Posted by:


With the Covid-19 pandemic still affecting people’s lives worldwide, the need for a good healthcare provider app to follow up on continued care is more relevant than ever.

By Mikael Frederiksen

According to statistics there are almost 54,000 iOS healthcare apps in the Apple App Store. In the Google Play store there are a little over 53,000 Android healthcare apps.

Today, healthcare is among the fastest-growing industries due to its direct impact on our daily lives. Based on the app store numbers there are already a wide selection of mobile apps that provide healthcare services across a gamut of services.

That would, reasonably, make you wonder whether there is a need for one more medical app in the market and if it’s worth the investment.

Having experience with developing healthcare apps, we’ll be able to share our experience so you can make an informed decision if owning a healthcare app is right for you.

What does the current healthcare app market look like?

Based on the current state of the healthcare app market, there’s room for improvement in two major areas; patient outreach and an outdated healthcare model.

Patient Outreach

Millennials (1981 – 1996), Generation Z (1997 – 2012) and Generation Alpha have all grown up being comfortable in the digital world. As these and new generations grow older, the demand and expectations of digital solutions keep demand for better digital care rise.

Healthcare providers are still mostly run by an older generation not as familiar with digital technology, and therefore used to the traditional methods of doctor vs. patient communication.

That results in dissatisfaction with the difficulty accessing their patient care program, medical records, lab results and scheduling or cancelling appointments – in short they require convenience.

Healthcare market and digital

Virtual Healthcare Popularity

A study from Accenture shows that more than half of patients expect their medical healthcare to be digital based. In fact, 77% are more likely to choose a practitioner offering digital services which goes to show there’s a big reason to make a healthcare app.

The need to transform the outdated healthcare model

The outgoing healthcare model has depended on phone calls, fax machines, receptionists and nurses to keep you in the know, but that is all changing, especially boosted by the last couple of years’ necessity for staying home due to Covid-19.

The incoming model offers more transparency to the entire patient experience. From the moment a patient books an appointment, the choice of being able to meet in office or via tele-medicine (a consultation happening remotely via webcam), to accessing treatment plans and consultation logs.

For care providers willing to embrace the new model and develop a custom health-related app there are plenty of convenience factors to include and app types to develop.

The two types of healthcare apps

Healthcare apps are usually either made for patients or healthcare providers. Often these two are built at the same time and connected for a seamless patient/provider experience. They each usually offer different features targeted at the user.

Patient apps

This app often includes the convenience parameters to manage their health, like appointment scheduling, access to medical records, lab results, messaging center to contact medical staff, recaps of physician notes, tele-medicine and vital statistics.

Healthcare provider apps

The healthcare market is much more segmented than the patient requirements, however many of the following features are overlapping and included in a healthcare staff facing app: patient notes, appointment calendar for scheduling/rescheduling, messaging center to patients and other medical professionals, medicine lookup, tele-medicine and prescription ordering.

Before you build an app you need to consider which parameters you prioritize and whether you want to build one for your patients and/or for in-house staff. That lays the groundwork for an app agency to bid on your project with the most accurate estimate based on your expectations.

Healthcare app features

Most Helpful Electronic Health Records Information

Medical app challenges

The medical field deals with very personal information on a daily basis and as a result are heavily regulated to protect the patient’s privacy. That can also prove to be a challenge to a reputable app development agency or a showstopper to a poorly run app development company.

Because of this it’s important not to mainly focus on cost, but more on the quality and track record of the company you are going to work with. While they can’t necessarily be experts in the field, it helps to work with a company who has developed healthcare apps previously.

Some of the regulations that must be met in the U.S. are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH), and Freedom of Information Act & Privacy Act (FOIA and ASPA).

You need to work together with the app development company to find out if any third-party integrated tools are in violation of any of these laws and regulations. For example, a teleconference provider might not meet the security requirements needed for encryption or the payment provider for protecting the patient’s privacy thus violating the HIPAA.

How much do you need to spend to have a healthcare app built?

Even though you shouldn’t base your decision on price alone, it’s of course an important parameter. The app cost should fit within your budget while still providing a safe and convenient experience for its users.

The cost is based on many factors and a fixed price tag is not an option for a medical app or any app for that matter.

First you need to consider what the must-have features are and which nice-to-have features you would like to include. If budget is a concern, be flexible when you discuss the app with your app developer. You may have to give up some features in the first version of the app, but plan for including it in a later revision when a new budget year arrives.

Which platforms you are targeting also matter. Android and iOS users are about 50/50 in the US, but if you are targeting other demographics it may be different. A good app agency can help you make a decision on which platform to target based on the target location. And if the target users are in the US, you can even make a cross-platform compatible app that is one app source code that will work on both Android and iOS devices simultaneously.

Healthcare apps in general are more advanced with multiple backend integrations, both with medical facility databases and third-party databases, so it’s not unlikely to expect about a year of development and a price tag in the 6-digits.

However, the ROI from 77% of patients choosing the digital offered medical institutions coupled with increased satisfaction, efficient cost-saving working methods and less patient abandonment is worth the one-time investment.

 

Mikael Frederiksen

Michael Frederiksen

Michael earned degrees in computer and business science, later graduating with top scores from Denmark’s prestigious multimedia program. His specialties include experimenting with digital technologies, creative direction, web and mobile app UI/UX design and is the co-founder of Inspire Visual.

 

Blockchain and mobile apps

Posted by:


Blockchain is no longer just the word on everyone’s lips; it’s being implemented in many different areas. It’s impacting industries all across the globe. Many refer to it as a revolution, especially when looking at the changes it’s bringing to education, finance, and healthcare. As this technology becomes more common, we can expect to see more transformation.

by Alex Lysak

We’re generally seeing a shift from people talking about blockchain as an investment opportunity to more widespread use of crypto payments. Many people are considering digital currencies when making payments online, as mentioned by Scanteam, as several high-profile brands, including Microsoft, accept cryptocurrencies.

What do these changes mean for blockchain mobile development, and what is the next step for the technology industry? Fortunately, we have expert Alex Lysak here with us to analyze the situation. He’ll review the ways blockchain is disrupting the current mobile app development landscape. Read on to find out what to anticipate in the coming months and years.

Blockchain and mobile apps

Blockchain Means Decentralized

One of the critical reasons that those in the tech world see a lot of potential in blockchain technology is because it’s decentralized. The peer-to-peer (P2P) network means information can be distributed instead of being stored on a central server.

It’s considered more secure. Any attempt to change the data is recorded, and someone would have to access multiple points across different locations simultaneously to steal the data.

A decentralized infrastructure is one of the core aims of Web 3.0, the new version of the web that wants to see it improve and put control in the hands of the users. We’re already seeing companies considering the advantages of a blockchain mobile app. Decentralization is one of the key features of Dapps, which are designed to cut out the middleman.

As well as data security, decentralization brings other advantages. They include transparency, thanks to the public ledger, where all transactions are recorded. Thanks to the open-source nature of blockchain and the growing community providing support, there are lots of great tools available, and they’re easy to implement.

What This Means For Mobile

While blockchain will continue to impact many sectors, there’s an interest in how app development will adapt. It’s no surprise since worldwide mobile app revenues are projected to reach $693 billion in 2021. A pivotal time approaches, as we see whether blockchain and the benefits it brings will be embraced. Crucially, we are all waiting to see how that can happen in a smooth and coordinated way.

One of the most obvious ways that blockchain can improve mobile app development is through in-app purchases. With app stores and payment providers as middlemen, developers often only see very small amounts. Decentralized models with app coins could see developers increase their share. Plus, users will benefit by having different ways to earn the app coins that they spend.

If we take that one step further, blockchain and the app coins can also become part of a different advertising model for developers. Producing a fantastic app is one thing, but getting it in front of the right audience is an essential part of the process. If you use blockchain technology to put ads in front of users while rewarding them with app coins, you can cut out the middleman and connect directly with your audience.

Cutting Edge App Development

Blockchain app development is still in the early days. On the one hand, that means there might be some teething problems or steep learning curves. The fact that open-source technology is part of the decentralized ethic means that the tools and support will be available to developers to overcome these challenges.

The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, especially when you consider how fierce competition in the market is. The most successful app developers stay up-to-date or act as early adopters to ensure they stand out. Most importantly, they ensure that their apps don’t get left behind. Now is the time to learn how to integrate blockchain technology, particularly if you have an app with an active interface or mission-critical database.

Decentralization means moving away from the infrastructure where data is stored on a central server. It also means a whole different set of tasks for development, including indexing. On the other hand, the implementation is easy, which will add to the time and money you could save.

Applications that include retail could see advantages, as could those that involve transactions where a smart contract could help. Additionally, those that require advertising and have in-app purchases could see a positive impact from blockchain. Although it involves new ways of doing things, reliability, security, and transparency are incredibly appealing.

Positive Disruption

Blockchain is making waves in many industries, and mobile app development is one of them. It’s better to move with the tide and implement these changes now rather than getting left behind on the shore. Although it’s disruptive to existing processes, it comes with a lot of benefits, including more potential success and profits for developers.

 

Alex LysakAlex Lysak is the CEO of ScanTeam. I have been working in online marketing since 2011, my main areas of expertise are marketing research, social media marketing, and SEO. During 9 years of experience, I have helped many products and startups to develop marketing strategies and to implement them further.
https://twitter.com/lysak_aleksandr

 

ASO

Posted by:


Building an application is one thing and making it popular is another. App Development requires a lot of money, time and effort, but those things go in vain if you do not have the audience to use your application.  There are more than 5 million apps available on the app store. You cannot expect that somebody will download your application without knowing about it.  ASO can play a crucial role in fulfilling this aspect. It increases visibility, drives more traffic, increases the customer base, help in getting better organic reach, increases revenue and reduce the acquisition cost.  ASO thus plays an important role. This blog guides you to establish a strong ASO for your application.

by Aarif Habeeb 

1) Understanding the audience

The first step in ASO is to identify who will use this application. People usually find the application through Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. More than 70% of mobile users use the search option to find new apps. Studies show that 65% of these downloads occur via searching an application. 

You must understand the audience as the market you want to target for your application. You should be clear about the audience’s behavior, needs, usability etc. It would help if you gathered complete insights, as they will play a crucial role in releasing a successful app. Identify the way through which you will distribute the app; the language application will use etc. You can hire a digital marketing company to conduct this search for you.

ASO     

2) Choosing the right keywords

Just like keywords are essential for the content, they are similarly important for the apps. These keywords increase your visibility on various app stores. Always use the low difficulty keywords with appropriate popularity initially as it a new app; it will take time to gain momentum. 

These keywords are essential for in-app store listing, and every element of in-app store listing affects your ASO. You can find these keywords with the help of applications like Ubersuggest, Keyword Suggestion and that too for free.

Once you have discovered many keywords, filter them out with the help of app keyword optimization tools like Matti, Mobile Action, ASOdesk etc. These applications have advanced features such as keyword suggestion, keyword optimization, keyword tracking, etc., which will help you check which keywords work best for you and optimize them further. 

3) Using the Keywords at the right place

Once you have selected the right keywords, you need to put these keywords in the right place. The following should contain the keywords:

  1. App Name: The name of your application says a lot, and the wrong word might decrease the downloads. The title should be searchable. Your application must contain the keyword as Google Play Store and iOS app store give preference to such app which have the keyword.

  2. App Title: The title should be no more than 30 characters. It should be clear and unique. It should also describe the application.

  3. App Description: You can add about 4000 characters to the description. The description should contain focused keywords as this tells the app store algorithm that your keyword is relevant to those keywords. This section should be informative and must specify the following:

    • What is the pricing of the application?
    • What does the application do?
    • How will it resolve the user’s issue?


4) Optimization of App Store Page

The next step is to optimize your app store page, as it will increase the impact of the download of the application. The page should be persuasive as well as impressive to get as many downloads as possible. Keep these things in mind:

  1. App Icon: The icons should be aesthetic and eye-catching. The design should be kept simple so that people can remember it easily in one go. The color scheme, size, employ brand icon if it’s a brand etc. You should test and run several designs and then finalize them.

  2. Screenshots: Once the customer visits the app store page, you should be able to communicate the app’s usability so that they can download it. You can explain it with the help of screenshots. If you employ the two best screenshots, it can increase the downloads by 25%. The screenshots should be simple, conveying one message at a time with the most vital messages in the first two messages.

  3. Preview Video: Videos deliver messages much strongly than screenshots or written text. It can increase your chances by more than 23%. The video should depict the functionality and should be clear in delivering the messages.  

Last few words

Even after following these steps, it is not sure that your application will rank number one on Google Play Store and Apple Store. Like no one knows the actual algorithm of SEO, nobody can predict this algorithm as well. The algorithm keeps on changing over time. 

But by following the above technique will affect your application ranking. App Search Optimization (ASO) is all about increasing the accessibility and visibility of your application so that you can fetch better downloads. You can hire a digital marketing company that can carry the task for you.

—

Aarif Habeeb is the Technical Content writer at DigitalMarketingCrab. He is a technical writer and IoT writer of year 2020 by HackerNoon. His expertise includes Technical writing, Technical SEO, e-commerce, lead generation, and localized site-to-store strategies. He is the founder of Aarif Habeeb & Co. Feel Free to Follow him on Twitter and Linkedin.

 

  

Top 5 Mobile marketing trends

Posted by:


With the number of people choosing to shop through their phones rather than in-store, the number of smartphone users is growing by the day.  In fact, more than 275 million Americans own a smartphone, of which 79% have made a purchase online using their mobile device. If you see mobile marketing as a great opportunity to grow your business this year, then you ’re already one step ahead of your competitors.

by Liz Rustia

Mobile marketing is the most efficient and effective way to reach your target audience. People today spend more than 5 hours a day on their phones. Because of this, they get 2x more interaction with brands on mobile than they do in-store, TV, radio, website, or on print.

Analysts predict that mobile commerce sales will reach up to $432.24 billion in 2022. It is why you need to learn and focus more on mobile marketing this year.

Top 5 Mobile marketing trends

What are the top 5 Mobile Marketing Trends this year?

Social Media Commerce Integration

Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest saw the opportunity to use their platform to help businesses maximize their sales and conversion by providing a smooth in-app shopping experience.

This revolutionized the way people shopped online!

You no longer have to switch from a social media app to a website just to buy the products you want from your favorite brands. All you have to do is to click on the product tags on the photo and it will automatically redirect you to a product page.

This makes shopping 100x easier, increasing sales and conversion rates.

Due to the pandemic, many businesses were forced to close their doors from the public and start going digital.

This strengthened social shopping even further. During this time, many grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores, and other businesses that embraced social media commerce integration experienced a peak in their revenues on what would have been usually a low sales month.

Instagram has over 500 million daily active users, while Facebook has over 1.85 billion. If your company doesn’t have an optimized social media account for business yet, you’ll be losing a lot of potential customers and sales.  

In the start of the year, food delivery apps, financial apps, and social shopping continues to gather steam. If you own an online store, having a website might no longer be enough to keep your business alive.

You need to also have social media accounts and optimize them for shopping, so you can capture every potential client there is on every platform.

5G and Location-Targeted Mobile Ads

You can maximize your sales and conversions by sending out the right ad at the right time and place to the right people.

Location-targeted mobile ads are found to be more effective than generic ads because they’re able to cut through the marketing noise and capture customers by offering them exactly what they need at the right time.

This can drive customers to your store, increase customer engagement, and boost sales.

Geo-positioning technologies like Bluetooth and 5G can accurately pinpoint a person’s location. Together with advancements in mobile communication, this can help strengthen the efficacy of location-targeted mobile ads, allowing businesses to target customers who are within proximity accurately.

Hyper Casual Mobile Gaming and Apps

The COVID-19 outbreak was a difficult time for everyone. With stores closed down and nowhere to go, people were forced to stay at home and turn to mobile games for entertainment instead. 

This spiked the number of mobile game downloads on both the App Store and Google Play. Given the remarkable growth in downloads, it is safe to say that mobile games are now being introduced to a new market of individuals who may have not been interested in gaming if not because of the lockdown.  

Multiplayer gameplay and mechanics that focus on meaningful interactions between friends and family is sparking joy among individuals because it is helping them stay social while social distancing.

It’s a great way to stay connected with your friends, make new acquaintances, share a laugh, and just have a great time in general during lockdowns and even after. Mobile games now serve as social networks.

For marketers, this is a great opportunity to penetrate a whole new set of audiences, especially the younger demographics. 

Placing ads on mobile games and video streaming apps is a great way to get your brand out there and interact with your target audience.

User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) can be a very powerful content marketing strategy.

When you use the pictures, videos, blogs, and other forms of feedback that your customers have voluntarily created by featuring it on your social media posts, it can make them feel heard, important, and appreciated.

Aside from this, UGC can establish a higher degree of trust among your audience since these testimonies are based on real-life, unpaid experience, and opinions. More importantly, it can be a great source of ideas for your product development and improvement.

This year, UGC will still play an important role in your mobile marketing strategy.

You need it to build trust among your audience and to solidify your relationship with your existing customers. As things start to go back to normal, people would want to see and know that people are still buying and engaging with you. 

Video marketing

The last but not the least trend of mobile marketing on the list is video marketing. Today, people prefer to watch video more than any other content. It is because videos easily attract the user’s attention and make them to watch the video till the end. No doubt, a two-minute video is more desirable than reading out a lengthy text. In fact, 87% of companies’ use video marketing and video marketing boosts organic website traffic by 157%. So, make sure to produce relevant, unique, and short videos for your product.

Mobile marketing becomes a significant pillar in the overall foundation of a business and we believe that it all boils down to personalization. This year is all about creating a very personalized shopping experience for your target audience at every touchpoint. The more targeted your marketing message, product offers, and compelling creates are, the more you’re able to draw customers in. Use these trends to guide your mobile marketing strategy this 2021.

Posted by:


Content marketing comes in many different shapes and sizes. Creators like you have a lot of options: blog posts, social media updates, visuals, video, slide decks, and more. But have you ever thought about making your own podcast for yourself or for your company?

by Liz Rustia

The rise of audio social could indicate increasing opportunities in this regard, while listening to podcasts has steadily increased over the past decade. Indeed, according to the most recent Edison ‘Infinite Dial’ report, podcasts now reach over 100 million Americans every month, with more than a third of Americans 12 and older regularly consuming podcasts.

This could be a great opportunity – Where do you start with a podcast and what do you need to know? The BusinessFinancing.co.uk team has put together this helpful rundown of all the key steps, stats, and tips you need to get your podcast up and running.

This could be the final step in getting your podcast started – check out the infographic below.

Small business guide to starting a podcast

React Native

Posted by:


React Native is a structure made by Facebook that permits you to create versatile local applications for iOS and Android with a solitary JavaScript codebase. In 2012 Mark Zuckerberg remarked, “The greatest mix-up we made as an organization was wagering a lot on HTML5 rather than local”. Respond Native was declared at Facebook’s Reacts.js gathering in February 2015 and publicly released in March 2015.

by Moazzam

React Native

Before we begin looking at these dialects and structures, we should initially perceive how React Native forms a versatile application. React Native design utilizes React.js library to make an actual local portable application. The significant contrast among React and React Native is that the last use local parts rather than web segments to make the UI, alongside JSX — a language structure. This fundamentally implies that you can compose portable applications like how you would manage web applications. How about we show this on a basic custom part model. 

We can quickly observe the likenesses to web improvement coding style. React Native segments, for example, <Touchable Opacity> and <Text> are characterized and sorted out precisely like HTML segments, for example, <button> or <div>. Additionally, styling React Native segments with Style sheet is equivalent to old fashioned CSS, the main distinction being the field names written in camel Case (border Radius) rather than CSS run style (fringe range)

What is React Native?

A couple of years back, Facebook introduced their system called React Native (short RN), that is proposed to turn into the instrument for cross-stage advancement number one. However, does it genuinely helpful and would it be able to cause the finish of a versatile local turn of events? Let’s take a look at React Native’s advantages and disadvantages and discover why this system isn’t the ideal decision now and again and why JS authorities will never supplant local portable designers.

Pros of React Native

  • Cost-proficient arrangement
  • The fast ascent of React Native
  • Hot Reloading
  • Cross-stage/time proficient
  • No contrasts among IOS and Android

Pros summary

Even though not yet an overall arrangement, React Native has demonstrated itself to be competent in the scope of employment. It’s a decent decision for some B2B applications, programming utilized for inward cycles in organizations, applications containing structures, or those with progressively created seeds. You can likewise check top applications that work with React Native.

Cons of React Native

  • Additional time spent on fixing little issues
  • Lower quality and execution
  • A local engineer is required
  • New and not 100% tried

Cons summary

 As the innovation is still moderately new, a ton of parts should be worked without any preparation, and the decision of accessible, instant React Native systems isn’t so rich.

Codebase

 React Native empowers a solitary JavaScript codebase for two unique stages. This implies that it isn’t only simpler to keep up the application by having a similar advancement measure for the two locations and reusing a similar code. However, it likewise requires fewer assets because there is no requirement for independent iOS and Android groups. In any case, this advantage accompanies an expense. Notably, Android and iOS have specific plan rules.

Human Interface Guideline for iOS and Material Design for Android have a significant portion of contrasts, so if the undertaking prerequisites direct that these particular OS necessities ought to be followed for every local stage, React Native designer should compose explicit stage code, which nullifies the point of the single codebase. This may be a more significant issue with regards to iOS since Apple frequently refreshes and belittles their innovations which can be challenging to follow. At the same time, Android applications, for the most part, have more control of the framework and are permitted more opportunity.

The programming language

JavaScript, which is written in React Native, depends on Reacts.js. This is a significant bit of leeway with regards to the way that JavaScript is such a broad and famous language that it’s elusive as a software engineer. What impedes utilizing JavaScript, however? Well… it’s JavaScript.

While Java and Swift/Objective-C are specifically arranged dialects, JavaScript is deciphered and frequently called an untipped language. This implies that your factors can be anything whenever and a compiler won’t help you, so in case you’re not extra cautious while composing your applications, the floor is cleared for JavaScript abhorrence’s to result.

At the point when simple local applications have more control of the factors and the rationale of the application is more unsurprising, JavaScript depends on the software engineer’s insight, Lint instruments and programmed tests. Does this imply that JavaScript programs have more mistakes by definition? No. However, it means that you may invest much more energy looking for that application breaking mistake which your compiler would have gotten for you in Java or Swift.

JavaScript weaknesses

Despite JS being the most famous programming language among web-designers, it is evident that it is called an “untipped” language for a specific explanation. Not at all like Java and Swift, doesn’t JavaScript authorize a sort of factors and boundaries to capacities. This implies that your factors can be anything whenever and the compiler won’t help you.

So you should be extra cautious when building up an application utilizing this structure and adhere to the strict guidelines and control of local dialects to get away from potential inconveniences that will be difficult to track down because of the nonattendance of a static code analyzer in React Native.

Responsive UI/UX

React Native furnishes the engineers with Flexbox — an apparatus that is as of now being effectively utilized in web improvement. Flexbox gives the essential instruments for making a pleasant, responsive and intuitive UI. The main impediment, which has just been referenced above, is the powerlessness to utilize some explicit local APIs like Camera, GPS or Touch ID, instruments for liveliness and complicated UI. So if you need an application with everyday activities or complex interface segments — it is smarter to exploit local programming.

Hot reloading and live reloading

Any individual who has ever worked in XCode or Eclipse/Android Studio realizes how long and monotonous form time can be. This can mainly be baffling if you are taking a shot at a component which is various screens from the dispatch screen. This makes even trifling undertakings, for example, changing a view tone or changing a marked text very tedious.

React Native’s answer for this issue is called hot reloading, which keeps the application running and spares the express (the information and the screen you’re on), just infusing the progressions that are being made in the code. Indeed, even without utilizing hot reloading, application construct time is fundamentally quicker, utilizing React Native than on local iOS and Android, and live reloading components can be used.

The Future

 While local iOS and Android are setting down deep roots, and they will stay with us within a reasonable time-frame, the eventual fate of React Native is dubious. The facts confirm that the React Native people group is developing and extending rapidly, however with the current React Native form still not being 1.0 (the latest variant at the hour of composing this article is 0.56), we are yet to see the best from React Native.

Conclusion

  • At long last, is React Natively justified, despite all the trouble? The appropriate response is: It relies upon your undertaking.
  • Do your designers have a solid React/Web advancement foundation? Go React Native.
  • Do you have to make an iOS-in particular or Android-just application? Go local.
  • Do you have to make a profoundly mind-boggling application which uses an enormous segment of stage explicit code? Go local.
  • Do your engineers have a solid React/Web advancement foundation? Go React Native.

The critical thing about React Native is that it’s still being developed and we are yet to see its maximum capacity. Later on, it might be all the more remarkable and significant and consider considerably more use cases, however for the present, it can’t wholly supplant local portable turn of events. Nonetheless, it’s composed once, used wherever the worldview can be a considerable time and cash saver whenever utilized on the correct tasks.

About the author:

Moazzam is a digital enthusiast writer having 10+ experiences in digital industry. His publications are live on Hackernoon, E27.co, Yourstory and more. Currently heading digital marketing at TechIngenious a group of mobile app developers in Jaipur, website development, software development and digital marketing services backed with skilled app developers and marketers.

App Annie State of Mobile 2021

Posted by:


Research Study from App Annie exposes the level of a rise in need for mobile apps, driven predominately by video gaming.

by Liz Rustia

App Annie State of Mobile 2021

Mobile video game profits is anticipated to increase 20 percent this year to go beyond $120 billion.

A year into a pandemic, it is of little surprise to hear that intake of any kind of home entertainment has actually increased– however such a year-on-year boost continues to be shocking provided the existing size of the market.

For comparison, international mobile video game profits were around $68.5 billion in 2019. At that time, it was approximated that practically one-third of the international population (2.4 B) are now mobile players.

Theodore Krantz, CEO of App Annie, stated:

” The world has actually permanently altered. While individuals remain at house throughout the world, we saw mobile practices speed up by 3 years.”

Mobile games rule video games according to App Annie

Mobile stays the most popular kind of video gaming, with the sector on track to record 1.5 x the total market.

Casual video games– specified as easy-to-play like Amongst United States and Roblox– control downloads (78%) while ‘Core’ video games take 2nd location (20%) and Gambling establishment in last (2%).

Regardless of being substantially behind in downloads, core players produce 66 percent of profits and 55 percent of the time invested in mobile video games.

Nevertheless, the development in hours invested playing mobile video games is being driven predominately by casual players:

Game genres

While games offer the greatest opportunity for revenue generation, people are generally using mobile apps more and increasing their spending on them.

All generations spend more time on mobile games

In the US, Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X/ Baby Boomers spent 16 percent, 18 percent, and 30 percent more time year-on-year, respectively, using their favorite apps. Spending reached a new high at $143 billion, representing a 20 percent year-on-year growth.

James Cordery, Head of Performance Marketing Strategy at Deliveroo, commented:

“In 2020, we were able to focus on executing mobile strategies that really delivered incremental growth for Deliveroo. We were able to couple consumer insights with market context from App Annie to make decisions that have had a high impact on our performance.”

Demand for new apps continues to grow, indicating potential to disrupt current incumbents. Downloads increased seven percent year-on-year to hit 218 billion in 2020.

Americans are, on average, spending eight percent more time using their mobiles than watching live TV every day. The weighted average across analyzed countries is 4 hours 10 minutes more.

App Annie’s research suggests that 97 percent of iOS developers are eligible for Apple’s new Small Business Program which reduces Cupertino’s cut of App Store fees from 30 percent to 15 percent.

The TLDR (too long; didn’t read) of all this is now is a rather great time to be building mobile apps… especially games.

You can find a copy of App Annie’s report here (sign up required)

Source link

Color and brands

Posted by:


It takes time to build a landing page that converts. You agonize over all the details like finding the right theme, choosing a good cheap web host, writing copy and even carefully designing the size and placement of CTAs. But how much thought have you given to color? 

by Jodie Manners

If you’re like most app developers, you use color to portray your brand. But what if I told you you could increase conversions on your landing page by throwing out that rule book and, instead, optimizing your page based on color psychology? 

Ok, maybe not the whole book… just a few pages. By making a few small changes to the colors you use at key points on your landing page, you can inspire more viewers to download.

Here’s how… 

What is color psychology?

Color psychology is the scientific study of the way hues affect human emotion and behavior. That might sound a little ‘fluffy’ but color psychology is based on sound research into the cultural, biological and evolutionary contexts of color. 

The way we understand and interpret color varies across cultures and between people with different experiences. But there are some universals. For example, color psychology is the reason why:

  • You don’t want to eat blue foods
  • You feel calm in woodland and other green spaces
  • You find it hard to ignore signs in orange and red 

Whether we’re aware of it or not, we feel the effects of color psychology every day. But don’t take my word for it… 

Why should you use colour psychology on your mobile app landing page?

According to science, color is the most recognizable feature of a brand. In fact, studies show that between 62-90% of our initial judgement of a product is based on color alone. 

Brands have always used color to appeal to certain audiences or portray certain messages about their products. For example, black signifies luxury, so it’s used by high-end brands with expensive products like Prada and Louis Vuitton. 

Color and brands

Credit: Business Upturn

On the other end of the scale, fast food outlets like Burger King and McDonalds use reds, oranges and yellows because these colors signify value or affordability. And, interestingly, seeing red quickens our heart-rate and makes us faster, which is probably why some cultures associate red with love and passion.

So how can you take advantage of the science?

How to use color to boost conversions on your mobile app landing page?

The answer is a lot simpler than you think. You don’t have to change all your CTAs to red and you don’t have to mess up your branding to increase conversions on your mobile app landing page.

All you have to do is use the right colors for your audience and product and increase color contrasts on your page. 

Using the right colors for your audience and product 

We’re not saying you should take leaf out of Bic’s book and go full-pink if your audience is primarily female. That’s not color psychology, that’s just bad marketing. 

Bic pen ridiculed

Credit: The Daily Mail UK

But you should tailor your color pallet to your brand message. For example, many sustainable brands use earthy tones on their product landing pages because those colors connect best with their audience. 

Similarly, if your app is all about meditation, it doesn’t make sense to use colors that are known to excite the central nervous system, like red. Not even for your CTAs.

This is important if your app is a subsection of a larger business. For example, if you’ve created a cycle route app for a car manufacturer to encourage employees to cycle to work. Rather than just use the car manufacturer’s standard brand colors, you should choose colors that signify nature and motivation like greens, oranges and yellows. 

But it’s not all about which colors you use… 

Using high-contrast colors

According to leading conversion optimization institute CXL, no single color is consistently better than another at increasing web conversions. But, using high contrasting colors to accentuate key information and draw attention to actions does work.

This is why successful eCommerce platforms, e.g. Amazon, use high-contrast color palettes like white, black and yellow… 

Amazon use of colors

Against a white background, yellow pops. It draws the eye to the action on the page, which is exactly what you want to do on your landing page.

The best way to do this is to take your main brand color and find it’s opposite using a color wheel. Then alter the hue to one that works with your branding. 

Color wheel

Credit: UXPlanet

 

So, say your primary brand colors are earthy green and grey-black. The highest contrast color would be red but you wouldn’t want a hue that’s too sharp because it won’t match your brand. So find an earthy hue. This will work with your branding and draw your viewer’s eye to your CTAs.

That’s a wrap

Color psychology is a powerful but often overlooked way to increase conversions online. By making a few small tweaks like fitting your color palette to your audience and using high contrast colors to highlight key information, you can convince more visitors to click that download button.

Author bio: “Jodie is a Conversion Copywriter and Content Strategist working with bold B2B SaaS and tech brands. Before founding This Copy Sticks, she spent a decade selling the toughest value proposition around and raised £2 million for charities before her 25th birthday. After 10 years in fundraising, Jodie now helps tech-mad trailblazers grow their businesses”

onboarding

Posted by:


The app onboarding continues to gain importance for marketers and businesses. The onboarding process defines the way the value of a new app can be explained to the users. But here the old saying “the first impression is the last impression” is truly effective. 

onboarding

It has been seen that the first impression often helps enticing and engaging the users for longer and boosting the retention rate. In contrast, apps failing to impress the users in the first instance can be completely avoided.  

According to most studies, getting new users is 5 to 25 times more difficult than retaining the users and reselling a solution to them. In spite of this, just 18% of the businesses insist on User Retention in contrast to the 44% who focus mainly on new User Acquisition. For example, take the app development in Ireland, where the budding business apps mostly focus on reaching out to as many as possible instead of focusing on retention. 

This is precisely why we are here to explain about creating a great first impression with an onboarding experience. 

Key Reasons Businesses Need to Consider User Onboarding 

If you ask any business how important it is for them to keep the customers happy so that they come back to the same brand? Well, that is exactly the way user onboarding is important.

The user onboarding process makes sure that the app portrays its key value propositions that the user is delighted with and the way the app is going to work. 

Since the users these days have a lot of options to choose from in-app marketplaces, the app makers need to convince them about the user experience and benefits at the earliest so that they keep using the app and get satisfaction from the very first moment.

Here we briefly mention the key benefits of the user onboarding process. 

  • Unique user onboarding ensures that the customers will return to the app again and again for more. Since the user onboarding makes customers happy with the first experience, it makes them come back to the app again and again. 
  • A good onboarding experience also makes the primary users spread the news about the app and help others know about the app. To be precise good onboarding experience will encourage more robust word-of-mouth marketing.  
  • The biggest advantage of user onboarding is keeping the user churn at low while ensuring higher retention. 

Creating Those Aha or Wow Moments

How do you explain your first digital experience with a product most positively? Yes, you whisper Aha or say Wow. Such positive surprises explain how success is the user onboarding experience. This is why creating a great first impression with a superb user onboarding often means creating such aha or wow moments. Explaining the core value of the app with actual user context is more important than just explaining the benefits. 

Because of the absence of great onboarding, most apps experience so many drop-offs in terms of retention in such a short-term. When the value of the app doesn’t uplift the mood of the users, and they just don’t find anything exclusively great with the app, they churn out. 

The recognition of core value apart, a superb user onboarding also helps in creating those aha or wow moments by explaining how easy it is for the users to get things done or how the app can help them solve certain problems most easily. That aha or wow moments by an onboarding experience can only be created when it is explained in the context of specific user contexts. 

Most Effective Tips to Create a Great First Impression 

Now, if you want to create a great first impression with your app, it is important to know the users for whom the user experience is being designed. This is why for user onboarding; it is extremely important to create very well-defined user personas. You can create different user personas with various user expectations and accordingly can create ideal user onboarding that works in each case. 

Here we provide some great tips for creating the most enticing user onboarding process. 

  • First of all, make sure that the user onboarding experience remains unique for the app.
  • Ensure fast and easy user onboarding so that users need to spend less time in getting their things done. Social media logins and the proper use of buttons and navigations at the right areas is necessary for this. 
  • Make sure the navigation remains intuitive and thoroughly actionable with little to confuse about. 
  • Make sure you explain the value proposition of the app in clear terms. In case of complexity of app features, make use of relevant tips appearing through pop-ups and text to ensure optimum clarity. 
  • Always showcase the best features of the app as found to be popular about the app analytics and research data.  
  • Set clear expectations about the app and the features and explain how things are going to work. 
  • Try unique and innovative methods to boost user engagement and keep them enticed to the app onboarding process till the end. For example, the Robin Hood app allows users to carry out a fake purchase and thus helps users to see how the process works to their advantage. 
  • Lastly, it is important to ask users to provide only relevant information that the app needs. 

Conclusion 

Through the user onboarding process, the first impression of the app makes a lasting impression. This is why onboarding is often the key to great user retention and business conversion. 

Author Bio:
Jamie Waltz is a Chief Technical Officer of Square Root Solutions – App Development Companies in Ireland, apart from his profession being a technology geek, he likes to write on mobile app design & development through his 6+ years of app development experience. 

 

Succeeding as a mobile app developer

Posted by:


For application developers anywhere, such as custom software developers, simply keeping pace with the industry is a full-time endeavor. They spend a lot of time racing to meet deadlines, scramble for gigs, or wade through flawed organizational spaces, which makes it easy for them to lose track of their goals. Gradually, and probably without anyone noticing it, the dream of building the perfect app, or landing the perfect development job fades into the far distance.

Succeeding as a mobile app developer

by Paul Smith

The custom software development world is saturated with so many developers that the competition to stay ahead of the game has become a steep climb. A career in app development offers appealing salaries and lucrative job opportunities. There are of course a few things to always bear in mind to become successful in this career choice. 

If you’re a developer, whether freelancing or working in a custom software development company, you should know when to transition from surviving to thriving in the software development space. 

Things to Know to Succeed in Your Mobile App Development 

The Flexibility It Brings

One of the most appealing things about becoming a developer of mobile apps is its flexibility. If you prefer working independently, there are so many independent developers out there who made it big. Moreover, you could also start your own development company. 

Nonetheless, with all the freedom it brings also comes a lot of insecurity and stress, particularly when you’re grappling to get established. What you should do is to take a personal inventory and determine what made you decide to become a developer. Try recapturing the feeling when you first realized that creating mobile apps was right for you. 

Setting some Goals

Try to think about where you would be in five years as a successful developer. Set some goals; they could be optimistic but should also be achievable. Together with the goals you want to achieve, you should also take into account what you need to get there. Make an assessment of what skills you should work on.  

It’s not only about your coding skills, although those of course are important. Often, independent app developers need to develop many other skills, such as networking, pitching, and project management to bring their ideas to life. 

Talk to Those in the Place where You want to Be

In developing mobile apps, one of the great things is the culture of collaboration. Many extremely successful people who would be happy to talk to you and discuss how they got to be where they are now. They’re eager and willing to answer questions and give advice to beginners, students, and others in the community. 

Public forums and social media channels are great places to reach out to all these successful developers. Consider looking for people with the same preferences as you. It’s a whole lot better to think about programmer friends based on their proximity with you on different coding style preferences, choices of tools, or other dimensions. 

Study Where Mobile App Developers Succeed and Where They Fail

Taking a hard, long look at the might-have-been and also-rans could help in identifying the secret success ingredients. Depending on what your goals are, looking further at the development itself at all the other things that go into building a successful app is a worthwhile endeavor. For instance, you’re enthusiastic about gaming, find out what developers started with great concepts but failed to accept wide adoption. 

As you make more contacts and friends in the industry, use it as a chance to determine their failures as well as their successes. Many developers are not keen on discussing their major project failures publicly, but all of them have stories. 

Continuous Learning

It’s natural for developers to burn out. They get stuck somewhere along the way doing the same tasks, product after product, the same specialization, year after year until they lose their passion and even their means of income. With your dream job, to continue your education to update your coding skills is more than that. 

Continuous learning provides you with new tools when the old ones become outdated. When you learn continuously, you get new and fresh approaches when you bang your head against a stubborn issue. 

Your job could turn endless labor into an opportunity of boosting and exploring your abilities. And, in the endless acceleration of tech cycles, it could spell the difference between thriving in the industry and just getting by. 

Release Frequently and Create Apps Fast 

For perfectionists, technology moves too fast. While you are still tweaking your app and looking for ways to jam in a few more features, someone else would have an austere version to market. Moreover, the fact is that an app that exists will have more downloads compared to one that doesn’t. 

A key skill for developers is to create mobile app prototypes since it enables them to try out ideas fast, get rid of those that don’t work, and dedicate time to those that do. You could become faster at the things that you’re good at with the right prototyping tools, and become better at things that you’re not. And, you should never forget testing as well. 

Getting feedback from users is invaluable to you as a developer, and the less you have to ask users, the easier it will be to make them try out your prototype. In just a few simple clicks, users could demo your application if you go for a browser-based mobile app prototyping platform that has cross-platform support. 

Stay Humble

Whatever your specialization may be, there probably are developers out there who are better at it than you. Learn from them, teach them what you know as well, and most of all, respect their skills and knowledge. Often, young, eager programmers are persuaded by the self-made success myth, but only a few, if any of those were truly self-made.  

They had designers, teachers, and backend wizards to connect all the pieces, not to mention loved ones and friends to support and inspire them. 

Conclusion

Even with the tough competition and the continuous evolution of technology, there is still plenty of room for app developers to succeed and make it big in the industry. Aside from all the things mentioned above, consider digging into the topics you love, keep challenging yourself, and most of all, keep your eyes open for an unexpected chance to be the next huge success. 

Paul Smith working as a Technical Content Writer.