Boring filter scales up image to around 4 times without any compromise on the image quality. Magic, the third filter allows you to add detailing inside the image. Making Artificial Intelligence a primary part of the Mobile App Design process is something that comes packaged with several add on factors that have to be considered to ensure that that User Interface and User Experience is intact.
And this in turn is not an easy process.
Packaging your app’s user experience with Artificial Intelligence in a way that the whole process gets translated into Artificial Intelligence design patterns calls for a lot of homework, which in itself is heavily dependent on the information that the users provide with consent.
If you are just starting with making your designs smarter, there are some UI patterns that would help you start on the intelligent journey.
A. Criteria Sliders
A number of apps use machine learning algorithms to predict an outcome or pass recommendations. A criteria slider comes in handy here for it helps userss adjust and then fine tune recommendations on the basis of criteria that is meaningful to them. Here, you will have to ensure that the criteria that the users are manipulating with is mapped correctly to data which the machine is using in algorithms.
B. Like and Dislike Button
A simple like and dislike button help better the user experience that someone shares inside the application. Wwhen you ask users to feed in their experience even through a simple like and dislike button, you give them the option to not just build upon the recommendation system but also give feedback on what they don’t like and why.
C. Confidence Inducing Tips
More often than not, users not just not know how the whole prediction and artificial system works, but also they don’t know how much confidence they can place in the system. When you ask users to feed in their data or answer questions in return of something – better matched clothes choice, next show to follow option, etc. The confidence quotient increases even more when you give users the result and let them approve or disapprove it. Doing this makes your users in charge of the charge – something that automatically instills confidence in the app.
D. Give them an In and Out Option
Not all users would want to feed in data for you to fetch and feed in the artificial intelligent system or even want to take the smart route. So, give them the option to opt in and out of the smart options as and when it suits them. Doing this, they would not just have a more positive outlook towards your app but also, knowing that they have an out option, they will be more willing to add in their data in the future.
Now that you have seen the ways AI powered UX is impacting the app design industry, the guiding principles of designing for AI, tools that are already using AI, and the UI patterns that you should add in your design manifesto to make your users open to the idea of AI, there is only one last thing left to do.
And that last thing is to make AI an active part of your mobile app design process. Let our team of UI/UX designers help you with that.
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