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Application development for startups
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Andrew Douglas

Content

  1. Distribution of the budget when creating a mobile application
  2. How we help launch a mobile product
  3. Possible scenarios

Any startup has little time, money and no proven hypothesis, which is why it is called a startup.

Throughout the existence of the AppCraft mobile application development studio, we tried to launch our own projects, and we do it now. And from our own experience, we have made sure that the following strategy is optimal:

  1. Think over the idea that has arisen, look at existing examples, and pay special attention to closed mobile applications. Very important do not forget about the survivor bias.
  2. List everything that can be done in the project.
  3. Spend no less time to throw away everything without which the product can exist… If the main goal of the application, that is, the solution to a specific user problem, is achieved without this feature, it should be thrown away without hesitation.
  4. Draw up a marketing plan, at least an approximate one. If you do not think it over from the beginning, then at the start of an advertising campaign you will have to redo and add many things.
  5. Write a detailed technical assignment. For a startup, it should be detailed in comparison with mobile applications for already established business processes. If there, in case of questions, the answers are easily found among the established rules, then revisions of entire sections are possible here. Writing technical specifications is the creation of a product.
  6. Start a marketing campaign in accordance with a previously developed plan immediately, without even waiting for the first version of the product. Recruiting an audience and establishing close cooperation with it is a very difficult task, in fact, this is what you are doing by creating a mobile product. Therefore, you need to start doing this as early as possible.
  7. Develop the first version of the product, test it in focus groups. Complete 3-4 processing cycles and improvements based on the information collected.
  8. Carry out a soft start on the formed cohorts of the intended target audience. Cut off non-working cohorts and focus on the most alive.
  9. Move fastfocusing on early adopters. You need to communicate with them, their loyalty needs to be appreciated.
Mobile application development stages

The way to launch your own project cannot be called easy – there is really a lot of work, especially in establishing productive communication with users, and since resources are limited, first of all they need to be properly allocated.

Distribution of the budget when creating a mobile application

The bulk of the resources, about 60-70%, should be spent on gathering the audience. This includes direct advertising, and the formation of groups on social networks, and the purchase of articles, and partnerships, and many other methods.

Completely viral products that have grown without a single advertising penny are extremely rare. If this happens to your product, that’s fine, but it’s better to be able to fire multiple shots and hit the target without relying on one powerful shot in the top ten.

Of the remaining small part, 25% are for creating MVP and project management, and 50% for revisions based on the results of testing cycles.

It all looks something like this:

Distribution of money at the start of the mobile application
Distribution of finances at the start of a mobile application

First – MVP, then several quick cycles of improvement and refinement on test cohorts, then transition to large service cycles.

It is important to understand that modern IT products are services. They are not written once and for all, they are constantly changing, adapting both to the surrounding reality and to the changing needs of users.

How we help launch a mobile product

At first, we protect your idea the signing of an NDA – a non-disclosure agreement. Each specialist in our team working on your project has a similar signed agreement with the studio.

Yes, in the modern world, patenting is not as important as the speed of building business processes and the ability to form a product audience. Nevertheless, a successfully launched product is a lot of capital, and you need to work with it very carefully. Therefore, the protection of your right to your mobile application is at the forefront.

Further on the stages of development and development:

1. We carry out market analysis and write a detailed analytical report indicating the history of experiments in this niche, current competitors, links to research from global consulting companies and recommendation conclusions.

2. We help in formation of a marketing strategy…

3. We draw up technical specifications together with you, we make a clickable prototype and organize the collection of focus group information.

4. We develop MVP, preparing for a soft launch, organizing the collection and processing of statistical information. In the article about launching a mobile application we wrote about this in more detail.

5. We help in launching: we monitor the technical condition of the product, provide support, set up A / B testing of key functionality.

6. If necessary – we organize communication with investors and help in negotiations on technical issues.

A large number of developed mobile applications have formed our understanding of how it is worth and how not to do each stage. Of course, each product is different, but there are common features of the technological process that increase the chances of success.

On the blog, you can read our article on the cost of developing an app for android and iOS…

Possible scenarios

Yes, the first version of the developed product may not work. As a rule, it does not work. Everything we do the first time rarely works well.

Therefore, the startup process does not at all assume that this will happen:

1. After the development of the technical specification, the clickable prototype is shown to the target audience. We ask potential users to rate from 0 to 10 – how likely it is that they will install such a mobile application for themselves. Almost everyone puts 7-9 – this is politeness, no one will use the product. 10 – most likely yes. Success is measured in tens. If there are not enough of them, the product needs to be redone.

2. Developed MVP is launched on test cohorts. Here the statistics are analyzed in detail and, again, rotations of individual functions or even the entire product are possible.

3. During soft start, the groping process continues, some functions are amorphous and can be changed at any time, some are removed, and some are added.

4. If, after many attempts, it is still not possible to reach profitability, a more radical change in the business model is considered: partnerships, creation of a product for a specific client, barter cooperation and other options.

It happens that the result is not quite what was intended, even in its essence, but if it works, solves people’s problems and allows you to earn money, that’s great.

We will help you at every stage of this difficult path and will be happy to share our experience. Doing something big together is always very interesting and exciting.

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Application development cost calculator
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Andrew Douglas

The methodology for calculating the timing and cost of developing applications is given below. A more detailed description of pricing in the IT development market is in this article.

Calculating the cost of a mobile application

The calculation of the cost of developing a mobile application is based on the amount of labor – time. They are precisely the main difficulty in understanding this market.: Someone promises to complete the task in two weeks, while others claim that it is impossible to voice less than three months in sound mind and memory.

We analyzed a large number of reports from various organizations and mobile development studios, which, in turn, are based on the study of project evaluations by performers on Clutch, UpWork and other sites. There are many of them, for example:

These data give an understanding of the average time estimate for the development of typical mobile applications: social networks, instant messengers, utilities, and others.

Of course, the average price implies a fairly large range even in each segment. For example, the implementation of chat in applications can vary greatly:

  1. Should there be statuses about delivery and reading of messages?
    •
  2. Are there group chats?
    •
  3. Ability to send images, video and audio messages?
    •
  4. Is it possible to delete messages, including those of interlocutors?
    •
  5. Should dialogues be archived?
    •
  6. Is the encryption algorithm required and which one?
    •
  7. In which country will it work: what local legal requirements must be met?
    •
  8. Should there be stickers?
    •
  9. If so, is it possible to upload my own kits?
    •
  10. Should it be possible to reply to messages via push notifications?

And these are just the main questions, not affecting design, animation elements, support for various devices, and so on.

However, the average estimate provides a guideline for the order of labor. If it is a month and a half, then in fact it can be plus or minus two weeks, but not six months.

The resulting estimate of the scope of work is distributed among the number of specialists in the team. If a mobile application is being developed simultaneously for two platforms, iOS and Android, then the work is being carried out in parallel. The design also partially overlaps: the development of promotional materials, for example, can be carried out in parallel with the direct development of the product.

The calculation of the cost of a mobile application is based on the average cost of an hour of work of our Appcraft studio specialists. It is average for the market: the development office is located in Ryazan, which allows us to reduce the cost of maintaining the workspace.

In this article, we described the principle of cost formation for the development of a mobile application in more detail, gave a number of examples and described our vision of the algorithm for selecting a contractor.

And in this – the results of a survey of customers regarding their opinion on the timing and cost of developing mobile applications in Russia.

Next article

Mobile app launch

The release of a mobile app is not a one-time event. There will always be room for improvements that make release a cyclical process that needs to be reassessed.

Read more

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5 main metrics to control the quality of a mobile application
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Andrew Douglas

“What can be measured can be improved,” said Peter Drucker, the father of modern management theory. But what exactly does a startup measure in its product? How do you differentiate actionable, fact-based mobile app launch metrics from “vanity metrics” that can only flatter a developer’s vanity?

And most importantly – why?

The answer is simple: then, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your product. You will never correct the latter if you collect erroneous data or process correct data in the wrong way. In order not to ruin your startup at the very beginning, we recommend tracking 5 key performance indicators of a mobile application from our article. But before moving on to them, we recall that any company needs to first of all monitor financial metrics, including:

  • Fixed and variable costs;
  • Cash balance;
  • Capital burnout rate;
  • Break even;
  • Cash flow;
  • Profit.

1. Average income from one user and the total profit from cooperation with him

Total profit per client – one of the main indicators of the success of your chosen business model. When applied to mobile development, it speaks about the financial value of your company, showing how much each user contributes to it throughout the entire time of interaction with the application. Josia Humphrey of Appster proposes to predict the total revenue per user by multiplying the annual cost of services (for example, an app subscription) by the number of years that you think the user will stay with you. For example, if, on average, your client spends 1,200 rubles a year and uses the application for 5 years, then the total profit from it will be 6,000 rubles.

Young people define the concept of a new beautiful mobile app

In the case of startups, this formula may not work due to the lack of sufficient data. Therefore, instead of your own statistics, you can use the statistics of the closest competitors in order to understand which indicator you need to strive for. In any case, entrepreneurs agree that in order to ensure the company’s profitability, the total profit per user must exceed the cost of attracting it at least three times.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) Is a metric related to the purchasing behavior of your audience. It is needed to analyze the source of the company’s income. Including, its changes from each new installation of a mobile application or a purchase made in it. From this metric, investors draw conclusions about the potential profitability of the project, and developers – about its shortcomings. Overall, increasing both metrics along with expanding your user base is in your best interest.

2. The cost of installing the application and the cost of a loyal user

Installation cost (CPI) Is the amount you spend to get one person to install your mobile application. You advertise in various media to increase installs and pay a fixed or floating rate to install the app. Organic installs are not included in this metric.

The install cost is calculated as the ratio of the advertising campaign budget to the total number of app installs. For example, if you spent 300,000 rubles on advertising and got 1,500 installs, then the cost of one will be 200 rubles. Loyal User Cost (CPLU) Is the amount you spend to get a “loyal” or “active” user who has logged into the application more than three times.

The student installs a mobile application during an interesting lecture

This metric shows how much you should spend in order to reach an audience that actually uses your app after installation. In conjunction with the average income per user, it will help you calculate:

  1. Return on Investment Ratio (ROI) – the ratio of funds earned to invested funds;
  2. The break-even point is the number of mobile app installations at which the sum of the company’s fixed and variable costs is equal to its income. When it exceeds costs, you start making a profit.

Fiksu DSP statistics at the moment are as follows:

  • The average cost of a loyal user in the mobile app market is $ 2.51;
  • Average cost to install an iOS app – $ 1.88
  • The average cost to install an Android app is $ 2.42.

3. Audience retention

Today, more than 6 million mobile applications are available in the Google Play and App Store. However, users spend almost 85% of their time on smartphones on just 5 of them. And the likelihood that your application will be removed after 72 hours of use and never installed again is 4 out of 5. This means that people are content with a small set of favorite applications and are not inclined to expand it. Obviously, in such conditions, audience retention is becoming a serious problem, especially for mobile startups. Apptentive estimates that only 4% of iOS and Android users have been using the same mobile app for over a year. Josia Humphrey of Appster believes that “the moment you get a new user, you should do your best to ensure that they stay with you as long as possible.”

Man makes a fateful decision

Inc.com and Molly Galetto define the term “audience retention“As” the company’s ability to build and maintain long-term relationships with as many customers as possible. ” But why keep users on a mobile app? Alex Waltz is sure that knowledge of this indicator is an excellent indicator of the success of the application and the number of its real users. Based on this data, you can improve your marketing strategy and make the promotion of the application more targeted, as well as calculate the total profit from cooperation with each client and the total income of the company.

4. Audience engagement

Involvement – not an empirical indicator. It can be assessed by tracking and collecting various data:

  • the duration of the session;
  • preferred ways to interact with the application;
  • the number of transitions to the application via push notifications;
  • the total number of screens viewed per session.
The story of turning off notifications during a meeting

Engagement is important because it speaks to the quality of a mobile app, complementing quantitative assessments. Active users not only increase audience retention and total profit, but also contribute to the viral spread of the application through social networks. Therefore, the largest mobile apps like Facebook have a very high engagement rate.

We discussed the issue of engagement in more detail in an article on this topic.

5. Consumer loyalty index

Consumer Loyalty Index (NPS) Is one of the most effective indicators of user satisfaction and mobile app virality. It can be measured by asking the audience the following question: “On a scale of 0-10, what is the likelihood that you will recommend our app to friends, colleagues and family members?” If you want to know the reasons for this or that attitude towards your product – ask one more question, but no more.

Very loyal mobile app user

An article about the features of creating applications for android help to develop a product that satisfies users as much as possible applications on this OC…

Based on the answer, Netpromoter.com categorizes users as follows:

  • “Distributors” – put 9 or 10 points, ready to make purchases in your application and support it in every possible way.
  • “Passive consumers” – they give 7-8 points, they are satisfied with the work of the application, but they may well go to your competitors.
  • “Critics” – put below 6 points, are not satisfied with the application and can ruin the reputation of your brand, leaving negative reviews on the Internet and in life.

The final consumer loyalty index is calculated as the difference between the number of “critics” and the number of “distributors”.

Whatever the outcome, it will give you an idea of ​​the audience’s impression of your app and help you:

  • understand if your product meets market demands;
  • measure the value and viral potential of the application;
  • evaluate whether users want to share your application with other people, making them your potential customers.

On the site, you can leave a request for the development of mobile applications in Moscow and Russia (if you are from another country – also write), and in the blog you can find out about the prices of developing an application for android and ios.

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Application development timeline
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Andrew Douglas

About 1 million applications are published in stores every year. In 2017, the number of app downloads was 197 billion, with a forecast of 352 billion by 2021. This whole celebration of life will generate about two hundred billion dollars in revenue according to the same forecast. All these big and beautiful numbers only mean that a lot of applications are being developed, and more will be developed.

World experience in development gives a certain understanding of various aspects of creating mobile applications, including the main ones: cost and development time. In this article, we consider the issue of timing: how long does it take to develop a mobile application?

Research

Kinvey surveyed 100 UI / UX professionals in mobile app development with a single question: “How long do you think it will take to create an MVP (first working prototype) of a mobile app?”

The average of all responses was 18 weeks
(about 4.5 months)

This estimate implies costs of approximately 10 weeks for the backend and 8 weeks for the frontend…

Kinvey also made this beautiful infographic:

Mobile app development timeline infographics

Estimated stages include:

  1. Storage design
  2. Thinking about caching
  3. Data Synchronization Issues
  4. Prototyping
  5. UI / UX design, development
  6. UI / UX design polishing on a prototype
  7. User account management
  8. Server logic
  9. Integration with external services
  10. Implementation of push notifications, onboarding
  11. Version compatibility support

During the same time, it is possible to assemble 1.3 Boeing 777s and launch the Apollo mission to the Moon 40 times.

The second study was conducted in 2017 by GoodFirms. They approached the matter more thoroughly, interviewing various experts in the industry to estimate the time and cost of developing specific examples of mobile applications (Instagram, Tinder, Uber, etc.). The results are as follows:

1. Complex applications like Instagram or Uber, which include large functionality, are estimated by the development time 4.5 to 5.5 months…

2. Development of an application for iphone and other smartphones, medium in complexity (WhatsApp) require about 4.5 months working time of the team.

3. High-quality applications with little functionality will require from 3.8 to 4.1 months…

The average estimates of the cost (in million rubles, two platforms: iOS and Android, the server side) and the terms of application development were as follows:

Evaluating mobile app development by budget and timeline

A total of 55 mobile application development companies from 15 countries were surveyed. At the same time, the scatter of estimates turned out to be quite large:

Evaluation of the development of a mobile application in terms of time and cost

Some companies estimated the volume of work to be no more than a month, some – no less than eight. Someone gave an estimate of 300 million rubles, someone – at 13 million.

results

Based on the combined results of both studies the average development time for a mobile application is 4-5 months… We are talking about a full cycle: from thinking through an idea to launching, which includes many stages.

If you are planning to create an android application from scratch or develop a relatively small iOS application, expect a period of 3 to 4 months. Complex application – about 6.

At AppCraft MVP studio is done quickly: we understand that in 4-6 months the state of the market and the needs of customers can change significantly. Therefore, preference is given to the ability to test the product as quickly as possible on real users instead of implementing additional functionality.

On our website you can fill out an application for the development of a mobile application to order, and in the blog you can read about the cost of developing a mobile application.

Subscribe to our Telegram channel: every day we publish interesting materials about creating a business and developing mobile applications.

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Next article

5 main metrics to control the quality of a mobile application

What should a mobile startup measure? How do you differentiate actionable, evidence-based mobile app metrics from “vanity metrics” that can only please a developer?

Read more

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Business Application Development
0
Andrew Douglas

Content

  1. Do you need a mobile application
  2. How we help you find the optimal solution
  3. How to work further

If you have a desire to competently develop your business, then the development of a mobile application should be treated as a tool for achieving specific goals. Attracting an additional audience, increasing the loyalty of an existing one, creating a platform for selling additional services – there can be many tasks. But first of all, it is important to understand whether a mobile application is the best way to achieve your goal.

Every entrepreneur is an expert in his field and knows better than others how to create his own goods and services and sell them. We know the strengths and weaknesses of IT products. Establish a dialogue at the initial stage for a comprehensive analysis of the proposed product – our initial joint task.

Do you need a mobile app?

Creating a mobile app is an expensive and slow process. We analyzed this issue in detail in the article on development cost – usually worth it from 500 thousand to 1 million rubles and takes 2-3 months busy working hours.

There are always several options for solving the problem.

As a consequence, you need to make sure that the means to achieve the goal is chosen correctly. You can develop a mobile version of the site, you can create a chat bot, you can solve a problem through social networks or integrate into existing products. It will be both cheaper and faster, and the payback period, accordingly, is significantly shorter.

So that we can offer different options, describe in detail their positive and negative sides, we need to understand the specifics of your business and the details of the hypothesis that led you to the idea of ​​developing a mobile application. Most likely, we have already come across similar solutions or some of their elements, and our experience can help to shorten the path.

How we help you find the optimal solution

The typical sequence of cooperation is as follows:

  1. We dive into specifics your work and the task at hand.
  2. Analyzing the market and offer several options for solving the problem with different costs, a description of their strengths and weaknesses.
  3. Together choose the optimal path, we draw up a technical task.
  4. Together think over the design, testing prototypes on target audience groups.
  5. We develop a mobile application short sprints – iterations that allow tracking the quality and speed of passing the stages.
  6. We integrate the necessary tools into the product: analytical and accounting systems, split testing services, quality control and customer support services. We have experience in integrating with 1C systems, Bitrix, R-Keeper, Iiko, various payment solutions and banks.
  7. Together launching the mobile application…
  8. We regularly generate analytical reports about the current state of the key indicators of the product.

If you already have a detailed technical specification and a clear understanding of the strategy after the conducted and deliberate testing, we will move in the already developed direction.

If, nevertheless, there are doubts at some stages, it is always better to weigh the available arguments of different positions and move forward in a more balanced way.

How to work further

Every product we develop is covered by performance guarantee: if an error suddenly occurs, the built-in monitoring systems will recognize it and we will correct it as a matter of priority.

AppCraft warranty support and maintenance
This is how we help products develop

In addition, we can conclude an SLA agreement on technical support, under which we will help in solving more complex product problems and provide technical support for the product. For example, the load on the server may be too large and it needs to be expanded, it is necessary to replace certificates for the payment system to work, etc.

We can also periodically generate a statistical report based on the collected data of analytical systems and send our recommendations for further actions, if necessary.

Our main task is jointly make a workable and effective productwho is able to achieve the set goal. We discuss different forms of cooperation and support for each product, they always have their own specifics, but always the same task.

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Next article

Main programming languages ​​for mobile app development

Knowing the languages ​​for creating mobile applications is useful not only for developers, but also for customers who want to better understand the project processes and know which language to choose for their application. In this article, we will talk about the main programming languages ​​for iOS and Android mobile development.

Read more

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Mobile application for an online store: stages of development, functionality and terms
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Andrew Douglas

With the advent of Aliexpress, Ozon, Wildberries and other popular Internet applications, people have fully experienced the convenience of a quick order in a few clicks and are no longer so willing to access sites. If you have an online store, it’s time to think about its mobile version, so as not to lose your own audience.

AppCraft studio has been engaged in mobile development for 9 years and has created more than 208 applications for iOS and Android, including in the field of e-commerce. In this article, we share our experience and tell you how to create an application for an online store.

Why does an online store need an application?

Now the creation of a mobile application is no longer a fashionable feature, but a strategic tool that will help retain its customers, attract new ones and increase profits.

Fast and convenient ordering. People have begun to use their phones more often, but the mobile version of the store is not always responsive: it loads slowly, has inconvenient little buttons and links. Such pages are often left without reaching the order. The application solves this problem: it takes into account the characteristics of each smartphone and has an intuitive interface that helps you complete a purchase in a few minutes.

Push notifications. Pop-up messages on your phone are much more effective than SMS and email newsletters, and are also free. With the help of them, you can set up a mailing list for a narrow circle of people and tell them about promotions and sales. People are much more likely to open these messages and make a repeat purchase.

Attracting new users. If you are hosted on Google Play and the App Store, you may be found through these sites. They can also place advertisements and display store advertisements on the first line of search results.

Integration with instant messengers and social networks. Users can share their purchases with others or talk about interesting products in their accounts. This is another way to advertise your online store for free and natively.

What are the stages of development?

Business and market analysis

Before starting the development, we conduct analytics: we study the goals of the business, its audience, the network of products and competitors in the market. The AppCraft team conducts interviews with the customer, his customers, organizes focus groups and expert assessment to get as much information as possible.

This data will help us develop an application that will meet the needs of customers and stand out from the competition.

Preparation of technical specifications

After the analytics, the customer and the developers draw up a list of requirements, set deadlines, budget and team composition.

Here are the main points of the terms of reference:

  • Business goals
  • Portrait of potential consumers
  • User journey map.
  • Mandatory and optional options that must be valid in the online store.
  • Technical requirements for interface, performance and security.
  • Implementation of UX and UI design.
  • Development stages.
  • Cost of work.

Team building

A project from and to is created by a product manager, analysts, marketers, developers, designers and testers. The number of specialists depends on the scale of the product, the budget and the time frame. All this is agreed with the client before starting work and discussed during development.

AppCraft employs a permanent team with extensive experience in creating and developing applications, which performs its tasks with high quality and works for the result. We are confident in the professionalism of each of them, therefore we practically do not involve external employees.

Development of a prototype

A prototype is created to test the application for usability and functionality, in order to fix bugs and improve the user experience at the initial stage.

The prototype helps to reflect the logic, structure, UX and UI design and all functions, test them and start developing the final product.

Main application development

Takes up the largest amount of time and resources: developers write code, work out the architecture, create backend and frontend. Before that, programmers study analytics well, the customer’s tasks and implement his ideas into reality.

Testing

Now testers are involved in the work – people who are called upon to press every button, open all pages and push notifications in order to find all bugs and shortcomings and understand how convenient it is for them to buy in an online store. It is important that such specialists do not participate in other stages of the work, and that their assessment is objective, and the look is fresh and impartial.

Testing can take a long time, but it is always justified: it is better to double-check each item and fix all important flaws than to get hundreds of negative reviews from real users after the release.

Publication

After careful testing, it’s time to publish the finished application and meet with the first users. For everything to go well, you need to study the rules of the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, send screenshots of the pages, a marketing promotion plan and a description of the project. If all goes well, your online store will appear on the platform in a couple of days.

Finalization and technical support of the project

The application resembles a living organism that is constantly changing, so you cannot do without corrections and stable technical support. You need to carefully study statistics, conduct analytics, study the path of users and reviews – this will help you find the most popular sections, the number of targeted user actions, problem areas of the sales funnel, etc. As the online store develops, refine popular categories and get rid of unnecessary functions.

What features to add to the application?

Before development, a technical assignment is formed, which includes the requirements and functionality of the future project. The online store has its own list of features that will make it useful and user-friendly.

Basic

  • Registration and creation of a profile.
  • Viewing and editing personal data.
  • Browse the catalog and search for products using a filter.
  • Transferring goods to the cart and placing an order.
  • Online payment for purchases

Additional

  • The ability to postpone a product, add it to a wishlist, or compare several options from different brands at once.
  • Chat with online user support.
  • Product reviews.
  • Recommendations based on interests and purchases made by the user.
  • Loyalty program with bonuses, discounts and gifts for purchases.
  • Administrative panel for managing content and promotions.
  • Marketing analytics tools.
  • Viewing and trying on products in augmented reality.
  • Notifications on the user’s smartphone screen.
  • Integration with social networks.
  • Paid features: subscription to a premium account with additional promotions, discounts and terms of order and delivery.

On Android or IOS?

Both platforms have their pros and cons, so choose based on your goals and audience. Android phones are used by 88% of people, but iPhone owners spend more money on apps. According to statistics, Apple store generates 80% more profit than Google Play.

There is also cross-platform development, when one base is created for two platforms at once. This allows you to reduce the time and cost of the final project, while maintaining the required level of quality. Cons: the application can sometimes crash due to the peculiarities of the platforms.

The AppCraft team will help you develop an online store for any platform and make it as convenient as possible for any target audience.

How long will it take and how much will it cost?

The average term for developing an application for an online store is 4-5 months. It will take 3-4 months to create an Android application from scratch or a small project, while a complex project will take about 6 months.

At AppCraft, we try to optimize each of the stages of work in order to bring the finished product as quickly as possible by testing the product on real users instead of the long implementation of numerous functions.

The cost of creating an application for an online store will depend on the terms of reference and the amount of work. Contact us to discuss the details and find out the exact price.

12 ways to simplify complex forms to fill out on the website, mobile application
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Andrew Douglas

Complex user forms are most often found on the websites and applications of companies in the fintech, real estate, renovation and legal services sectors. It is difficult to correctly design these forms, but it is important, because you need to motivate the user to enter a large amount of information.

Here are some ways to make your forms easier and more convenient.

freepik.com

Convince users that filling out the form on the site or in the application will be quick

Before starting to fill out the form in the application or on the website, the visitor should feel that it will not take long. Write that it will take no more than 8 minutes to open an account, and insurance will be calculated literally in seconds. This will prevent the person from being intimidated by the upcoming filling out of forms.

Tell us that you don’t have to spend a lot of effort to fill out a form on the website or in the application.

Usually users are lazy and don’t want to work on something complicated. Make them feel like you will do all the work for them. For example, offer them a list of ready-made choices instead of asking them to manually search for something. For clarity, you can illustrate each example using photographs or illustrations. If possible, do it with humor to defuse the situation.

Make it clear where users are and where they are going

In a long user form with many steps, it is important to reassure users by clearly showing their progress. This can be done using three elements of the site or application interface:

  • Displaying a progress bar

It is a commonly used component for displaying progress. It works easily on both computer and mobile phone.

  • Displaying the main stages of filling out the form
  • Using breakpoint screens

This is the screen that the user sees after completing each step. It is especially important for cases when the form can be filled in several sessions.

State all steps clearly and clearly

A long form with a lot of data tires users. Try to break a complex questionnaire into small steps. “One screen, one action” is a principle often applied in many digital products. It will help make the process of filling in the handicap on the website and in the application smooth, and the user calm.

Explain why you are requesting specific information

After cases of data leakage on well-known resources, users do not so easily disclose information about themselves. You must convince people of confidentiality and explain why it is important to fill in a specific part of the line. Tell us that fully filled-in fields in the application or on the website will help you find the best prices, save good money, get a result much faster, etc. This motivates users to trust you and move on to the filling stage.

Allow users to save filled data

Some forms in applications or on websites may require documents or images that users do not have quick access to. Therefore, it is important to give the opportunity to save the process and return to it after a while. Let people know that their efforts were worthwhile and all information will be saved.

Show how user action affects the outcome

Forms, where the result is displayed on the screen after filling out a certain line, adds a sense of calmness to people. For example, if a person books a plane ticket, he immediately sees the price change when any additional service is added.

Remove distractions

In a complex user form, it is important to create a clean interface so that users are not too distracted by banners and navigation. This increases the chances of users staying focused and completing the funnel. Leave only the links and buttons you need to avoid distracting people.

Offer hints

If the questionnaire requires specific information, in which users can easily make mistakes, it is necessary to add a few hints. Suggest some ground rules for uploading images before filling out, show the hourly pay range for similar projects, or suggest recommendations from other users if the person is choosing a vacation spot.

Add humanity

In an area where users tend to be cautious, such as insurance or due diligence, using empathy can help reassure and motivate them to fill out a form. Make the user feel that they are interacting with a real person, and not with a large, impersonal company, both in the application and on the website.

Prove your legitimacy

Show that you have the authority to provide certain services and that you follow all the rules. So users are convinced of the legality and are more willing to make contact. To do this, you can use accreditation documents, certificates, customer reviews and third parties.

In processes where the last step involves transferring money or making a payment, users can easily leave the site or close the application if they are not sure that all of their information is correct. It is important to provide them with an easy way to review all the information they have filled out and easily edit it in case of an error.

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How to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile application
0
Andrew Douglas

In 2020, according to rough figures, there were more than 5 million mobile applications, and downloads were in the billions. Mostly people installed mobile games, video conferencing services and instant messengers. Of course, Covid-19 and quarantine measures played an important role in this choice. The transition to the format of remote work, forced vacations, adaptation to new realities – and now, people are actively downloading games, communicating in messengers, meeting in Zoom, ordering the delivery of food and all the necessary things in this difficult time.

Many companies have had to adapt and incorporate application development into their business strategy in order not to lose customers. The trend continues in 2021. What indicators do you need to pay attention to in order to understand whether a mobile application is effective or not?

How to measure the effectiveness of a mobile application – basic metrics and indicators

Number of downloads

This metric can be safely called the most popular. Marketers often track it and try to work towards increasing the number of installs. They do this not only to show off impressive numbers in case studies.

The number of downloads directly affects the ranking of an application in Google Apps and App Store – the higher it is in the search, the more likely it is that the target audience will notice it and decide to use it. At the same time, a large number of downloads shows that marketers have done a good job on marketing strategy, promotion and ASO, but sometimes speaks very little as an indicator of the effectiveness of a mobile application. This is because trends and people’s interests are fluid. So it’s great to remember that more is not always better, and high demand today does not guarantee stable growth tomorrow.

The download metric can be useful if you are launching a product for a loyal audience or want to increase it. For example, an app can make table reservations easier, and a loyalty program can bring in even more customers. Although there is always a chance that half of the audience will still come without prior reservation, simply because they are conservative and happy with the way things are working now.

It’s also a good idea to keep track of your downloads if you want to develop the world’s best product and then sell it profitably.

How to calculate: determine the number of potential users of the application, and then find the percentage of that number. This percentage will represent potential installations.

If you are using paid promotion channels, it is a good idea to calculate the average installation cost to estimate the costs of those channels.

To do this, divide the cost of promotion by the amount of users who have installed the application. Remember to compare the number of downloads to the number of deletions. If the application is often downloaded, but immediately removed, it is a reason to think if you are wasting your budget on advertising in certain channels.

How to increase:

  • Think over your marketing strategy: publish news on social networks, post articles on specialized blogs and press releases on news platforms.
  • Use an informative icon that looks good on different devices.
  • Verify that screenshots of the application’s key screens provide basic information about its functions and tasks.
  • Make sure the description is complete and has enough keywords.
  • Post a quality video – many people decide to use a product after watching the video.
  • Give the opportunity to use the application for free. This can be either a trial period or a cut-down functionality on a free plan.
  • Share custom content. Positive feedback on your development is the best advertisement.
BeeO is an app that makes it easy to choose the right foods for a healthy diet. On Instagram, the team talks about app updates, shares useful information about the composition of products and gives advice on proper nutrition.

Retention rate

This metric shows the percentage of users who visited the application again after downloading. Literally, it is an indicator of how high-quality your traffic is and whether people have formed a habit of frequently using your product.

Considering that every fifth person after downloading the application opens it only once, it is better not to forget to work on increasing Retention.

If your product involves frequent use, this metric is indispensable. For example, you have developed a fitness app, and it is important for you that people run it every day and exercise according to the chosen schedule. If they don’t do this, then the habit of practicing every day will not form, just as the habit of opening your application every day will not form.

And, on the contrary, the Retention Rate is slightly less important, for example, for the delivery industry. Most likely, users will not order groceries from the store every day. In this case, this metric of the effectiveness of a mobile application does not need to be written off, it is just more expedient to calculate the Retention Rate for a week, two, three or a month.

Also, this metric will not give a lot to understand about the effectiveness of the mobile application for booking seats in a restaurant. A person can use it a couple of times a year when he wants to celebrate a birthday or wedding anniversary. The rest of the time it will not open the application. And it will not delete either, for example, because of the convenient bonus program. The retention rate in this case will be low, but it can be assumed that the application is conditionally effective.

How to calculate: There are several counting options. The classic formula is the sum of unique launches on a certain day after downloading, divided by the number of users who installed the application on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. day and multiply by 100%.

How to increase:

  • Make sure that the application interface is clear and user-friendly. Analyze user behavior using heatmaps, for example, and continually improve UX and UI.
  • Work on onboarding. If during the first use people do not understand how to place an order, choose an address or enter a card number, they are unlikely to want to figure it out for a long time. Design clues that will be useful to them at different stages.
  • Use gamification. For example, award points at the end of the week for completing daily assignments.
  • Remind about events via push notifications and emails. In doing so, try to take into account their interests, time of activity and reactions to alerts. Notifications should be associated with help and concern, not annoyance and intrusiveness.
  • But the most obvious thing is to make a product that will solve the problems of your target audience. The decision is so good that people will want to visit the application more often – without reminders and different ways of motivating.

In-app purchases

This cost-benefit metric helps you assess how the development affects the company’s bottom line.

May be needed if you have released an application to support a product or service. For example, we added the ability to pay for an order through an application on a mobile device, in addition to paying to the courier or only on the website. In this case, an increase in orders may indicate its effectiveness. And, on the contrary, if the payment for services through your application has increased due to a decrease in the payment for services on your site, it is difficult to talk about the effectiveness of development. Because the income hasn’t really changed.

How to increase:

  • In order for in-app purchases to bring tangible benefits, you need to attract new customers. And those who have not been your client before. Another way is to increase the number of purchases made by existing customers.
  • Make the process of product selection and payment as easy as possible. For example, if possible, implement convenient filtering, automatic form filling and saving of entered data.
  • Return users. You can motivate shopping with ads, email newsletters, and push notifications.
  • Launch a loyalty program. The chance to get a discount or save on shipping is a good reason to order from you, not a competitor.
  • Add additional blocks. For example, cards with personalized recommendations or popular products.
The duolingo language learning app reminds you to learn English in emails and sends you a weekly progress report.

Net Promoter Score – NPS

Net Promoter Score – customer loyalty index. To find out, customers are asked the question “are you ready to recommend the company, for example, to friends or relatives”. The rating is put on a scale from 0 to 10. Analysis of the responses received allows you to find out how many people are satisfied with the application, how many are neutral, and how many are negatively disposed.

It’s great to take this into account, especially if you’ve done polls before – there will be a clear “before-after” picture.

The problem is that the development and implementation process can go on at the same time as loyalty programs are launched or prices increase. These processes may well influence the responses of people to a survey, but will not directly relate to the assessment of the application.

How to count: All answers fall into three categories:

1-6 – critics. Users who are unhappy with the app. May leave negative reviews and delete it.

7-8 – neutrals. Neutral – they will not give low ratings or negative reviews, but there is a possibility that they will go to competitors.

9-10 – promoters. Those who are happy with the app and most likely will recommend it.

After that, from the sum of ratings from 9 to 10 “promoters”, you need to subtract the ratings of “neutrals”, divide the resulting difference by the number of respondents and multiply by 100.

NPS can be improved by constantly analyzing customer information. In addition to the information that you can get from analytics systems, ask them to evaluate the convenience and functionality of the application. Ask questions about what other features they would like to see and draw conclusions to improve the product and the company.

Lifetime Value – LTV

Lifetime Value – the customer’s lifetime value makes it clear how much income he will bring for all the time that he uses the application. This metric shows how much one new customer costs for the company, and how much is his loss. It is generally accepted that the cost of attracting a user should be about 3-5 times lower than its value. That is, a situation when you spend 1000 rubles on attracting and get 1000 is a bad option.

Every business should focus on LTV. If you calculate revenue per user, you can use LTV with other metrics. This will help to draw accurate conclusions in assessing the effectiveness of a mobile application and determine the optimal budget for marketing and advertising.

There are several ways to calculate Lifetime Value… Marketers often use the formula: LTV = a * b * t

where a is the amount of income from the user, b is the cost of attracting him, t is the time of using the application.

How to increase this indicator:

  • Run incentive promotions. For example, add bonuses or give discounts for purchases and actions performed.
  • Don’t forget about UX. If a person constantly faces the same problem, they may simply stop using your product. Therefore, even after the user has interacted with the application several times, it is important to analyze whether he had any difficulties at some stage, whether there are interface elements that can be improved.
  • Provide timely feedback. This measure will help to increase any performance metrics of a mobile application. Feedback from customers will help make the product better, and it will make it clear to users that you care about their wishes and reviews.
So he offers to leave feedback on the app for learning Italian LinDuo.

The choice of metrics by which it is better to assess the effectiveness of mobile applications depends on the scope and specifics of the business. The main thing is to define a group of indicators before the release and evaluate them according to the assumed KPIs. Use heatmaps to see how people behave in your app, place targeted action buttons on the most popular pages, and keep a close eye on the customer experience. The effectiveness of mobile development depends on it.

For nine years, AppCraft studio specialists have launched several of their own projects, dozens of client projects and have accumulated a lot of expertise, which they are happy to share. If you are thinking about creating mobile applications for android or iOS, write or call us – we will answer all your questions.

Onboarding in a mobile application: what is it and why
0
Andrew Douglas

If you find yourself in a new job, HR will take you on a tour of the office, tell you about the company, introduce you to colleagues, and provide you with all the materials and supplies you need to work. All of these actions are called employee onboarding. The same principle works in mobile applications – your users decide to use the application, and you help them in this in different ways and introduce them to the application and its functions. What types of onboarding are there and should you use it at all?

Why onboarding is needed

So, onboarding is a process that helps users learn about the functions of an application and make the necessary settings to use it more efficiently. The right onboarding makes a good impression on users, affects the company’s bottom line and serves three functions:

Attraction: will help you understand the value of your product and will motivate people to use the application more often.

Informing: a hint in the interface will help users learn more about the innovations and updates.

Hold: a person will use the application constantly if he understands that it solves his problems.

Ideally, the application should be such that users can use it without prompting. A good plan is to test how users will behave without onboarding. This will help you understand how well you thought out the interface and at what stages users need your help.

What onboarding is

Presentations

These are the first few screens that the user sees when they first launch the application. Usually they are used to get acquainted with a mobile application, talk about the tasks that the application solves and why the user made the right choice when he installed it. As a rule, it is best not to design more than five slides and give the user the option to skip viewing this information and go straight to the application interface.

People want to use the application right away, and not go through training and memorize a lot of information. Therefore, it is not a good plan to allocate multiple screens to train your product’s functions.

The first screens of the app for paying for per-minute workouts in gyms GYMMY FIT.

Personalization

This type of onboarding may be needed when, in order to be productive in the application, the user needs to fill in information about himself. For example, in an application for learning foreign languages, it is imperative to find out the user’s level, vocabulary and the purpose of the study. So he will receive an individual training program as soon as he enters these data.

Duolingo uses onboarding not only for building a program, but also for analytics – at one of the steps it asks how the user learned about the application.

Application tour

When the user starts using the application, he sees interactive prompts that help him take the first steps and remember the functionality of the buttons. Remember that the best help is timely help. Try to use onboarding exactly at those stages when the user may need help, and in places where everything is obvious, do not distract with unnecessary actions.

An example of onboarding in a LinDuo app. If prompts are distracting, you can turn them off.

Tips and hints

You can tell about the functions of this or that button using the hints built into the interface.

It is important to remember that they can overload the user and it may seem to him that the application is too complex. Therefore, it is better not to resort to such prompts too often and to explain the really important points of the interaction.

Crossroads shares news and important messages in stories.

There are a lot of nuances to consider when designing onboarding. Sometimes it requires additional actions, time and stress of the user’s attention – use it correctly and only if it solves the customer’s problem.

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Mobile application for food delivery: development features
0
Andrew Douglas

2020 has been a year of intense growth for the food delivery market. Analysts predict that in 2021 this sector will almost double (by 47%), and the catering market will shrink by 21.3%. During the pandemic, users developed a habit of using delivery services, and restaurateurs were able to take advantage of the situation and introduce online delivery into their business strategy. According to some reports, 74.7% of restaurants offered food delivery to their customers in September 2020 – a 29.91% increase over the same period in 2019.

It may seem that the market is already filled with large companies, but you always have the opportunity to create something unique. This article tells you how to design and create a delivery platform, and, most importantly, where to start.

Photo by Yu hosoi on Unsplash

Conduct analytics

Before developing, you need to conduct analytics and find answers to the following questions:

What format will you work in?

You can deliver food from your establishment or work with partners, collecting orders at your base. In any case, you will need to build a system of work with personnel and ensure high-quality delivery for users.

How will you work with clients?

Think in advance how you will take orders, resolve organizational issues and disputable situations.

Who will deliver the food?

You can hire your own team of couriers or use third-party services.

The business model and functionality of the future application will depend on the answers. Perhaps, in the end, you will need to create several products at once: applications for customers, administrators and couriers.

Understand: Who is your target audience?

Study how old your potential users are, what level of income they have, where and by whom they work, what they are hobbies about, what kind of lifestyle they lead and what dishes they prefer. The most desirable audience is millennials aged 25-30: they are more willing to use new products and order food more often.

Make a rough portrait of your audience and think over functionality that will fully satisfy its needs.

How will you be different?

Once you enter the market, you will find yourself in the same space with large and well-known players – they have more resources and influence, but this does not mean that small businesses cannot succeed. Think about what unique you will offer your audience. This can be free grocery delivery, a large selection of goods – from drinks to household appliances, 24-hour service or donations to charity with every purchase.

What should the application be like?

For people to stay with you for a long time and advise friends, the application must be clear and convenient. Here are some parameters to apply:

Fast and simple interface

Ideally, the user should place an order in a couple of steps, so make the interface intuitive and functional. Don’t force people to open pages several times to figure out how they work.

Nice visual

Even if your application is as convenient as possible, inharmonious colors and poor quality photos can scare a person off – no one wants to injure the retina and their sense of beauty with a bad picture.

Secure payment

Protect users’ privacy and show that every transaction goes smoothly.

Loyalty system

Give personal discounts and promotional codes for loyalty, offer special offers in case of mistakes and give the opportunity to earn points.

Reviews and ratings

Before choosing a dish, it is important for us that the order does not disappoint us, so sorting the establishments and food by rating will definitely simplify the choice.

Real Time Order Tracking

The ability to see where the courier is located will give you another advantage – it will help you plan the time and receive your order on time.

Convenient filters

Another way to make life easier for customers is to add the ability to choose dishes by location, cuisine, cooking method and ingredients.

Push notifications

Tell people about the status of their orders, promotions, discounts and updates. This will prevent the user from forgetting about you and missing out on the opportunity to profitably order food.

Clear content

Try to use literate and readable text and images that make the information easier to understand.

If multi-regional delivery is expected, this is a reason to think about implementing user location determination. Such a function will help to show him available places for ordering, current prices, menus and contact information.

Delivery Club asks to allow the application to access location data, and Dostaevsky asks users to specify the city on their own.

Think over the structure of the interface

In delivery projects, applications may be needed immediately for customers, couriers and administrators. Each of these blocks should be clear and user-friendly.

Clients

  • Registration function via mail, phone number or social networks.
  • A selection of establishments and suppliers available in the user’s area of ​​residence.
  • Fast order payment using PayPal, Apple / Google Pay, etc.
  • Track order status, delivery time and courier location.
  • Communication with the restaurant and the courier in a separate chat.
  • Ability to save restaurants, cafes and favorite dishes in favorites.

Administrators

  • Content Management: Publish menus, company information and photos.
  • Launch of promotions and promotional codes.
  • Tracking orders and informing customers about the status.
  • Search for a courier for delivery and the ability to track its location.
  • Direct chat with users.

Couriers

  • Registration page to subscribe to your application.
  • Book orders online and view details.
  • Chat to communicate with restaurants and customers.
  • View delivery history for a specific customer.

The main stages of work

Creation of technical specifications and drawing up of a contract

The TOR usually indicates the purpose of the project and requirements for it, use cases, approximate sketches of screens and platform requirements. And the contract specifies specific dates, terms, cost, conditions and a list of work performed by each member of the team.

Prototyping

A map of user paths is developed, flowcharts and approximate screen designs are drawn up. The prototype allows you to test the functionality at an early stage and, if necessary, quickly make changes.

Design

UX / UI designers think over the appearance and color scheme of pages taking into account the features of the functionality and requirements of the iOS and Android platforms.

Programming

At this point, the developers write the code to make the application work and look as planned.

Testing

During development, the application is checked for errors and failures, as well as for stability on different devices.

Launch and technical support

After the final tests, the application is published on the platforms, but the work on it does not end there. The development team will need help to optimize, add new features, and update the application.

AppCraft studio provides comprehensive technical support for applications and information maintenance of profiles in the App Store and Google Play for 12 months.

How much would it cost to develop such an application?

The cost of the application is always individual. For example, the price of a delivery application for a cafe or restaurant, when a separate application for couriers is not required, is from 2.5 million rubles.

For an aggregator format like Yandex.Food and Delivery Club – from 3.5 million, since you will need an application for users on two platforms, an application for couriers on two platforms, an advanced admin panel and back-end development.

Particular cases of integration, for example, with 1C, Bitrix, the implementation of the bonus system, its complexity, etc., have a significant impact on the cost.

What makes up the total cost of the application, described in detail in this article…

The market and audience needs can change quickly. If you want to launch a product and not spend a budget on features that you are not entirely sure of profitability, consider developing a Minimum Application Version (MVP). It will be faster and cheaper to develop all the functions and will provide an opportunity to improve an already working application gradually, relying on user behavior.

We in the AppCraft team have been engaged in the development of client and own projects for 9 years and we understand that the correct assessment of resources and constant testing will allow you to correctly distribute finances and successfully monetize the project. We will be happy to share our experience with you and help you develop a quality product!